Australian scientists announce cancer discovery

Australian researchers have presented the first evidence of a drug that attacks a key part of cancer cells, thought to be fundamental to the survival of most cancer cells in humans.

The drug is phenoxodiol, an anti-cancer drug currently being tested in humans with a broad range of cancers. Phenoxodiol is being developed by Australian pharmaceutical company, Novogen Limited.

Phenoxodiol is a potent inhibitor of the enzyme, sphingosine kinase (SK). SK is a recent discovery that is being hailed as a potentially important breakthrough in understanding why cancer cells survive indefinitely.

SK appears to be a key player in programmed cell death (apoptosis), with normal cells switching off this enzyme in order to die naturally. Cancer cells appear to over-express this enzyme, and this now is thought to be an important reason why human cancer cells stop dying naturally and accumulate in the body.

Developing drugs to knock out SK has become an important new direction within the pharmaceutical industry in the race to develop drugs that have broad anti-cancer action but limited adverse effects on healthy cells.