'Glycotherapy emerging as new treatment for breast cancer'

Glycotherapy is emerging as a new treatment for breast cancer which targets only the proliferating cells, a biochemistry expert said today.
"Glycotherapy is useful for those with drug resistant tumour. Less toxification is the beauty of this therapy. Tunicamycin is an antibiotic being used in the therapy. It blocks cell cycle progression and targets only proliferating cells," Professor Dipak K Banerjee at the Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Puerto Rico in USA said today.
He was speaking about the new treatment technique at a symposium on 'recent advances in cancer biology' at the ongoing 102nd Indian Science Congress here.

According to Banerjee, clinical trials of glycotherapy on animals are currently on. Permission has been sought from the food and drug administration for its human trials.
Salil K Das, Professor of Biochemistry and Cancer Biology, Meharry Medical College, USA, while deliberating on the role of translocator protein in breast cancer progression, said soya protein has beneficial effect on breast cancer progression.
Soya as health food is good for reducing incidence of breast cancer and with soya protein the prognosis is better, he said.

Dinesh Daftary from dental section of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, said 32 per cent of cancers occur in the mouth.

He called for early detection of oral cancer and pre-cancer lesions saying that cause, course and cure of oral pre-cancer are well established. There is tendency of the lesions to regress on its own, if there is intervention in primary lesion, the regression is less, he said.
The incidence of pre-cancer lesion is prevalent among tobacco and non-tobacco eaters, he said adding that use of areca nut products is harmful. This could lead to increase in the incidence of oral cancer, he said.
Nearly 55,000 children take up tobacco (consumption) habit, while two per cent give it up after falling ill.

Some people pick up the habit of chewing tobacco while treating a toothache, he added.