New hope for cancer cure as a pill ‘annihilates all solid tumors’ thanks to a little girl

Cancer is facing a formidable adversary thanks to a 9-year-old girl whose smile is etched in one’s memory. This young girl has become the driving force behind a potent new weapon against cancer.

Scientists have created a medication comprising a compound named AOH1996 that seems to eradicate every form of solid tumors during early-stage studies, without causing any harm to normal cells.

AOH1996, a medication, is aptly titled in honor of Anna Olivia Healey, an Indiana native born in 1996, who bravely battled cancer.

“I knew I wanted to do something special for that little girl,” In a statement, Dr. Linda Malkas from the City of Hope in Duarte, California, a renowned cancer research institution, expressed her thoughts. “She died when she was only 9 years old from neuroblastoma, a children’s cancer that affects only 600 kids in America each year.”

Dr. Malkas encountered Anna’s relatives shortly before their young daughter succumbed to cancer, originating from the early stages of nerve cells, frequently detected in an unborn child or developing organism, as stated by the American Cancer Society in 2005.

“I met Anna’s father when she was at her end stages … he asked if I could do something about neuroblastoma and he wrote my lab a check for $25,000,” Malkas mentioned. “That was the moment that changed my life, my fork in the road.”

“We were too late to help Anna, but we could help others like her. I always say when you see me, there’s a small 9-year-old girl sitting on my right shoulder,” City of Hope’s Dr. Linda Malkas said.

AOH1996 symbolizes the apex of twenty years of research conducted by Dr. Malkas and the City of Hope.

The recently developed medication functions by focusing on a protein known as PCNA, or proliferating cell nuclear antigen. The altered version of PCNA contributes to the prosperous development and expansion of cancerous growths.

“PCNA is uniquely altered in cancer cells, and this fact allowed us to design a drug that targeted only the form of PCNA in cancer cells” and leaves healthy, normal cells alone, 68-year-old Dr. Malkas noted.

“Our cancer-killing pill is like a snowstorm that closes a key airline hub, shutting down all flights, but only in planes carrying cancer cells.”

The AOH1966 medication is presently undergoing a phase 1 clinical examination at the City of Hope. In prior experiments, AOH1996 effectively hindered the reproduction process of cancerous cells, resulting in their selective elimination.

The A.N.N.A. (Anna Needs Neuroblastoma Answers) Fund, a charitable organization, was established in 2002 in memory of young Anna, who tragically lost her life due to neuroblastoma. This fund has managed to accumulate over $400,000, which has been dedicated to the advancement of neuroblastoma research.

“My wife and I thought there was no way to fully thank friends, family, and strangers for their outpouring of love and support shown for our daughter. No way until the establishment of A.N.N.A.,” Anna’s 57-year-old father, Steve, posted on the family’s website that he manages with her age 56 mother, Barb Healey.

“Through awareness and monetary support by people like you, we will be able to pass that same love and concern on to other families in our situation,” Steve mentioned.

Due to its ability to eliminate cancer cells in various types of cancer, AOH1996 brings optimism for its potential application in the treatment of breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, cervical, skin, and lung cancers.

According to the study published in Cell Chemical Biology, Dr. Long Gu, associate research professor at City of Hope and lead author, stated that PCNA has never been focused on as a potential treatment due to its perceived “undruggable” nature.

“Now that we know the problem area and can inhibit it, we will dig deeper to understand the process to develop more personalized, targeted cancer medicines.”

A supplementary advantage of AOH1996 is its capacity to increase the susceptibility of cancer cells to substances that induce harm to cellular DNA or chromosomes, like the chemotherapy medication cisplatin.

This implies that the potential of fresh medication could eventually be harnessed as a valuable asset in combined treatments, as well as in the creation of novel chemotherapy treatments.

“We were too late to help Anna, but we could help others like her. I always say when you see me, there’s a small 9-year-old girl sitting on my right shoulder. She’s my touchstone,” Dr. Malkas said.