The drug combination, arsenic trioxide (Trisenox)and tretinoin (also known as retinoic acid), has essentially turned acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) from a fatal disease into a curable one. But the mechanism by which it kills cancer cells has been a mystery.
In an earlier study, Kun Ping Lu, M.D., Ph.D., and Xiao Zhen Zhou, M.D., of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, and their colleagues found that retinoic acid inhibits the key enzyme, Pin1. Now, they've found that arsenic also blocks Pin1, and the combination of the two drugs inhibits the enzyme more effectively than either drug alone
In an earlier study, Kun Ping Lu, M.D., Ph.D., and Xiao Zhen Zhou, M.D., of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, and their colleagues found that retinoic acid inhibits the key enzyme, Pin1. Now, they've found that arsenic also blocks Pin1, and the combination of the two drugs inhibits the enzyme more effectively than either drug alone
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