Polish consortium searching for new anti-cancer compounds

The three roads to finding new anti-cancer compounds have been suggested by researchers, who under the supervision of Prof. Maciej Bagiński from the Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, will begin research in the program STRATEGMED. For this purpose they received funding from the National Centre for Research and Development in the amount of 19.6 million zlotys. Representatives of the Gdańsk University of Technology press office informed about the research project in the release sent to PAP.

"We propose to develop existing or search for new compounds that could be potential anticancer agents. We do not want to rely on a single plan, so we are preparing for work on five groups of compounds. We have developed three courses of action that should lead to impairing the function of telomeres" - said Prof. Maciej Bagiński.

At the end of each chromosome is a telomere (protein complex with telomeric DNA), which protects the chromosome from damage and ensures its proper functioning during copying. Telomere is shortened at each cell division. Telomeres function differently in normal and cancer cells. The idea is based on exploiting these differences.

"First we want to target the DNA directly, to block the access of telomeric proteins. We will use compounds developed at Gdańsk University of Technology that have a specific way of binding to telomeric DNA. Secondly, we intend to take advantage of telomerase, activity of which is increased in cancer cells . In this case we will use computer modelling. The third idea involves interfering with the protein - protein interaction in the area of telomere. The latter approach has never been proposed - lists the project leader.

The objective of the consortium is therefore the search for cancer drugs based on new molecular targets.

The project is scheduled for three years. That is not enough to create a complete drug. However, under the premise of the program STRATEGMED, the work of scientists should be completed with an application. In the case of drugs it should be at least a patent application.

"If we can develop and patent a compound exhibiting anticancer activity - and everyone would wish that - such compound may become the basis for a new cancer drug. It happens. You do not have to look far for an example. In the 1980s and 1990s Prof. Ryszard Andruszkiewicz collaborated with a team from the United States" - said Bagiński. He noted that the result of the work of the scientists was a compound that became an ingredient of a drug, whose global annual sales can be counted in billions of dollars.

The research project "New compounds with anticancer activity disrupting telomere functions" will be implemented in a consortium. In addition to the leader (Gdańsk University of Technology), the following institutions will participate in the project: University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk Medical University, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław, the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw, Regional Hospitals in Gdynia, the companies Innovabion and EU-CONSULT. The project will start in about six months.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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