Metabolic re-wiring and associated vulnerabilities in childhood cancers - a source of novel targeted therapeutics and improved treatments?

Approximately 1700 children are diagnosed with cancer in the UK each year with a quarter of those diagnosed dying before the age of 30. New treatments are needed to improve survival from childhood cancers and to reduce side effects from chemotherapy.

Most current treatments work by targeting dividing cells and causing DNA damage, however, these treatments can also damage normal healthy cells. Side effects from chemotherapy can be serious and affect the growing child’s physical and mental development. This toxicity towards normal cells limits the drug dose that can be used and its effectiveness.

The aim of this research is to exploit differences in the way normal and cancer cells in children obtain energy from food to grow and survive and differences in dependencies on particular proteins inside the cells as a result of this. We believe targeting such differences may provide a way to selectively kill cancer cells in children and to make the drugs we already use work better against cancer cells without such harm to normal cells. This could mean treatments are more effective at eradicating the cancer cells and preventing cancer spread or recurrence and are less toxic to healthy cells resulting in fewer side effects

Grant Award – Kidscan PhD Studentship (2017-2020)

Funding Award – £38,250

Funding Awarded ToDr Simon Allison

Research Location – University of Huddersfield

Lead ResearcherDr Simon Allison

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