Sadly between 2-3 out of every 10 children in Britain diagnosed with cancer will not survive to adulthood. Kidscan wants to change this number to zero. Using your donations to fund research dedicated to childhood cancer is how we will get there.
A new drug designed and synthesised by University of Salford scientists supported by Kidscan has helped to discover a way of allowing healthy cells to take charge of cancerous cells, stopping them developing into tumours. This could provide a new approach to treating early-stage cancers. Researchers at Salford and the University of Manchester found that a special type of the chemicals known as ‘kinase inhibitors’ opened up communication channels on the surface of cells, enabling healthy cells to ‘talk’ to the cancer cells and make them behave like normal healthy cells.
A research project supported by Kidscan has shown that manipulation of the amino acid Methionine in the blood can affect the proliferation of cancer cells. It was found that depletion of Methionine made the cancer cells more resistant to the clinically-used anticancer drugs Cisplatinum and Temozolamide, indicating that modulation of Methionine may be damaging when used in combination with these drugs.
We have developed methods to monitor amino acid levels in the blood of patients undergoing treatment. This was part of a UK wide clinical study into improving response in patients undergoing treatment for A.L.L. (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia). Laboratory studies were carried out in parallel to determine how changes in amino acid levels similar to those seen in the patients affected response in cultured cancer cell lines in the laboratory.
We have demonstrated that combinations of the clinically-used drugs Methotrexate and Temozolamide demonstrate synergistic effects when used together. Synergism is when the activity of the drugs when given together is greater than the sum of the activities of the individual drugs. This may have positive implications in treatment.
Kidscan has funded studies that have identified new drugs that are effective in cancer cells which do not respond to currently used anti-cancer agents. We have also supported work on the design and evaluation of ‘magic bullet’ agents that are activated within the cancer cells to form drugs that are potent killers of cancer cells.
At Kidscan we are always looking at funding promising new research.
For more information on funding click the button to find out more.
Our Research Objectives influence the research projects we fund.
Find out more about our specific research objectives here.
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