NTU helps to develop cancer-fighting agent
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have helped to develop a molecular structure which can kill various tumour cells without causing much harm to healthy cells.
Along with a team from Lund University in Sweden, they based the complex on a protein naturally present in human breast milk.
This has been found to have strong and wide-ranging tumour-killing properties when bound to certain lipids – organic molecules that help to store energy and to form biological membranes.
The protein-lipid complex is known as Hamlet – an acronym for Human Alpha-lactabumin Made Lethal to Tumour cells.
The Swedish team first discovered Hamlet in 1995. It began collaborating with NTU three years ago when Professor Catharina Svanborg sought out Professor Gerhard Grueber’s team for its expertise in structural biology. Since then they have managed to develop it into a form in which it could potentially be manufactured for drug use.
In the research – led by Prof Svanborg and Dr Manoj Puthia from Lund and Prof Grueber from NTU’s School of Biological Sciences – Hamlet was shown to suppress colon cancer successfully in laboratory mice.
Currently, treatment for colon cancer usually involves surgery, radiotherapy and the use of drugs which come with many side effects. What is special about Hamlet is that its effects are specific to tumour cells and active only locally, said Prof Svanborg. It could also be preventive, which means people with a predisposition to colon cancer could cut their risk of developing tumours in the first place.
The scientists are now working to synthesise a more stable version of Hamlet which “can be much more resilient and survive in different environments”, said Prof Grueber.
The team hopes to conduct trials on Hamlet here and is in talks with local institutions and industry.
Colorectal cancer is the most common form of the illness here with 8,459 new cases diagnosed between 2007 and 2011.
“We are now ready to test Hamlet as a therapeutic and preventive agent in colon cancer, especially in families with the genetic predisposition where preventive options are limited,” said Prof Svanborg.
The team hopes to develop a commercially available product for doctors to use for cancer treatment in the next five to 10 years.
The findings were published recently in the scientific journals Gut and PLoS ONE.
Source: The Straits Times
Category: Technology & Devices
