Breakthrough Treatment Slows Growth of Bowel and Liver Cancers

Researchers from the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute in Glasgow have discovered why certain cancer-causing genes trigger tumours only in specific tissues, focusing on the bowel and liver. They studied genetic faults that allow cancer to hijack the WNT signalling pathway, which controls when cells grow or stop growing. The team found that these faults lead to high levels of a growth-controlling protein called nucleophosmin (NPM1) in bowel cancer and some liver cancers. Blocking this protein could open the door to new treatments for cancers that exploit this growth pathway. Prof Owen Sansom of the University of Glasgow, the lead researcher on the project and a director of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, said: “Because NPM1 isn’t essential for normal adult tissue health, blocking it could be a safe way to treat certain cancers, like some hard-to-treat bowel and liver cancers. “We found that if NPM1 is removed, cancer cells struggle to make proteins properly and this allows a tumour suppressor to activate, preventing cancer growth. “Increasing numbers of people are affected by these cancers, with some treatments unfortunately limited for some patients, so finding a new way to tackle these cancers is crucial.” b' ' The research is part of the SpecifiCancer project, which focuses on why some cancer-causing genes only cause cancers in specific tissues, and identified a way to target some of the genetic errors that cause hard-to-treat cancers in those organs. Scotland has one of the highest rates of bowel cancer and liver cancer in the UK. There are about 4,200 people in the UK diagnosed with bowel cancer per year and it remains the second most common cause of cancer death in Scotland, claiming about 1,700 lives annually. A recent study by the American Cancer Society published in The Lancet Oncology showed early-onset bowel cancer rates in adults aged 25-49 are rising in 27 of 50 countries studied, and are faster in young women in Scotland and England than in young men. About 670 people die from liver cancer each year in Scotland. Proteins are essential for the body to build structures such as skin, hair or other tissue, but sometimes the body’s messaging system goes wrong, causing tumours to grow. This can be caused by mutations in the body’s messaging system, which pass on the wrong instructions from DNA, causing the cells to grow uncontrollably. SpecifiCancer was co-funded by Cancer Research UK and the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research in 2019 to understand why some cancer-causing genes only cause cancers in specific tissues, seeking patterns to find new treatments more personalised to a patient or particular area of the body. Bowel and liver cancers were the focus of the latest research, but the team hope its findings could be applicable to other cancers. Researchers will then seek medical treatments which block the production of the NPM1 protein. Existing treatments can slow tumour growth so if a new drug can be discovered to target NPM1 in the same way, it could provide a safe and effective way to treat certain cancers. Dr David Scott, director of Cancer Grand Challenges, said: “Scientific breakthroughs like this demonstrate the power of Cancer Grand Challenges to bring together the world’s best minds to transform our understanding of how cancer starts and, crucially, how we treat it. “By scrutinising the fundamental processes that drive cancer, we can tackle the disease at its beginnings, driving progress towards real-world impact for people affected by cancer.” b' '