According to the UCLA Newsroom, the findings showed that after suppressing this vital protein for the reproduction of malignant cells, they stop dividing themselves and die quickly, which brings hope to many patients that are fighting against different types of terminal cancer.
"The idea was to find something that arrested the cells while they were trying to divide and injured them in such a way that cell death occurred quickly," Torres said. "We were looking for a way to attack the cancer cells as they were dividing."
The five-year study was published last week in the journal Cell, and it also showed that this method of depleting STARD9 also helped the chemotherapy drug Taxol work more effectively against certain cancers.
Jorge Torres is one of 17 scientists in the United Sates to be awarded a 2010 V Scholars Award from The V Foundation for Cancer Research. These awards are intended to support young scientists in the process of developing their own research programs. The award funded part of Jorge’s research project that is producing these encouraging results.
Torres estimates that in 5 to 10 years there could be an effective treatment based on his research against some cancers such as melanoma, lung cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer.
Jorge, son of Mexican immigrants from the state of Jalisco, was born in McAllen, Texas, in 1975. His story is inspirational, and it’s a great example of how immigration makes a positive impact in the US, a reality that sometimes is forgotten.
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