Can Sickle Cell Disease Be Used As A Weapon Against Cancerous Tumors? New Study Says Yes
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Can a potentially lethal disease be turned into a powerful cancer fighter?
That's what researchers have done with sickle cells. CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reports that the same thing that makes sickle cells dangerous could also be used to kill tumors.
This is not about giving sickle cell disease to cancer patients. Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder you're born with – so you can't get or infect someone else.
What makes sickle cell dangerous and very painful is how sickled red blood cells can clog blood vessels in the joints and organs.
The problem is red blood cells filled with abnormal hemoglobin. When oxygen levels get low, the defective hemoglobin clumps together, causing the red blood cells to change into a sickle shape. They're now stiff and sticky so they get stuck and clog up tiny blood vessels.
Now what if there was a way to get sickle cells to clog blood vessels in cancerous tumors?
"The effect is to cause an infarction, like a heart infarction, the cells around the blood vessels die from lack of oxygen," Dr. David Terman from the University of Alabama said.
Dr. Terman, a professor of molecular genetics, has figured out how to do this. In a recently published study, his team was able to kill tumors in mice by infusing sickle cells into mice.
Blood vessels in tumors are known to be different and more vulnerable than normal vessels.
By pre-treating the tumors with low-dose radiation and a drug that disrupts the tumor blood vessels, the stage was set for sickle cells to kill the cancer.
Within 30 minutes of adding in sickle cells, the tumor vessels are getting clogged with sticky cells.
Photo-micrographs of the tumor showed red areas that are blood vessels completely jammed with sickle cells. This not only deprives the cancer cells of needed oxygen, it sets off a cascade of tumor-toxic biochemical reactions.
"Massive tumor destruction. Complete obliteration, not just of tumor cells, but also cells that promote tumor re-growth," Dr. Terman said.
To be clear – this does not give a person sickle cell disease. The sickle cells in an infusion have about a 30-day lifespan and are mostly able to clump and clog just in blood vessels that have been pre-treated with a drug and radiation.
Human clinical trials of this cancer-killing approach are about to get underway.
