Can we switch off the vital machinery that drives bowel cancer growth?
Cancer types:
Bowel cancer
Project period:
–
Research institute:
Fima Fundación Para la Investigación Médica Aplicada
Award amount:
£246,754
Location:
Spain
Dr Maite Huarte and her team in Spain are investigating a possible new way to stop bowel cancer by switching off some important molecular machinery that helps to regulate cancer cell growth. Their work could lead to new cures for patients - especially those with faster growing types of bowel cancer that can be more difficult to treat.
Why is this research needed?
Bowel cancer was the third most diagnosed cancer in 2022 worldwide, and the second leading cause of cancer death. We desperately need new cures to help the thousands of people who develop the disease every year. Particularly those with more aggressive types of bowel cancer, who may have fewer treatment options.
Finding new treatments for bowel cancer takes determination and brilliant discovery science. It involves picking apart exactly how cancer works, and finding a weak spot, an ‘Achilles' heel’ that that no one has ever found before.
Dr Huarte and her team have been working tenaciously and they have found a new type of weak spot in cancer cells. During this project they will gather vital understanding about how to target this weak spot with new treatments, making the first important steps towards innovative life-saving cures.
Unfortunately, we all have family and friends who have been affected by cancer. We want to channel our strong passion for science into helping people.
What is the science behind this project?
Cancer cells can divide very fast, helping tumours to grow quickly. As a result, the molecular machinery inside cancer cells that drive cell division must often work on overtime. Eventually the machinery can become stressed, and start to make big mistakes. Finding ways to interfere with this machinery can be an effective way to target cancer.
Dr Maite Huarte and her team have been investigating a very important piece of cell machinery. It makes copies of DNA, a genetic material that tells our cells how to live. When this machinery doesn’t work well it produces mistakes in the DNA, and this can mean real trouble for cancer cells.
The team are also very interested in another type of genetic molecule, called RNA. Surprisingly, they have found that this type of molecule seems to help regulate the DNA machinery. They think this finding could be the first seed of a bold new idea for stopping cancer.
To find out, the team will work closely with doctors who treat bowel cancer patients.
They will use data from patient samples of bowel cancer, along with cancer cells grown in the lab to get a better understanding of how RNA might control DNA machinery.
They also hope to synthesise and test in the lab a special type of genetic molecule called an aptamer. This is designed to block RNA molecules from interacting with the machinery. They hope to show that blocking RNA like this can increase the stress on cancer cells, and lead to their destruction.
What difference could this project make to patients in the future?
About 4 in 10 patients with bowel cancer have a special DNA mutation in their cancer cells called KRAS. This mutation makes cells divide very fast indeed. These cancers can sometimes be more difficult to treat, and patient outlook can be worse. So, during this project, Dr Huarte and her team will also study whether their new approach could be a much-needed new path towards targeting this more aggressive type of bowel cancer - offering real hope for patients and families.
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