QUB Bowel Cancer 'Breakthrough'

Researchers at Queen’s University say they have made "a significant breakthrough" that could benefit patients with bowel cancer.

Study author Dr Sandra van Schaeybroeck and her team have discovered how genes cause bowel cancer cells to become resistant to treatment.

The research was funded by Cancer Research UK and published this month in the international journal Cell Reports.

The activity of the two genes, called MEK and MET, was uncovered by researchers when they looked at the different pathways and interactions taking place in bowel cancer cells.

Dr van Schaeybroeck and her group found that these bowel cancers can turn on a survival mechanism when they are treated with drugs that target faulty MEK genes. The bowel cancer cells were then killed when researchers added drugs that also block the MET gene.

The team is now experimenting with a new approach to target these two genes in aggressive forms of bowel cancer in a European Commission-funded clinical trial being led by Dr van Schaeybroeck.

Currently over 40,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK each year and over 16,000 patients die of the disease.

Study author Dr Sandra van Schaeybroeck, from the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB) at Queen’s University, said: "We have discovered how two key genes contribute to aggressive bowel cancer. Understanding how they are involved in development of the disease has also primed the development of a potential new treatment approach for this disease."

Queen’s University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Patrick Johnston, said: "Understanding the genes that cause bowel cancer is a key focus of our research. Our discoveries in this deadly disease have identified a new route to clinical application for cancer patients."

(IT/MH)