Re:Why cancer cells waste so much energy
by scythe on Friday January 15, 2021 @07:15PM
(#25798462)
>Not so radioactive that the person is harmed but radioactive enough to pack an extra punch to the metabolically starved, and therefore stressed, cancer cells (who are drawing more of the glucose to themselves).
Tritium will be transferred to proteins and retained in the body. A low-calorie diet won't help: when the glucose enters the citric acid cycle, the 3H will end up everywhere. 18FDG, used for PET, is also concentrated in the kidneys and bladder, ruling it out for therapy. If it were that easy to find something uptaken only by tumors, we'd be using it.
In brachytherapy, we do something like this, except we put a solid radiation source inside the tumor. Nonetheless, the treatment has serious side effects.
Tritium will be transferred to proteins and retained in the body. A low-calorie diet won't help: when the glucose enters the citric acid cycle, the 3H will end up everywhere. 18FDG, used for PET, is also concentrated in the kidneys and bladder, ruling it out for therapy. If it were that easy to find something uptaken only by tumors, we'd be using it.
In brachytherapy, we do something like this, except we put a solid radiation source inside the tumor. Nonetheless, the treatment has serious side effects.