CICD cancer treatment – Caspase-Independent Cell Death – kills tumors in models while reducing side effects and recurrence, researchers said in a new study they hope will lead to improved approaches to handling the disease.
The treatment has shown to completely remove tumors in experimental models, Sky News said, while chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy treatments currently used often do not kill all cancer cells leading to the disease returning.
The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
The CICD method allows the body's own immune system to be alerted to the presence of cancer cells through the release of inflammatory proteins after the initial treatment.
That leads to the tumors cells not killed in the first treatment to be eliminated as well, the study suggests.
"Our research found that triggering Caspase-Independent Cell Death (CICD), but not apoptosis, often led to complete tumor regression," Stephen Tait, of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, said in a University of Glasgow statement.
"Especially under conditions of partial therapeutic response, as our experiments mimic, our data suggests that triggering tumor-specific CICD, rather than apoptosis, may be a more effective way to treat cancer."
While scientists used colorectal cancer cells grown in a lab to demonstrate how effective CICD is in killing cancer cells, they said it can be used on a wide-range of cancer types.
"In essence, this mechanism has the potential to dramatically improve the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapy and reduce unwanted toxicity," Tait said. "Taking into consideration our findings, we propose that engaging CICD as a means of anti-cancer therapy warrants further investigation."
Justine Alford, Cancer Research UK's senior science information officer, said the work now needs to confirmed in additional studies.
"This new research suggests there could be a better way to kill cancer cells which, as an added bonus, also activates the immune system," Alford said. "Now scientists need to investigate this idea further and, if further studies confirm it is effective, develop ways to trigger this particular route of cell death in humans."
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