Can a new treatment target triple-negative breast cancer?
Cancer types:
Breast cancer
Project period:
–
Research institute:
University of Bradford
Award amount:
£190,166
Location:
United Kingdom
Dr Klaus Pors and his team in the UK are working with researchers in South Africa to develop a new treatment for triple-negative breast cancer, a difficult to treat cancer that often comes back. Their work will bring hope to the thousands of people affected by this cancer worldwide every year.
Why is this research needed?
For every 100 people diagnosed with breast cancer, around 15 (15%) will have triple-negative breast cancer. This cancer can affect men but it is much more common in women- especially women with African heritage, and those under 40 years old. It can also be particularly dangerous because it tends to grow fast. This makes it more difficult to treat, and more likely to come back if it is not fully cleared by the treatment.
Finding better ways to target triple-negative breast cancer and stop it from coming back is a huge challenge for cancer research. Excitingly, Dr Pors has a bright new idea for doing just this. It involves sneaking drug molecules into cancer cells, where they can attack the cell from the inside.
In this project the team will work with researchers in South Africa, where there are high rates of triple negative breast cancer, to learn a new technology and develop their idea. They hope to lay essential groundwork for a new way to target triple-negative breast cancer, and bring fresh hope for everyone affected by the disease.
We are incredibly grateful to the Curestarters for donations that make our research possible. The funding enables our team to get one step closer to developing new tumour-targeted therapeutics with clinical potential.
What is the science behind this project?
Dr Pors’s exciting idea revolves around a tiny molecule called chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4). CSPG4 molecules stick to the surface of many cancer cells, including triple-negative cells. They are involved in several processes, including helping cancer cells move, and stick together.
Importantly, CSPG4 is only found at low levels on healthy cells. This means any new treatment could potentially target cancer cells while avoiding healthy cells. This will help to make it more accurate, and kinder. Dr Pors and his team think CSPG4 could be an ideal target for a new drug. So they are using an innovative technology, called SNAP-tag, to design one.
SNAP-tag can join different types of molecules together, and the team will use it to make a special protein molecule that is bound to a toxic drug molecule. The protein will be designed to stick to CSPG4, so it can be taken up into the cancer cell. Once inside, the drug will act much like a ‘Trojan horse’. It will release the toxin, and kill the cell.
The team in South Africa who are collaborating with Dr Pors know exactly how to do SNAP-tag. So one of Dr Pors team will spend time there learning the new technology and exchanging ideas, before returning to the UK to carry on the work.
The team can then begin the painstaking process of developing and testing their ideas. Initially, they need to work out how to make the most effective Trojan horse proteins. Next, they must test whether these proteins can kill cancer cells grown in the lab, while leaving healthy cells alone.
Importantly, the team will also test whether any potential treatment based on this idea could also target triple-negative breast cancer stem cells. Stem cells are an early type of cancer cell that can be particularly resistant to treatment. Researchers think these cells could be a driving force behind cancer when it comes back after treatment.
What difference could this project make to patients in the future?
We don’t yet have a treatment that specifically targets cancer stem cells. If this treatment shows promise, it could be life-changing. Not just for people with triple-negative breast cancers, but also for others with difficult to treat cancers that are at risk of returning.
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