A miracle drug is showing promise at targeting all kinds of cancer tumors, killing them with minimal side effects to healthy cells, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine.
The class of drugs, called PARP inhibitors, have been used in the past to target specific kinds of hereditary breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.
Currently, in order for PARP inhibitors to work, the cell needs to have a particular genetic defect, where it is missing one of two possible ways that cells use to repair themselves. The inhibitors work by blocking the remaining pathway, thereby stopping the cell from growing and eventually killing it altogether.
Tumor cells with this defect are rare, however, and the drugs have only been useful in a small number of cases. Now new research is looking for a way to artificially block the second pathway to cell recovery, which would make the PARP inhibitors deadly to all forms of cancer.
"The very fact that the defect that makes cells vulnerable to PARP inhibitors can be recreated in lung cancer is pretty hopeful," researcher Nicola Curtin told the Daily Mail. "It is very early days but it is exciting."