Key Summary
- Scientists identified a key protein driving bowel and liver cancers.
- The treatment stops cancers using a faulty growth pathway.
- Targeted protein isn’t needed in healthy adult tissue.
The Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute has discovered a breakthrough treatment to fight liver and bowel cancers, the two deadly cancers commonly found in Scotland.
The BBC has reported that the new treatment prevents the growth of the tumours.
As per the scientists, the treatment will focus on genetic faults that helps the disease take over the body through the WNT pathway.
Cancers use this pathway to impact people’s intestines and liver.
The new treatment will find various ways to block the increased levels of nucleophosmin (NPM1) proteins in the WNT pathway due to genetic errors.
Generally, NPM1 levels are found extremely high in bowel cancer and some liver cancer cases.
So, the removal of this protein is expected to suppress the cancer.
Professor Owen Sansom, lead researcher explained that the new treatment is a safer way to treat these cancers as the NPM1 proteins are not needed for adult tissue health, they can be blocked without any complications.
