Cancer cells behave differently from 'normal' cells in their vicinity. They grow and divide with little restraint and many cancer treatments target them by their rapid growth. Unfortunately, other rapidly dividing cells, such as in the gut, are also killed in the process. A tumour is made up of a heterogeneous mix of cells which have acquired a range of mutations, some of which cause overexpression of particular proteins. Drug therapies which target those proteins inevitably only eliminate a subset of the tumour cells, with the remaining tumour cells resistant to that treatment.
Research at CamOncology has led to an alternative approach from those traditionally used in treating cancer. The extracellular matrix (ECM) which surrounds tumour cells is distinct from that found in healthy tissue in terms of molecular make-up. By targetting the ECM rather than the cells themselves we are developing drug therapies that modify the tumour environment selectively over the healthy tissue environment. This novel approach focusses on preventing tumour cells from migrating and invading healthy tissue as well as killing the cancer cells.
The ECM provides cells with information on how to behave and when to migrate. By application of a drug which densely crosslinks the tumour ECM, leaving healthy ECM largely unaffected, these messages are scrambled which can lead to cell death. The crosslinking also creates a chemical net which impedes migration and therefore metastasis. This two-pronged approach has delivered promising results in our extensive in vitro research in 3D tumour matrices, leading to in vivo data based on two different mouse models of glioblastoma, our initial cancer target. We expect this approach to be more widely applicable across a range of cancers.
Copyright © 2024 CamOncology - All Rights Reserved.
Company number 11658105