Potential New Therapeutic Molecular Target Discovered To Fight Cancer

WASHINGTON -- Researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University have identified the enzyme sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2) as a possible new therapeutic target to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy for colon and breast cancer. In the Nov. 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research, researchers examined human colon and breast cancer cells and established a role of SphK2, an enzyme that has an important influence in the death of cancer cells mediated by the chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin. The study demonstrated that human colon and breast cancer cells were killed more efficiently by doxorubicin when SphK2 was removed from the cells. Doxorubicin is able to kill cancer cells by working with p53, one of the most protect...