SOUTHAMPTON scientists have taken a significant step towards revolutionising cancer treatment for patients.

The team at the University of Southampton have discovered a ground-breaking way of starving and killing cancer cells which could potentially lead to a new treatment for the killer disease that leaves healthy cells unharmed.

Currently, most traditional treatments, such as radiotherapy, cannot pinpoint cancer cells, which means the body’s healthy cells also find themselves under attack.

But this latest study has identified a specific protein that is not normally in normal cells but seems to help cancerous cells survive.

If blocked from doing its job, experts believe this could represent a significant breakthrough for cancer treatments.

Chris Proud, pictured, professor of cellular regulation in biological sciences at the University of Southampton, said: “Cancer cells grow and divide much more rapidly than normal cells, meaning they have a much higher demand for and are often starved of, nutrients and oxygen.

“We have discovered that a cellular component, eEF2K, plays a critical role in allowing cancer cells to survive nutrient starvation, whilst normal, healthy cells do not usually require eEF2K in order to survive.

“Therefore, by blocking the function of eEF2K, we should be able to kill cancer cells, without harming normal, healthy cells in the process.”

Prof Proud and the team are now working with other labs, including pharmaceutical companies, to develop and test drugs that block eEF2K.