Can we reduce the risk of secondary cancer for people treated with chemotherapy?
Cancer types:
General cancer research
Project period:
–
Research institute:
Universita degli Studi di Torino
Award amount:
£195,498
Location:
Italy
Professor Alessandra Ghigo and her team are finding out why some people develop secondary cancers as a long-term side-effect of chemotherapy. They hope to develop new ways to prevent and treat these cancers, and improve the lives of everyone who is affected.
Why is this research needed?
Thanks to amazing advances in testing and treatments the number of people surviving cancer and living longer is growing. But people often have to deal with devastating side-effects from their cancer treatment. With some treatments, there can even sometimes be an increased risk of developing other types of cancer later in life. These are called ‘secondary cancers’.
Professor Alessandra Ghigo and her team have already found some exciting results that hint to why some cancer treatments might cause secondary cancers. With this funding, they can now take this work much further and establish exactly what the connection is.
Their findings will help to improve how we monitor for long-term side-effects of cancer treatments, and find new ways to prevent and treat secondary cancers. It will ultimately also help to develop better and kinder cures for everyone affected by cancer.
The funding from Worldwide Cancer Research will allow my team to embark on a new research initiative that has long been a cherished goal. With the esteemed reputation of Worldwide Cancer Research, this support will also help me expand my team by attracting early-career investigators eager to explore this exciting new field of cancer inflammation and epigenetics.
What is the science behind this project?
Patients treated with a chemotherapy drug called doxorubicin can be more likely to develop secondary cancers later in life. How and why doxorubicin does this is still unclear, but Professor Ghigo has some evidence that suggests the drug might help to create conditions in some parts of the body that are more ‘friendly’ to cancer growth.
Professor Ghigo also has some very surprising data suggesting that mice who have parents who were treated with doxorubicin also seem to inherit these cancer-friendly conditions. This could make them more likely to develop cancer too.
The team think that doxorubicin may actually be altering the immune system in a way that makes it easier for the cancer to come back. Because these changes appear to be passed on to the next generation, it suggests that they are working in an ‘epigenetic’ way. This means the drug is affecting how DNA is activated in some of our cells, and these changes are then passed on.
These are really big ideas that come with huge potential to change how we prevent and treat cancer. But first the team need to confirm their ideas. Thanks to your support, they can now investigate how doxorubicin changes the immune system in adult mice, and also in their young. They will then investigate how blocking these changes could stop cancer from coming back.
What difference could this project make to patients in the future?
This important work is a first step towards helping people at risk of developing long-term side-effects from their cancer treatment, and ultimately preventing more cancers. If this work is replicated in humans too, it could also help us to understand if these risks can be passed on to children, and how we can best care for families who have been through cancer.
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