A novel strategy of cancer therapy by enucleation

Current modalities of cancer therapy utilize different agents to block key steps involved in cell division. Newer agents also block specific parts of molecular pathways that are vital for survival of the cancer cells but cells may develop resistance to all these agents and their use may also be limited by toxic effects on healthy normal cells. There is increasing evidence that the seat of cancer may be located in cancer stem cells which seldom divide. This property protects them from most of the chemotherapeutic agents which act on dividing cells. Identification of markers for cancer stem cells has been difficult and targeted therapy towards them has been elusive. The hypothesis proposed here utilizes the phenomenon of enucleation that is commonly observed in maturing red blood cells. Specifically, by utilizing protein fragment complementation it proposes that cancer cells may be induced to undergo enucleation. The specific advantage of this system is that the cells lose their nucleus and hence the emergence of resistance is very unlikely. The system also utilizes the binding of cytoplasmic cancer specific proteins to render it specific to cancer cells. It has the advantage of potentially being effective in cancer stem cells which may be resistant to conventional modes of therapy.