Abdul
Gani
Guwahati:
The long and elusive global hunt for a cure to cancer now has an Assam link.
Assam-born research scientist Bikul Das, based at the Stanford University
School of Medicine in the US, has made a major breakthrough towards cracking
the elusive cancer code, or a part of it. In a research, Das has shown that
certain human embryonic stem cells, in times of stress, produce molecules that
not only benefit themselves, but help nearby cells survive.
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| Dr Das at his lab. |
Scientists are working towards using embryonic stem
cells as therapy for many diseases.
Das’ work is expected to help enhance the therapy
and also reduce side-effects and in the process prevent some stem cells turning
cancerous.
“Altruism has been reported among bacterial
populations and among humans and other animals, like monkeys and elephants. But
in mammalian cells — at the cellular level — the idea of altruism has never
been described before,” Das told Seven Sisters Post.
While altruism is generally thought of as a virtue,
it can have a downside for human embryonic stem cells HESCs: the altruistic
cells appear to be more prone to accumulating mutations, a sign that they could
lead to cancers. A better understanding of HESC altruism could provide new insights
into cancer therapies, as well as improving scientists’ ability to develop safe
and effective stem cell treatments for other diseases.
“By understanding the molecular mechanism of how
normal stem cell become cancer stem cell can lead to cancer cure. The issue is
mainly stem cell therapy. Cancer is the secondary focus,” added Das, who is the
lead author of a paper that documents altruistic behaviour by HESCs.
The finding arose from Das’ research into how HESCs
react to low-oxygen environments, important because many cancerous tumours are
low in oxygen. These cells have the capability to develop into many different
cell types through a process called differentiation. Scientists had previously
shown that when embryonic stem cells are under stress, levels of HIF2-alpha and
p53 both goes up and most of the cells differentiate or die.
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| Dr Das during a visit in Arunachal Pradesh |
What makes this study unique is t hat Das and
colleagues were able to isolate the altruistic cells that exhibit a low p53
level, which helps them to escape death or differentiation. Most importantly,
Das discovered that the level of p53 fluctuates in the altruistic fraction in a
pattern that keeps the p53 at low level, thereby interrupting the regular
oscillation. The fluctuation of p53 protein, known in scientific language as “p53
oscillation” could occur in any given cell in a set pattern over time, after
the cells are exposed to stress.
Depending on where the p53 level in the cycle (high
or low), stem cells either stop their normal cell cycle, die or repair
mutations in their DNA to continue living. Das got $100,000 as grant from the
Gates Foundation for his research endeavour. So far, he has also received more
than half-a-million dollar grant from government and private foundations of
North America to conduct his research on cancer and stem cells.
Before coming to Stanford in 2009, Das did his PhD
in Molecular Oncology from the Institute of Medical Science, University of
Toronto. Earlier, he spent six years (19941999) practicing internal medicine in
India and Bhutan after completing his MBBS in 1993 from the Guwahati Medical
College and Hospital (GMCH). He is the author of 15 journal articles, book
chapters, and books. He serves on the editorial advisory board of Stem Cells
International, and reviewed more than thirty journal articles.
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| Dr Das with his family members |
Das has also been awarded several international
awards, including the Schweisguth prize by the International Society of
Pediatric Oncology, Harold E Johns Award by the Canadian Cancer Society and
Scholar-intraining award by the American Association of Cancer Research and
Japanese Cancer Society. Since his days at the GMCH, Das was interested in the
single cell — how a cell divides and grows, and how this growth is controlled.
But he decided to do research on cancer after seeing his father suffer and die
of cancer.
“I saw my father, late Krishna Ram Das suffering
from esophageal cancer when I was about to start my post-graduate training in
New Delhi. Then I decided to further expand my own ideas on cell growth and
cancer, and do research on cancer. So, I started thinking on my own ideas on
cell growth, about why some cells grow out of control to become cancerous
cells,” Das, who hails from Sualkuchi of Kamrup district, said.
Initially, he started to learn medicine by attending
to patients at his independent chamber at his village Sualkuchi which helped
him do self-study. “The independent practice gave me enough time to study and
further develop on my ideas on researching against cancer,” he added.
Das, who vowed to continue his work on stem cell and
altruism, advocated a corruption-free society for further development and
growth medical education system. “We have smart doctors and educators. Once the
society decides to live a corruption-free healthy life, doctors will do much
better job, because it is easier to grow and develop a medical education system
in a corruption free society,” he said.
He also has a piece of advice for the youths. “I
just followed my own heart. Let’s do whatever you like to do, but ready to face
the consequences and do not complain too much,” he said. (Seven Sisters Post)
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