Prague, April 10 (CTK) – A team of Czech and U.S. scientists has found a new methods to fight cancer within which amino acid glutamine serving as fuel is removed from cancer cells, the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAV) told journalists on Tuesday.
Thanks to the promising results a foreign investor has sponsored further research with 40 million dollars.
The research is conducted by the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAV and the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
The clinical tests are to start next year.
One of the ways to stop malignant growth is to block access to nutrients to cancer cells.
The new technique stops the supply of nitrogen. The amino acid glutamine is its main source. When substances similar to glutamine get into a body, its metabolism is blocked.
There is the disadvantage that glutamine is also a source of nitrogen for healthy cells. The scientists have found out how to overcome this problem.
The scientists have tested the mechanism of the effect on various tumours in mice. They also conducted metabolism studies in some mammals because rodents’ metabolism much differs from the human one.
The discovered substances work best in combination with immunotherapy.
Barbara Slusher, from the Johns Hopkins University, said the research team would now focus on increasing the time of survival in the observed organisms and possibly also the application of the methods on the tumours for which treatment has not succeeded.
The development and testing will be conducted by the firm Dracen Pharmaceuticals. It obtained 40 million dollars for the research from a foreign investor.
The clinical tests on the first patients are to start next year and to last five to eight years.
