SAccording to the Global Cancer Observatory, Globocan, during 2018, in Colombia, 7,419 new cases of gastric cancer were registered out of the total of new cancer cases corresponding to 101,893, placing it in fourth place.
According to the Observatory report, this type of cancer is the second most frequent in men, 4,578 new cases, while in women it was ranked fifth with 2,841 new cases.
In fact, the National Cancer Institute revealed that between 2003 and 2012 there were 319,327 deaths from cancer in Colombia. 14.1%, the highest figure, corresponded to gastric cancer.
Given this panorama, Giovanni Lineros Franco, a pure chemist at the Industrial University of Santander, UIS, Master in Biomedical Sciences with an emphasis on Genetics and currently a PhD candidate in Biomedical Sciences from the Universidad del Valle, advances a research project, approved by Colciencias , which seeks to create alternatives for the management of stomach cancer.
The project, called ‘Selective treatment of gastric cancer affecting mitochondrial bioenergetics’, which began in 2016 aims to attack cancer cells, without affecting the others, using different chemical compounds.
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“Just as we have the stomach, the heart or the intestine, the cells inside have a series of organelles that fulfill multiple functions.
Among them, is the mitochondria, responsible for generating energy. What the compounds we work with do is go to the mitochondria and attack it, ”said the researcher.
The project, which was also awarded a ‘Travel Award’ by the Society for Free Radical Biology, one of the most prestigious unions among scientists, is in the in vitro testing phase.
“We are testing where we grow gastric cancer cells, grow them, take what we need and react to different compounds, which allow us to observe how we can cause cancer cells to die without affecting their environment, that is, the cells good in the stomach, ”explained Lineros Franco.
The molecules used in laboratory tests are Mito-met (used in metformin, a medication for the treatment of type II diabetes) and Mito-SG1.
“There have been previous studies with the compounds that I am using in other types of cancer, such as liver and triple negative sinus, in which it was observed that in an in vitro way they work very well, we need to move to animal models” he added.
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The results evidenced so far are more than promising, “we already know that depending on the concentration of the compounds, cell growth can be affected, to the point of generating cell death,” the chemist added.
Offering a selective alternative that only attacks the cancerous cells of this aggressive and silent disease without affecting others, as it does with chemotherapy, which is successful but causes various discomforts in patients, was the motivation for this research.
Sandra Sanabria, Scientific Director of the Tissue Bank of the FCV and Research Coordinator, highlights the importance of working on an effective solution for patients suffering from this type of tumor.
“When gastric cancer is detected early, the most viable option is resection, that is, removal, but when done late, as in 80% of cases, there is no longer a cure as such. That’s why it is so lethal. ”
The project that has an advance of 70% has achieved positive results. According to the researcher, the final conclusions are expected in eight months or a year.
“We still can’t sing victory. There is a long way to go, but what we have found generates a lot of hope. We hope that in 10 or 15 years there is a new alternative to treat this cancer, ”concluded Lineros.
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