Can AI help cure the most aggressive cancers?
Cancer types:
Bone cancer
Brain cancer
General cancer research
Project period:
–
Research institute:
Universita degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli
Award amount:
£219,800
Location:
Italy
Dr Sandro Coscanati is exploring a new way to target some of the hardest to treat cancers, including brain and bone cancer. By bringing together a multi-disciplinary team and applying the latest AI technology they hope to pin down the best potential new cures.
Why is this research needed?
Although research is helping cancer survival rates to rise, there are still some cancers that are particularly aggressive and hard to treat. One of the reasons some cancers are so hard to cure is that cancer cells have a variety of tricks up their sleeves that keep them surviving and thriving.
Dr Sandro Cosconati has noticed that a variety of these hard to treat cancers – including bone cancer and some brain cancers - share a common survival trait. He hopes that targeting this trait could be an powerful new way to stop these cancers in their tracks.
I want to extend my deepest gratitude to every Curestarter. Your generosity is the engine behind our discovery.
What is the science behind this project?
Your cells contain the genetic material DNA, which has all the instructions needed to keep you healthy. When your cells divide, there are caps on the end of the DNA called telomeres which normally shorten with each cell division, acting like an aging clock. Cancer cells, however, have sneaky ways to keep their telomeres long, helping them to divide uncontrollably.
Dr Sandro Cosconati thinks that this process of keeping telomeres long could be a good target for new cancer cures, since this process is common in aggressive cancers like bone cancer and some brain cancers. Because this telomere lengthening is only found in cancer cells, not healthy ones, it is a promising target for new treatments.
The team has discovered that these cancer cells that keep their telomeres long have a protein called FANCM that is crucial for their survival. Excitingly they have found they can kill the cancer cells by disrupting an interaction between FANCM and other proteins. Now, with your help, they are looking for new cures that target this interaction.
Powerful computers and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence will be used to search through billions of potential drugs, identifying those most likely to stop this crucial interaction. The most promising drug molecules will be tested in the lab and further improved to find out how they can best treat cancer.
What difference could this project make to patients in the future?
Aggressive cancers including bone cancer and some brain cancers currently have limited treatment options. By targeting a common trait these cancers share, the incredible team of Curestarter researchers hope to find new treatments that will work across multiple cancer types. They hope this project will lead to new cures that will improve survival rates as well as quality of life for patients.
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