Experimental Cancer Drug Cyclopamine Kills Brain Tumor Stem Cells
September 4, 2007 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
The experimental compound cyclopamine was previously known to shut down a critical cell-signaling pathway (Hedgehog) in the most common and aggressive type of adult brain cancer: glioblastoma multiforme.
Now, according to Johns Hopkins scientists, cyclopamine have been able to successfully kill cancer stem cells thought to fuel tumor growth and help cancers evade drug and radiation therapy.
According to Charles G. Eberhart, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, ophthalmology and oncology, who led the work:
“Our study lends evidence to the idea that the lack of effective therapies for glioblastoma may be due to the survival of a rare population of cancer stem cells that appear immune to conventional radiation and chemotherapy.
Hedgehog inhibition kills these cancer stem cells and prevents cancer from growing and may thus develop into the first stem cell-directed therapy for glioblastoma.”
Cyclopamine is chemically extracted from corn lilies that grow in the Rocky Mountains.
The findings of this Johns Hopkins have been reported in the journal Stem Cells published online on July 19.
Find more details from Science Daily.
