The labs from Oncode Investigators René Bernards and Leila Akkari (NKI) have published the results of important research in Nature.

Many combinations of cancer medicines could theoretically work very well together, but in practice these combinations are too toxic for the body to withstand. The researchers devised a possible alternative: the 'one-two punch', named after the effective combination of two quick successive punches in boxing.

Leila Akkari says: “In cancers that are particularly challenging to treat as hepatocellular carcinoma in the liver, inducing a specific vulnerability in tumor cells that could then be exploited represents promising therapeutic avenues. We present the first report of an effective pro-senescence therapy followed by a senolytic treatment that eliminates cancer cells purposely made senescent. This “one-two punch’ approach led to clear therapeutic effects in multiple in vitro and in vivo models of liver cancers carrying TP53 gene mutations, and could potentially be extended to other tumor types.”

Read more information about this research on the NKI website via:

https://www.nki.nl/topmenu/about-the-nki/news/boxing-move-knocks-cancer-cells-out/