For years, doctors and scientists wrestled with a frustrating mystery: why does cancer often come back, even after successful chemotherapy? Patients would respond well to treatment, only for the disease to resurface later. The answer, it turns out, lies with a tiny but mighty group of cells.

Unmasking the Culprit: Cancer Stem Cells

Recent research has shed light on a fascinating discovery: cancer doesn’t just originate from any tumor cell. Instead, it seems to stem from a small fraction (just 1-2%) of cells known as Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs). These aren’t your average cancer cells; they possess remarkable abilities similar to normal stem cells, including:

• Self-renewal: They can make copies of themselves indefinitely.

• Unlimited propagation: They can multiply without limits.

• Multipotent differentiation: They can transform into different types of cells found within the tumor.

Think of them as the “masterminds” of the tumor, capable of regenerating the entire cancer even after most of the other cells have been wiped out by treatment. This explains why conventional chemotherapy, which primarily targets rapidly dividing cancer cells, often leaves CSCs unscathed, setting the stage for relapse.

The New Frontier: Targeting CSCs and Minimizing Toxicity

This understanding has ignited a new focus in cancer therapy. The urgent need now is to develop treatments that can eliminate both the bulk of cancer cells and these resilient CSCs.

At SATHGEN THERAPEUTICS, we’re at the forefront of this fight. Our approach to anticancer drug discovery prioritizes two crucial factors:

1. Anti-CSC Activity: We’re specifically looking for drugs that can effectively kill cancer stem cells. In the lab, we use a unique method to study this:

   • Sphere Formation: We can culture cancer stem cells in special conditions where they form spheres. This “sphere formation” is a fantastic way to identify and enrich the CSC population.

   • By testing new drugs against these spheres, we can measure how well they reduce the sphere count compared to standard chemotherapy. The drug that causes the greatest reduction becomes a promising candidate.

2. Non-Toxicity to Normal Cells: A major drawback of current chemotherapy is its harsh impact on healthy cells, leading to severe side effects. We address this by:

   • Testing potential drug candidates on cells from healthy volunteers.

   • Selecting only those drugs that show no activity against normal cells, significantly minimizing side effects for patients.

A Brighter Future for Cancer Treatment

By focusing on both anti-CSC activity and non-toxicity, SATHGEN THERAPEUTICS is committed to developing innovative anticancer drugs that not only effectively combat the disease but also improve the quality of life for patients by reducing side effects and, most importantly, preventing cancer relapse.

References:

1. Chu, X. et al. Cancer Stem Cells: advances in knowledge and implications for cancer therapy. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy 9, 170 (2024).

2. Min, S. O. et al. Ideal sphere-forming culture to maintain pluripotency in a hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. Cancer Cell Int. 15, 95 (2015).

3. Juthani, R. et al. New light on Chemotherapy toxicity and its prevention. BJC Reports 2, 41 (2024).