Apoptosis Drugs Versus Cancer
To live longer, healthier lives, we must find safe, effective ways to defeat cancer - but for the most part, drugs to kill cancer cells also kill healthy cells. This is why better targeting via nanomedicine is a productive way forward. An alternative approach is to blanket the body with drugs that hurt cancer cells far more than healthy cells; progress in one such long-running attempt is outlined at ScienceDaily: "ABT-737 is a drug with a different strategy for attacking cancer. Rather than attempting to poison the rogue cells, the new drug attempts to reactivate the healthy and normal cell death program that failed to kill the unwanted cells on cue. ... Normally, the cell death machinery is switched on when damaged cells need to be removed. The failure of the machinery to be turned on when it should can lead to cancer. ABT-737 is a 'switch flicker' that kicks the cell death machinery into action. Much more remains to be done to assess the drug's safety and effectiveness in patients, but early results from the laboratory are promising. Our hope is that the new drug will prove to be more effective while having fewer side effects."
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116100836.htm