Findings could help patients with colon cancer
Grand Rapids, Mich. (Nov. 18, 2009)
– Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) Scientific Investigator Jeff MacKeigan, Ph.D., received a $1,385,475 grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to study how tumors develop a resistance to chemotherapy, specifically in colon cancer. Findings resulting from the study could help develop ways to screen for and treat these tumors, and could perhaps have implications for other cancers as well.
“Early detection is very important in colon cancer,” said MacKeigan. “After it spreads, chances for survival drop significantly, and after this point few if any treatments are effective. If the tumors are resistant to chemotherapy, the cancer is more likely to survive long enough to spread and become more deadly.”
Little is known about exactly how tumor cells become desensitized to the effects of chemotherapy. MacKeigan’s laboratory recently identified thirteen enzymes that play a role in tumor cells’ sensitivity to chemotherapy. Over the course of approximately five years, the lab’s NIH-funded study will try to determine how exactly each enzyme contributes, with a focus on the enzyme MK-STYX, which may play an essential role in determining whether or not tumor cells die in response to chemotherapy.
“We think MK-STYX is important because when it is missing, the mitochondria or ‘power plants’ within cells increase their energy production, allowing cells to survive that are supposed to die. Although we think that MK-STYX is related to colon cancer progression in particular, it may also be related to specific types of ovarian and breast cancers.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, colon cancer is the third most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Almost 50,000 people in the United States die from colon cancer every year.
“Although the number of deaths attributed to colon cancer has been going down in the past 15 years, we still need to be diligent about helping patients who aren’t responding to current treatment options,” said VARI President and Research Director Dr. Jeffrey Trent. “Dr. MacKeigan’s study holds great promise for bringing to light new avenues to fight tumors that are resistant to chemotherapy.”
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The project described was supported by Grant Number R01CA138651 from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
About Van Andel Institute
Established by Jay and Betty Van Andel in 1996, Van Andel Institute (VAI) is an independent research and educational organization based in Grand Rapids, Mich., dedicated to preserving, enhancing and expanding the frontiers of medical science, and to achieving excellence in education by probing fundamental issues of education and the learning process. VARI, the research arm of VAI, is dedicated to probing the genetic, cellular and molecular origins of cancer, Parkinson and other diseases and working to translate those findings into effective therapies. This is accomplished through the work of over 200 researchers in 18 on-site laboratories, in laboratories in Singapore and Nanjing, and in collaborative partnerships that span the globe.
