An Indian origin researcher along with other colleagues have indicated that the most common breast cancer uses the most efficient, powerful food delivery system known in human cells and blocking that system kills it. This method of starving cancer cells could provide new options for patients, particularly those resistant to standard therapies such as tamoxifen. Human estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells thriving in a Petri dish or transplanted onto mice die when exposed to a drug that blocks the transporter, called SLC6A14.
The compound they used is alpha-methyl-DL-tryptophan, already used in humans for short periods when the get a PET scan in certain areas of the brain. When the researchers treated estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells with it or put it in the drinking water of the mice with the cells, rapid growth stopped and the cancer cells died. The study has been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Read more…
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