Cancer cells poisoned with sugar - health - 04 December 2011 - New Scientist

IT'S a heavy price to pay for a sweet tooth. Researchers have tricked glucose-eating cancer cells into consuming a sugar that essentially poisons them - it leaves a ">glucose-eating cancer cells into consuming a sugar that essentially poisons them - it leaves a "suicide" switch within the cells open to attack.

"Most cancer cells rely almost exclusively on glucose to fuel their growth," says Guy Perkins of the University of California at San Diego. With Rudy Yamaguchi of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, Perkins found the cells would take up a similar sugar called 2-deoxyglucose. But this sugar physically dislodges a protein within the cell that guards a suicide switch. Once exposed, the switch can be activated by a drug called Yamaguchi and Perkins are now hoping to mount a clinical trial at UC San Diego.

via newscientist.com