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Health & Fitness

Naturally Occurring Protein Can Stunt Tumor Growth

By David P. Wu, MD

Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University’s Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have discovered a naturally occurring protein that circulates in the blood (decorin) that acts as a potent inhibitor of cancer tumor growth.

Decorin has already been known to affect other biological processes in the body including inflammatory responses, wound healing, and angiogenesis (a process from which new blood vessels form from pre-existing blood vessels). Now decorin is being labeled as the “Soluble Tumor Repressor.”

The discovery revealed that decorin specifically targets new blood vessels (which are pushed to grow by the cancer tumor) and forces those new blood vessel cells to “eat” internal components, reducing their potential to feed the cancer and causing an inhibition of tumor progression.

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Researchers decided that the presence of decorin in the surrounding areas of the cancerous tumor is essential to controlling the growth of the tumor and the formation of new blood vessels.

David Wu, M.D., a Medical Oncologist with Diablo Valley Oncology. He practices at the California Cancer and Research Institute in Pleasant Hill. For more information, call 925-677-5041.

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