Singapore scientists trick cancer cells into self-destructing

The research is still in its infancy, but the team at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) is aiming to "potentially inhibit cancer."

Dr Dmitry Bulavin told The Straits Times the focus is on a protein called Wip1 found in stem cells, where many cancers start.

Stems cells are able to develop into any type of cell in the body.

Cells must be able to multiply to create new daughter cells, Bulavin said, but the multiplication needs to be controlled.

Wip1 is part of a process of checks and balances that control the cells multiplication, he said. If there is too much Wip1, the cell goes into overdrive and starts multiplying incessantly. This is cancer, he said.

"More Wip1, more cancer," Bulavin, the IMCB principal investigator, was quoted as saying. "By reducing the amount of Wip1, we can potentially inhibit cancer."

Mice who had this protein knocked out of their cells were found to be cancer resistant, he said.

Bulavin plans to enter the first stage of clinical trials within the next two years.

"It's an exciting time," he was quoted as saying.//(Deutsche Presse-Agentur/DPA)