US Scientists Develop New ‘Cancer-Stopping Pill’ That Can ‘Annihilate’ Tumors, Leave Healthy Cells Unharmed

The targeted chemotherapy is now being tested on humans

The City of Hope-developed small molecule AOH1996 targets a cancerous variant of the protein PCNA. In its mutated form, PCNA is critical in DNA replication and repair of all expanding tumors. Image shows untreated cancer cells (L) and cancer cells treated with AOH1996 (R) undergoing programmed cell death (violet). Courtesy of City of Hope

A group of U.S. researchers has developed a new “cancer-killing pill” that could target and kill solid tumors while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

That’s according to their preclinical research findings, published on Aug. 1 in the Cell Chemical Biology journal.