Saccharin to be used to treat Aggressive Cancers

Saccharin is utilized as a sweetener in many sugar-free products, and now researchers are proposing that it could be used as a key ingredient in new drugs for treating aggressive cancers with fewer side effects. "It never ceases to amaze me how a simple molecule, such as saccharin, something many people put in their coffee every day, may have untapped uses, including as a possible lead compound to target aggressive cancers," says study author Robert McKenna, PhD, from the University of Florida. Saccharin's potential use in the development of new anticancer drugs is due to the way in which it binds to and deactivates a protein called carbonic anhydrase IX. This protein is found in some aggressive cancers and plays a role in the proliferation of these cancers in the brain, breast, kidneys, liver, lungs and pancreas.
Due to the way in which saccharin interacts with carbonic Anhydrase IX, the researchers want to use it as a base for drugs that could restrict the growth of cancer and make cancerous cells potentially more vulnerable to other therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Carbonic Anhydrase IX regulates the pH of cancer cells and their surroundings, maintaining levels of acidity that are optimum for the growth and spread of cancer to other parts of the body. As carbonic anhydrase IX is not typically found in most healthy human cells, McKenna states that it is a prime target for anticancer drugs.