Phosphoaspirin (MDC-43) a novel benzyl ester of aspirin, inhibits the Essay

Phosphoaspirin (MDC-43) a novel benzyl ester of aspirin, inhibits the growth of human cancer cells - Essay Example This study by Zhao, Mackenzie, Murray, Zhang, and Rigas (2009) aims to observe the anticancer activity and mechanism of the new phosphoaspirin (MDC-43). For the purpose of this study, several reagents were purchased, or gifted, from different pharmacological companies. Cell cultures were grown in the laboratory in line with the American Type Culture Collection instructions. The trypan blue exclusion method was used to measure the cell viability and growth. Moreover, the cell cycles were analyzed following standard PI protocols (Zhao, Mackenzie, Murray, Zhang, and Rigas 2009, p. 512). Human cancer cells derived from colon, pancreas, breast, liver and lung were used in this study; these are some of the major and most common forms of cancer and account for around â€Å"54% of all new cases of cancer in the USA† (Zhao, Mackenzie, Murray, Zhang, and Rigas 2009, p. 517). All cell lines that were studied showed that Phosphoaspirin was more powerful than aspirin in preventing cancer cell growth (Zhao, Mackenzie, Murray, Zhang, and Rigas 2009, p. 513). Moreover, phosphoaspirin was also shown to stimulate the creation of reactive oxygen species (Zhao, Mackenzie, Murray, Zhang, and Rigas 2009, p. 514). The study also observed that phosphoaspirin had an inverse effect on thiol levels in the cells, and produced intrinsic apoptosis (Zhao, Mackenzie, Murray, Zhang, and Rigas 2009, p. 514-516). Furthermore, the phosphoaspirin also increased cell signaling in some cells, however, the effect was limited to protein activation alone (Zhao, Mackenzie, Murray, Zhang, and Rigas 2009, p. 516). The data collected by the study clearly demonstrated that phosphoaspirin has a strong reduction effect on human cancer cells. Moreover, the effect is stronger than that of aspirin, as well as being more generalized. The strength of phosphoaspirin was found to be more uniformly superior to ordinary aspirin; however, no reason