Scientists Have Found A Way To Reverse Cancer, Switching Cells Back To Their Healthy Counterparts
In the story of human health, cancer has long been the ultimate villain. It is sneaky, relentless, and takes away the lives of loved ones too soon.
For many years, experts have been looking into the mechanics of how cancer grows and how it can be stopped. What if scientists have finally found a way to reverse cancer?
A new study conducted by researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, South Korea, has found that cancer cells can be turned back into their healthy counterparts. The discovery could be a game-changer and lead to new cancer treatments.
“We have discovered a molecular switch that can revert the fate of cancer cells back to a normal state,” said Kwang-Hyun Cho, a professor, biologist, and lead author of the study.
They were able to do so within the moment of “critical transition,” just before the normal cells were “changed into an irreversible cancerous state.”
A critical transition is when a radical change in state takes place at a certain point in time, for example, when water turns into steam at the boiling point of 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another critical transition period occurs during the process in which normal cells are transformed into cancer cells due to a buildup of both genetic and epigenetic changes.
Cho and colleagues found that during the development of tumors, also known as tumorigenesis, normal cells, and cancer cells coexist right before their transformation.
The team created a system to come up with a model of the genetic network that is in charge of cancer development.
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Then, they used this to identify a way to reverse the process. They applied the system to colon cancer cells collected from a patient.
Through a series of molecular cell experiments, they showed that the cancer cells could recover the characteristics of normal cells.
In the future, this technology is expected to be applied to the development of therapies to reverse other forms of cancer, moving beyond aggressive methods like chemotherapy to a less harmful and more targeted approach.
“In particular, this study has revealed in detail, at the genetic network level, what changes occur within cells behind the process of cancer development, which has been considered a mystery until now,” said Cho.
“This is the first study to reveal that an important clue that can revert the fate of tumorigenesis is hidden at this very critical moment of change.”
It looks like science is finally turning the tide in the fight against cancer! The potential for cancer reversibility is there and offers hope, but the concept is still in its early days. More research is needed before the process can be carried out in the rest of the world.
The details of the full study were published in the international journal Advanced Science.
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