Cancer in the Crosshairs

Cancer cells are the unique and outstanding houses in the neighbourhood. They have different decorations, either inside or at their surface (their external walls), and that is what distinguish them from normal cells. However, when we look by eye at normal and cancer cells it is like in a foggy day, where we can barely see the difference between the houses. Therefore, we cannot tell which one is normal cell and which one is cancer cell. At the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, we have developed a simple method to identify the cancer cells straightway, with no need for a GPS system. It relies on the ability of our compound to navigate through the neighbouring cells, and only becomes light when it reaches the cancer cell. This is because this invisible compound acts on the distinctive decoration of the cancer cell, and then switches the light. This switch of the light allows us to see immediately the cancer cell that is hidden behind the houses, trees or in the middle of the forest.

An average of 33 men die of prostate cancer daily in the UK. Unfortunately, the drugs used in chemo are poor at differentiating between cancer cells and normal cells and thus result in significant toxic effects. My research is working to design drugs that are activated by an enzyme called CD13 in prostate cancer tissues. This enzyme behaves differently in healthy tissues and is unable to activate our drugs when it gets into healthy tissues. This keeps the drugs intact and safe in healthy tissues but activated and toxic in cancer tissues.

Gareth Richardson will discuss a new field of research in cancer therapy, which involves attaching to and breaking down proteins responsible for cancer development. This specific approach stimulates playing darts with very specific elements of cancer cells, allowing us to kill cancer cells while minimising side effects.