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The anti cancer project presentation is updated and will be presented soon.
Cancer
More than 25 million people are affected by cancer globally, and an estimated 7-8 million people are dying of this disease each year. Despite the availability of several effective anticancer drugs on the market, new treatments are clearly needed to reduce this high mortality. In a market currently valued around 50 billion US dollars, cancer chemotherapies have a remarkable growth potential and may revolutionize cancer treatments over the next 10 years. Normal cells die in a controlled way through a process called apoptosis (programmed cell death). Cancer cells avoid the normal induction of apoptosis, but still have pathways which can be stimulated to induce cell death, providing a basis for development of compounds specifically stimulating these pathways. Unfortunately, current chemotherapy does not only target cancer cells, but also normal cells. Since most current anti-cancer drugs interfere with DNA synthesis and/or repair, cells that divide rapidly, including those in the bone marrow and skin, hair-producing cells, and the cells in the digestive system, are particularly prone to side effects. In addition, non-selective cytotoxicity towards slowly dividing cells may also limit the clinical usefulness of anti-cancer drugs. The development of more efficient, specific and, thereby, less toxic anticancer drugs is thus highly desirable.
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