Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) say they have developed a new way to cure cancer without killing the cells.
According to the research published on 11 December, the technology simply reverses cancer by returning cancerous cells to health without destroying them.
Breakthrough in cancer treatment
Cancer treatment hasnât advanced much in recent years, as the last line of defense remains chemotherapy, a process through which cancerous cells are destroyed to prevent further spread, which doesnât work all the time.
This new approach discovered by the research team led by Professor Cho Kwang-hyun of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering doesnât need to kill the cancer cells.
Instead, it changes them in a form of reversal process to make them look like normal colon cells again.
The team found out that cancerous cells alter their normal cellular processes as they become cancerous, and reversing the process could simply cure the disease.
They therefore developed a technology that identifies the key factors that determine a cellâs wellbeing and through molecular and animal experiments found that the damaged cells can be normalized when the technology is applied to colon cancer cells.
Leader of the team, Professor Cho Kwang-hyun said:
âIt is surprising that cancer cells can be transformed into normal cells. Our results demonstrate that it can be systematically induced. Based on our findings, which first presented the concept of reversible therapy to turn cancer cells back into normal cells, we have developed a fundamental technology to systematically analyze the differentiation trajectory of normal cells to discover targets for cancer reversal therapy.â
Hope for cancer patients
Cancer seems to be getting a lot of attention lately, and it seems to be yielding results.
Just this year, scientists made a groundbreaking discovery on how cancer cells spread, which is a major step towards combating the spread of cancerous cells.
With the new approach for healing damaged cells and making them normal again, thereâs more hope now than ever for cancer patients.
The outcome of the research will be applied in developing actual cell reversal therapy for cancer.
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