Friday, November 21, 2014

Acid Ceramidase Inhibitor Potential Cancer Drug

     Recent research at UC Irvine School of Medicine and the Italian Institute of Technology has led scientists to describe the first class of acid ceramidase (AC) inhibitors that may aid in the efficacy of chemotherapies. AC has been found to be upregulated in melanoma, lung and prostate cancers. This has made the enzyme a recent target for novel synthetic inhibitor compounds. AC is encoded by the ASAH1 gene and plays an important role in the regulation of cell fate. Commonly, mutations in this gene are associated with spinal muscular atrophy and Farber disease, which is a lysosomal storage disorder.
    In a recent study at UC Irvine, researches presented a potent and systematically active small molecule inhibitor of intracellular AC. Using in vivo studies, the scientists found that inhibiting the AC with their inhibitor compound alters the balance between pro-aging/death and pro-life chemical signals, while favoring the pro-aging/death chemicals.
    The team hopes that in the future their compound will someday be used as a "chemosensitizer", which is a drug that enhances the killing power of anti-tumoral drugs.


    I found this article interesting because cancer is such a prevalent issue. As one of the hottest topics for research, it is interesting to read about the different approaches for new treatment methods that are being developed. This particular method seems to have definite potential and I hope to see more about it in the news in the future. However, it also seems like there could be some serious side-effects if it is making the chemotherapy and other anti-tumoral drugs more powerful.

Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141120183627.htm

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