To 'starve' tumors, the new strategy to fight is revealed

A new strategy to fight cancer by attacking its metabolism has been discovered by Italian researchers who hope cancer cells die from 'starvation'. Let's look together what we need to know about this new cancer treatment.

Cancer and glycemina
 Scientists have discovered that when blood glucose levels lower and the patient is associated with metformin, a reaction that leads to the death of diseased cells and involves PP2A protein occurs. Metformin is a medicine already used against type 2 diabetes.

How does therapy work?
 Saverio Minucci, who led the Italian study, explains that metabolism is one of the keys to focusing on differentiating healthy cells from diseased cells in order to hit the latter, leaving others intact. But how is this possible? Cells use two different processes to produce energy, one being glycolysis, which is based on the availability of glucose, while the other is the oxidative phosphorylation to which metformin acts. Scientists have targeted a phenomenon called 'metabolic plasticity' (that is how the diseased cell suits) to switch from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation and vice versa, in the absence of food. In practice, experts have reduced dietary glycemia and administered by metformin, thus preventing metabolic plasticity and cancer cells die.
And that's not all Scientists have also discovered that the activation of PP2A protein and its molecular circuit is also responsible for killing diseased cells. This is important because not all patients respond to metformin.

The future of research
 Minucci says the study is underway, in fact clinical study may have already begun because the conditions exist. As for us, however, we will have to wait to find even more.