Cancer

A project by:

• Bocereg Alexandra

• Stoian Bianca

• Fronea Alexandru

• Carson Andrei

• Lică Andrei

What is cancer?Cancer , known medically as malignant neoplasia, is a broad group of diseases involving unregulated cell growth.

In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, which may invade nearby parts of the body.

The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the body through the lymphatic system or bloodstream. Not all tumors are cancerous; benign tumors do not invade neighboring tissues and do not spread throughout the body.

There are over 200 different known cancers that affect humans.

CausesThe causes of cancer are diverse, complex, and only partially understood. Many things are known to increase the risk of cancer, including tobacco use, dietary factors, certaininfections, exposure to radiation, lack of physical activity, obesity, and environmental pollutants.

How can cancer be treated?Cancer is usually treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. The chances of surviving the disease vary greatly by the type and location of the cancer and the extent of disease at the start of treatment.

New cancer cures:Tiny motors controlled inside human cells

For the first time, scientists have placed tiny motors inside living human cells and steered them magnetically.

The advance represents another step towards molecular machines that can be used, for example, to release drugs into specific locations within the body.

There is interest in the approach because it could enhance the benefits of drugs while minimising side effects.

The mechanism of nanomotors:Materials scientist Prof Tom Mallouk, from Penn

State University, and colleagues have published their research and stated:

"As these nanomotors move around and bump into structures inside the cells, the live cells show internal mechanical responses that no one has seen before," said Prof Mallouk.

"This research is a vivid demonstration that it may be possible to use synthetic nanomotors to study cell biology in new ways."

The use of nanomotors:

Up until now, nanomotors have been studied only "in vitro" - in laboratory apparatus - but not in living human cells.

• "We might be able to use nanomotors to treat cancer and other diseases by mechanically manipulating cells from the inside," said Prof Mallouk.

• In addition, he said: "Nanomotors could perform intracellular surgery and deliver drugs non-invasively to living tissues."

"If you want these motors to seek out and destroy cancer cells, for example, it's better to have them move independently. You don't want a whole mass of them going in one direction."

Describing the potential uses of nanomotortechnology, the Penn State professor invoked a 1966 science fiction film in which a submarine and its human crew are miniaturised and injected into the blood-stream of a dying man in order to save him.

"One dream application of ours is Fantastic Voyage-style medicine, where nanomotors would cruise around inside the body, communicating with each other and performing various kinds of diagnoses and therapy.

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Anti-CD47 antibodies treatmentCD47 is a kind of protein that is found on the surface

of many cells in the body. It tells circulating immune cells called macrophages not to eat these cells. The body uses the CD47 protein to protect cells that should be protected and to help dispose of cells that are aged or diseased. For instance, red blood cells start off with a lot of CD47 on their cell surface when young but slowly lose CD47 as they age. At some point, the amount of CD47 on the surface of an aging red blood cells is not enough to stave off the macrophages, and those older cells are devoured and destroyed, making way for new red blood cells. In this way, the supply of fresh blood cells is constantly replenished.

Unfortunately, some cells that should be destroyed are not. Researchers at Stanford have discovered that nearly every kind of cancer cell has a large amount of CD47 on the cell surface. This protein signal protects the cancer against attack by the body's immune system. Stanford investigators have discovered if that they block the CD47 "don't-eat-me" signal through the use of anti-CD47 antibodies, macrophages will consume and destroy cancer cells. Deadly human cancers have been diminished or eliminated in animal models through the use of anti-CD47 antibody.

Clinical Trials in humans

After the successful outcomes of the experiments testing the use of anti-CD47 antibodies against human cancers transplanted into mice, plans were immediately begun to start clinical trials in humans. Unfortunately, the process of preparing for human clinical trials is long. The initial experiments were done in animals and the animal versions of anti-CD47 antibody cannot be used in humans. So researchers first have to create a "humanized" antibody to CD47, then the production of antibody must be scaled up in a sterile facility of the kind that is used to create other pharmaceutical products.

Finally, clinical trials must be designed so that the data they generate will produce a valid scientific result, and the trials must be approved by regulatory officials.All of this takes time.

Alternative treatments discoveries:Peaches Inhibit Breast Cancer in Mice

Lab tests at Texas A&M AgrilifeResearch have shown that treatments

with peach extract inhibit breast cancer metastasis in mice.

This is very important because it can be translated into something that is also beneficial for people, said a food scientist for AgriLife Research.

This work builds upon previous work at AgriLife Research released a few years ago, which showed that peach and plum polyphenolsselectively killed aggressive breast cancer cells and not the normal ones, Cisneros-Zavallos says.

In the western hemisphere, breast cancer is the most common malignant disease for women.Most of the complications and high mortality associated with breast cancer are due to metastasis

Bibliography

• en.wikipedia.org

• http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26136979