In an article published in the latest issue of Nature, Swedish cancer researchers from five different higher education institutions present a completely new approach to treating cancer: killing cancer cells by using their own reactive oxygen species. The article describes a drug-like molecule that Jonas Nilsson and colleagues at the University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Cancer Center have tested in unique, patient-like animal models.
Most of the work in the study has been performed at the newly started SciLifeLab at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm. In addition to KI’s contribution, researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Stockholm University, Linköping University and Uppsala University have contributed to this wholly Swedish study.
The new treatment strategy takes advantage of cancer cells’ particular sensitivity to DNA damage. By blocking a cell’s ability to discard poor DNA building blocks, these instead become incorporated into its DNA chain. The resulting damage to the genome then causes the cell to die.
The SciLifeLab research team has identified an enzyme called MTH1 that removes unsuitable building blocks, thereby avoiding damage to cell DNA. The team has also developed a molecule that prevents the enzyme from carrying out its task. Nilsson and his team of researchers have contributed to the study by testing the molecule in tumors in animal models of melanoma, and have proven that the principle is sound. This contribution to the study was critical to Nature’s decision to publish the article.
“We work with highly patient-like animal models for malignant melanoma. In collaboration with Sahlgrenska University Hospital, we have created a translational research network of surgeons and oncologists that puts us preclinical researchers in better touch with the everyday realities of the clinical world,” Nilsson explains.
The collaborative project between the institutions is still ongoing. The team at KI has since refined the molecule and Nilsson’s group in Gothenburg will now test this new molecule in its models.
“The chance of survival among cancer cells is reduced when the MTH1 enzyme is taken out of play because they are very sensitive to oxidative stress,” says Nilsson.
In the film below Jonas Nilsson describes the principle behand the new cancer treatment strategy, using some simple tools:
