Cervical Cancer Treatment Mark Guerrero Biology 316 Biology of Cancer
Objective To determine if we can create drugs that selectively target cervical cancer cells can be created that do not exhibit cytotoxic effects on normal cells. This could lead to treatments with less side effects that also destroy cancer cells more effectively than current treatments.
Prevalence of Cervical Cancer Second leading cause of deaths in females Second most common malignancy among women worldwide 529,800 new cases reported in 2008 (Yang, 2013) 275,000 deaths were reported from cervical cancer in 2008 (Yang, 2013) 12,109 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014 (CDC, 2014) 4,092 resulted in mortality (CDC, 2014)
Screening/ Detection for Cervical Cancer Pap smear HPV reflex screening Colposcopy Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program
Treatments for Cervical Cancer Common Treatments: Surgery - Total or partial hysterectomy Chemotherapy - Targets fast growing cells Radiation Therapy - Uses high energy waves to destroy cancer cells Palliative Care - Pain control and end of life
New Treatments: Apoptosis - Programmed cell death
Side effects of Current Treatment Affect of normal, healthy fast growing cells including Hair follicles Cells in the mouth Cells in the digestive tract Cells in the reproductive system Bone marrow
Apoptosis Treatment Pros - Programmed sequence of cell death - Eliminates cells without damaging surrounding areas
Cons - The body replaces millions of cells per second -
Too little apoptosis Leukemia
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Too much apoptosis
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Too much apoptosis -
Grave tissue damage -
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CVA, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson's disease
If it does not work properly targeted cells may persist
Apoptosis in Cancer Cells - Antrodia Camphorata -
an herb, that can induce apoptosis in cervical cancer cells Cytotoxic to cervical cancer cells
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Increases cancer fighting protein
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Decreases concentration of cancer promoting gene
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Inhibits the growth of various cell malignancies including breast, hepatocellular, prostate and colorectal cancers
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Stimulates the body’s natural cancer fighting processes to work more effectively as some people have better natural cancer fighting abilities than others
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Modulates the Bcl-2 family proteins and capase activity which leads to programed tumor cell death
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has the ability to Interrupt the cancer cell cycle
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It has already been proven to fight ovarian cancer
Research (Yang,2013) Experimental Medicine: 5 grams of A. Camphorata soaked in 40mL of methanol Culture: Two human cervical cancer cell lines were used Determining Cell Death: They used products created during cell destruction to gauge how effectively this treatment killed cancer cells Measuring Cell Death: Three district cell markers used to measure cell death to obtain accurate results rather than only using one marker of cell death
most
Research Results The extract created a hostile environment not conducive to the growth of cervical cancer cells
The extract shows evidence of selectively targeting cancer cells without damaging normal cells
The extract can attack cancer cells in multiple ways by using both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways.
Increased dose of extract made the environment more hostile to cancer cells
Evidenced by fragmented DNA of cancer cells The induction of apoptosis increased the activity of caspase -3 ,-8 and -9 and changed cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol
Research Results Survivin, a protein that inhibits apoptosis and resistance in cancer cells It is a substance that cancer cells secrete to build resistance to chemotherapy drugs The extract in this study resulted in decreased levels of Survivin, leading researchers to believe that cancer cells would be less likely to develop resistance to a drug based on this compound This led researchers to conclude that cancer cells would be less likely to develop resistance to a drug based on compounds derived from A. Camphorata
Future of Apoptosis Treatment More studies are needed to continue to prove effectiveness of this treatment technique with the use of A. Camphorata
This has the potential to be the specific chemotherapeutic drug that does not harm normal cells and is cytotoxic only to cancerous cells