Connect with us

Health

HIV drug checks spread of prostate cancer

Published

9 years ago

on

New York: A human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drug that targets a specific protein involved in the immune system can also block the spread of prostate cancer cells to bones, says a new research.

Although prostate cancer can be successfully treated in many men but if the disease spreads to the bone, it is eventually lethal.

“The drug is already approved by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) for HIV treatment. We may be able to test soon whether this drug can block metastasis in patients with prostate cancer,” said senior study author Richard Pestell from the Thomas Jefferson University in the US.

The research was complicated by the fact that there was no immune-competent mouse model of prostate cancer that reliably developed bone and brain metastasis.

So, the researchers developed a prostate cancer cell line that regularly caused bone metastasis in immune-competent mouse models.

The researchers then administered the HIV drug Maraviroc to the prostate cancer mouse model.

In comparison to control animals, Maraviroc dramatically reduced the overall metastatic load by 60 percent in the bone, brain and other organs.

Finally, in order to determine whether a similar mechanism might be at play in human prostate cancer, the researchers mined the genomic data of patients with prostate cancer and found that the protein called CCR5 was more highly expressed in prostate cancer tissue compared with normal tissue.

The study appeared in the journal Cancer Research.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Corona

Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

Published

2 years ago

on

May 4, 2022

By

 

Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

Continue Reading

Trending