WASHINGTON — In an ironic twist, an artificial sweetener once聽considered to be a possible carcinogen, may hold a key to fighting especially aggressive cancers.
It turns out聽the sugar replacement saccharin聽binds onto, and deactivates a protein that helps聽cancer grow and spread without impacting the healthy tissue surrounding tumors.
“It never ceases to amaze me how a simple molecule, such as saccharin — something many people put in their coffee everyday — may have untapped uses, including as a possible lead compound to target aggressive cancers,” says University of Florida researcher Robert McKenna, Ph.D.,
The聽American Chemical Society says learning how to turn off the protein聽“carbonic anhydrase IX” 聽may聽lead to ways to stop the spread of聽cancers in the breast,聽liver, kidney, pancreas, brain and lungs.
