Can a virus be adapted into a childhood cancer cure?
Cancer types:
Sarcoma
Project period:
–
Research institute:
German Cancer Research Center
Award amount:
£205,961
Location:
Germany
Dr Knott and his team in Germany are exploring a creative new cure for a cancer that affects children and teenagers. They will create a virotherapy by modifying a virus in the lab, arming it with the tools needed to target and attack rhabdomyosarcoma.
Why is this research needed?
Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue cancer in children and teenagers and it develops from muscle cells. It can be very serious, especially as it has often spread by the time it is diagnosed which makes it difficult to cure.
Dr Knott is looking to bring hope to families around the world affected by rhabdomyosarcoma. He has a great idea to use a virus to treat this cancer and in this project he will explore how to make this a reality.
Your support makes this research possible, and that means more than words can fully express. You are not just funding science but helping create opportunities for discoveries that could change patients’ lives in the future.
What is the science behind this project?
Virotherapies are an innovative cancer treatment that reprograms viruses so that rather than causing us harm, they can target and destroy cancer cells. Dr Knott and his team are now applying this exciting technology to rhabdomyosarcoma.
Like other cancers, rhabdomyosarcoma, is caused by certain mutations, mistakes in our DNA that can have terrible consequences. But rather than trying to target these mutations, as other treatments do, the team have a cunning idea to harness these mutations as part of the therapeutic success.
They will engineer tumour-specific viruses to recognise rhabdomyosarcoma and selectively infect and kill cancer cells whilst leaving healthy cells untouched. By working with virus experts and clinicians they will learn from previous virotherapy projects and be well placed to develop game-changing treatments that can be taken into clinical trials.
What difference could this project make to patients in the future?
Rhabdomyosarcoma is rare but deadly and most children affected are under 10 years old. We urgently need new cures for this devastating cancer.
Thanks to Curestarters this project hopes to pave the way to a whole new way of treating rhabdomyosarcoma using an innovative treatment called virotherapy. They believe they can find a way to help children and young people diagnosed with this cancer and provide much needed hope to their families.
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