Anti-aging drugs may treat liver cancer

"Senotherapy" is a treatment that uses small molecule drugs to target senescent cells or cells that no longer experience cell division, and a new study led by Professor Li Bo of Sun Yat-sen University and Professor Celeste Simon of the University of Pennsylvania shows that the therapy inhibits the development of liver tumors in animal modelsThe findings were published May 4 in Nature Cell BiologyPhoto Source: Nature Cell Biology
Professor Simon said: "This is a treatment for liver cancer that has never been tried before, and in our model, even advanced liver cancer, senolytic therapy can significantly reduce the burden of diseasescientists have previously found that the absence of fructose-1, 6-diphossatase 1 (fructose 1, 6-bisphosphatase 1, FBP1) in human liver cells significantly promotes tumor growthFBP1 expression levels decrease in stage 1 tumors and decrease further as the disease progressesIn this study, the researchers used RNA sequencing data to determine the general low expression of FBP1 in liver cell carcinomathe absence of FBP1 in liver cells activates adjacent hepatic starcells (10% of the mass of the liver), leading to fibrosis (tissue scarring formation) and the aging of star cells, both of which promote tumor growthThe new study found that the anti-aging drug senolytics selectively targets aging star cells, inhibiting tumor development driven by hepatocellular-specific FBP1 deficiencySenolytics includes drugs such as dasatini and quercetin, of which navitoclax also has an anti-tumor effect and has been conducting clinical studies on other diseases, such as hematologic malignanciesSenolytic therapy limits the development of tumors driven by hepatic star cell aging and FBP1 deficiency (Photo: Nature Cell Biology)using genetic engineering to knock out the mouse model of FBP1, and the researchers found that in carcinogen-mediated, dietary and other types of liver cell carcination, the disease progresses faster and the tumor burden increases significantlyThe study provides evidence that FBP1 deficiency in liver cells promotes the development of liver tumors in mice (Photo: Nature Cell Biology)summary, and this study provides evidence that FBP1 deficiency in liver cells promotes tumor growth by affecting other cells in the tumor microenvironmentThe study also revealed that senolytics have great potential for the treatment of liver cancer in clinical applications" liver cancer is a vicious disease, after more than a certain stage of development, the available treatment methods are extremely limitedSenotherapy therapy is unique in that it targets other cells in the liver tumor environment rather than the cancer cells themselves Professor Simon said Next, they will test the treatment in clinical trials related paper: Fuming Li et al FBP1 loss of the liver liver metabolism and promots stumorigenesis a hepatic stellate cell senescence litome Nature Cell Biology (2020) References: 1 new liver cancer research targets non-cancer cells to blunt tumor growth (Source: Medical Press)