Developing drugs that block the ability of cancer cells to disseminate is a major anti-cancer therapeutic avenue.
- Calcium channel blockers can efficiently stop cancer cell invasion.
- Calcium channel blockers are currently used to treat high blood pressure, but their potential use in blocking cancer has not been previously reported.
- Aggressively spreading cancer cells express a protein called Myosin-10 which drives cancer cell motility.
- Calcium channel blockers target the protein rendering them inactive and blocking the movement of cancer cells. Cancer kills because of its ability to spread throughout the body and form metastases. Therefore, developing drugs that block the ability of cancer cells to disseminate is a major anti-cancer therapeutic avenue. By screening already approved drugs, the team led by Postdoctoral Researcher Guillaume Jacquemet and Academy Professor Johanna Ivaska has discovered that calcium channel blockers can efficiently stop cancer cell invasion in vitro.
- Guillaume Jacquemet et al.,L-type calcium channels regulate filopodia stability and cancer cell invasion downstream of integrin signalling, Nature Communications (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13297.
Benefits of Blood Pressure Tablets on your Health
Hypertension affects about a billion individuals worldwide and is a silent killer. Medication & lifestyle modification is the cornerstone of an effective antihypertensive treatment.
Hypertension affects about a billion individuals worldwide and is a silent killer. Medication & lifestyle modification is the cornerstone of an effective antihypertensive treatment.
‘Calcium channel blockers target Myosin-10 protein which blocks the movement of sticky fingers rendering them inactive and blocking cancer cell movement.’
Calcium channel blockers are currently used to treat hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, but their potential use in blocking cancer cell metastases has not been previously reported. Developing new drugs, however, is a very lengthy and expensive process and many promising drugs fail clinical trials because of unanticipated toxicity and side effects. Thus, finding new targets for drugs already in use to treat other diseases, in other words drug repurposing, is an emerging area in developing anti-cancer therapies.
The team has identified that aggressively spreading cancer cells express a protein called Myosin-10 which drives cancer cell motility. Cell motility is involved at every stage of tumorigenesis and contributes to primary tumour growth, cancer cell dissemination and metastasis formation.
High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure or hypertension is defined as a blood pressure of above 140 mm Hg (systolic) and or 90mm Hg (diastolic).
High blood pressure or hypertension is defined as a blood pressure of above 140 mm Hg (systolic) and or 90mm Hg (diastolic).
The team found that calcium channel blockers target specifically these sticky fingers rendering them inactive, thus efficiently blocking cancer cell movement. This suggest that they might be effective drugs against cancer metastasis. However, at this stage much more work is required to assess if these drugs would be efficient against cancer progression.
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Blood Pressure Cuffs - Are you Measuring your Blood Pressure Right?
Your health care provider may use a blood pressure monitor to measure blood pressure or suggest the use of home blood pressure monitor for a better BP control.
Your health care provider may use a blood pressure monitor to measure blood pressure or suggest the use of home blood pressure monitor for a better BP control.
Reference
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Fruits to Help Lower Blood Pressure / Foods that Help Lower Blood Pressure
Top reasons why you should eat fruits to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. Antioxidants in fruits keep your blood pressure under control.
Top reasons why you should eat fruits to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. Antioxidants in fruits keep your blood pressure under control.
