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Riyadh: After almost two years of intensive research, a medical team at the Riyadh-based King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSHRC) has succeeded in stopping the growth of a gene responsible for causing lymphoma (cancer of immune cells). The team was able to isolate the gene called AKT, the hospital announced yesterday.
AKT is a major factor in causing many types of cancer. The team, comprising a number of physicians and paramedics at KFSHRC, is chaired by Dr Khowla Al Kuraya, chief cancer researcher.
According to a hospital statement, the medical team, using advanced laboratory devices, "was able to monitor the ability of this gene in giving orders to cancerous cells to grow and multiply."
The statement said the team has successfully separated and tested the cancerous cells. "To apply the laboratory technique to stop the gene from growing, the medical team passed a chemical component called LY294002 to the inner part of the cancerous cell.
"After 24 hours, the cell started to shrink and died which means the cessation of its cancerous growth."
To take the laboratory tests to the clinical stage, the statement said 100 lymphoma patients were tested. The tests revealed that 52 per cent of the patients had active AKT in the cancerous cells. This group did not respond to chemotherapy and some of them suffered a recurrence of the disease.
Dr Qasim Al Qasaby, Chief Executive officer (CEO) of KFSHRC in Riyadh, underlined the importance of scientific research in developing and upgrading medical and health services.
Genetic attributes
Dr Khowla, head of the research team, expressed happiness and pride over the findings.
She said the research is part of a comprehensive work adopted some years back by the research centre of King Faisal Specialist Hospital.
The aim of the research is to find the genetic attributes of cancer patients in Saudi Arabia, in a bid to look for scientific solutions to fight and treat the disease, she said.
The statement from KFSHRC said the findings of the research have been warmly received by local and international medical and scientific circles as it gives hope for patients who are not responding to traditional chemotherapy.
The chemical component LY294002 can be developed as an effective treatment for chronic lymphoma.
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