Uptake mechanisms of cytostatics discovered
Tuesday, November 3, 2015 - 12:00
in Health & Medicine
How does a cytostatic like cisplatin or carboplatin actually get into the cell? Scientists have now succeeded in showing that the volume-regulated anion channel VRAC is 50 % responsible for active substance uptake. If one of the VRAC subunits LRRC8A or LRRC8D is down-regulated, cells take up considerably less of the anti-cancer drug. In addition to this finding, programmed cell death or apoptosis is also significantly disturbed when LRRC8A is missing. The researchers have thus identified a potential cause for therapy resistance, they suggest.