Cancer: Pain Killer Now A Cure?

Doctors and scientists have known for a long time that aspirin, and some other painkillers, can have an effect on lowering your chances of getting cancer, or at least certain kinds of it. But up until now, nobody had ever been able to figure out why.

Now though, a new scientific study indicates that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs stop the growth of cancer cells because they bind to a certain type of protein, that is known as a nuclear receptor. This means it gets messages or signals from other things it interacts with, and sends those messages to the nucleus of a cell, in this case the cancer cell. And they are making a new drug named K-80003 base don what they learned.

The drug being studied is named Sulindac, and will now be remade in an altered form that lessens its cardiovascular side effects, so that it can be used to treat certain kinds of cancer, possibly counteracting the growth of tumors. Said one of the scientists: "Depending on the conditions, the same protein, such as RXRα, can either kill cancer cells or promote their growth. The addition of K-80003 shifts that balance by blocking survival pathways and sensitizing cancer cells to triggers of apoptosis."

Cancer: Pain Killer = Cure?
sciencedaily

Without knowing exactly why, scientists have long observed that people who regularly take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin have lower incidences of certain types of cancer. Now, in a study appearing in Cancer Cell on June 15, investigators at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) and their colleagues have figured out how one NSAID, called Sulindac, inhibits tumor growth. The study reveals that Sulindac shuts down cancer cell growth and initiates cell death by binding to nuclear receptor RXRα, a protein that receives a signal and carries it into the nucleus to turn genes on or off.

Cancer: Pain Killer = Cure?