Department of Oncology and Diagnostic Sciences, Dental School, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MA 21201, USA.
Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2012 Jan;12(1):121-8. doi: 10.1586/era.11.190.
A major issue relating to many cancers is the absence of effective chemotherapeutic agents; so that most often untreatable morbidity and death are prevalent once the cancer has been detected and has advanced. The search for efficacious anticancer agents is imperative. One potential agent is zinc, which is decreased in the development of some cancers in order to avoid its cytotoxic/tumor suppressor effects on the malignant cells. This provides the basis and opportunity to employ a treatment regimen that restores elevated zinc levels in the malignant cells and elicits the cytotoxic/tumor suppressor effects of zinc. The enigma is that this approach and expectation has not reached fruition. The question is "why?". This article provides a discussion of relevant zinc issues that need to be considered and resolved. Important areas of research are identified as being essential for the successful application of zinc cytotoxicity/tumor suppression actions for the treatment of specific cancers.
一个与许多癌症相关的主要问题是缺乏有效的化疗药物;因此,一旦癌症被发现并已经进展,往往就会出现无法治疗的发病率和死亡率。寻找有效的抗癌药物是当务之急。一种潜在的药物是锌,在某些癌症的发展过程中,锌的含量会降低,以避免其对恶性细胞的细胞毒性/肿瘤抑制作用。这为采用一种治疗方案提供了基础和机会,即在恶性细胞中恢复升高的锌水平,并引发锌的细胞毒性/肿瘤抑制作用。问题是,这种方法和期望并没有实现。问题是“为什么?”。本文讨论了需要考虑和解决的相关锌问题。确定了重要的研究领域,对于成功应用锌的细胞毒性/肿瘤抑制作用来治疗特定癌症是必不可少的。