Bangor University researchers have found heating cancer cells flips an “off switch” in tumors that effectively kills them.
Prostate cancer and other tumors can be effectively treated by a combination of heat and an anti-cancer drug that damages the genes, the researchers noted. The new study, published in the Journal of Cell Science, determines “thermotherapy” essentially turns off essential “survival mechanisms” in tumor cells and causes them to die.
Lead researcher Dr. Thomas Caspari said he and his colleagues at Bangor’s School of Biological Sciences determined heat promotes the production of a novel tumor-killing protein that only develops when elevated temperatures activate a gene that hides inside another gene in cancerous tissues.
"The discovery is reminiscent of a Russian doll were a set of smaller wooden figures is placed inside a larger doll,” he explained. “The existence of such hidden genes may explain why the human genome has a much smaller number of genes than initially expected. Our work may also help to improve heat-treatment of cancer for the benefit of patients.”
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