Have you met anyone affected by cancer?
The answer is, almost certainly, yes.
Although there have been great improvements in medical technology, there is still no universal cure for cancer. The two most universal treatments we currently have are chemotherapy and radiation.
But in some cases, our own body can decrease the effectiveness of these treatments. How? I study this question, and a possible solution, in Eric Weterings’ lab at the University of Arizona Cancer Center.
In every cell, we have about six miles of DNA. This DNA serves as the blueprint for every trait that makes us a unique person; therefore, it is very important that our DNA remains intact and unchanged.
Changes in DNA, called mutations, can result in cancer and other diseases. Because of this, cells have many mechanisms to detect and repair these changes.
A cell with a large amount of DNA damage will kill itself or stop growing, as a sacrifice for the greater good of the body.
Chemotherapy and radiation exploit this mechanism by inducing large amounts of DNA damage, leading to the death of cancer cells and other fast-growing cells.
It is possible, however, for our own DNA repair systems to work too well and decrease the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation.
Recently the Weterings lab developed a new small molecule: a drug that interferes with the DNA repair process and thereby sensitizes cells to chemotherapy and radiation.
We do not want this drug to affect all cells; so, how do we specifically target cancer cells only? The answer is, again, by exploiting a protein that already exists in cancer cells.
By targeting cells with large amounts of this protein, our drug may increase the impact of chemotherapy and radiation.
Currently, chemotherapy and radiation are the closest treatments we have to a universal cure, and I am working to make these treatments even better.
