The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 30, 2013
Filed:
Jul. 15, 2010
Sharon Mckenna, Co. Cork, IE;
Gerald C. O'sullivan, Cork, IE;
Tracey O'donovan, Co. Cork, IE;
Abstract
The invention is based on the surprising finding that treatment with a chemotherapeutic agent such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and an autophagy inducer effectively inhibit the continued growth of, and prevent the recovery following drug withdrawal, of cancer cells. In vivo, drug resistance from a failure to adequately engage in apoptotic programmed cell death leads to a recurrence of cancer and tumours can remain dormant for periods of time before re-emerging as drug resistant metastases. It has been hypothesised that autophagy (Type II cell death) may help cancer cells survive in response to growth limiting conditions, such as nutrient depletion, hypoxia, absence of growth factor, or presence of cytotoxic drug. LiCl is a known autophagy inducer and accelerates cell survival to autophagic programmed cell death.