A scientific study by a faculty member at the College of Pharmacy is close to inhibiting stomach cancer cells.
Mr. Diaa Rahim Al-Tamimi, Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and a faculty member at the College of Pharmacy, published his scientific research entitled:
(The effect of celastrol in combination with 5-fluorouracil on proliferation and apoptosis of gastric cancer cell lines)
In the journal (Research Oncology), which is indexed in Scopus and Clarivate, and in the third quarter (Q3).
The research focused on the challenges of treating gastric cancer despite the availability of chemotherapy drugs such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), as drug resistance and side effects remain obstacles to treatment effectiveness. The study aimed to evaluate the synergistic effect of celastrol when used concomitantly with 5-FU on gastric cancer cell lines (AGS and EPG85-257).
The results showed that combined treatment with low concentrations of celastrol and (5-FU) led to a significant decrease in the (half-inhibitory concentration IC50), compared to using each drug alone, in addition to a higher stimulation of programmed cell death (apoptosis) and inhibition of cancer cell proliferation. The study also showed that the combination of the two compounds contributed to stopping the cell cycle at the synthesis stage.
The research concludes that celastrol may contribute to reducing the doses of (5-FU) needed to control stomach cancer cells, opening up promising therapeutic prospects, with the need for more future studies to confirm its effectiveness as an anti-cancer agent.
This scientific progress confirms the keenness of the staff at the College of Pharmacy to contribute to the production of sound research that contributes to the development of medical knowledge and the service of society.