Research team hails Chinese herb as key to fighting lung cancer
They have adapted an existing drug compound from a herb to create a drug that halts the activity of two proteins in lung cancer cells that limit the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
The research at St James’s Hospital is midway through a three-year €120,000 project funded by the Irish Cancer Society. It is hoped that it might lead to treatment to complement chemotherapy in lung cancer patients.
“It is a very aggressive type of cancer which is often not sensitive to chemotherapy but the indications so far are that this could be used to improve the effects,” said the society’s cancer research manager Dr Patrick Corley.
The work to date, led by medical oncologist Dr Ken O’Byrne and senior scientist Dr Graham Pidgeon, has been on tissue samples from Irish lung cancer patients. But the research could go on to clinical trial stage if the findings are strong enough.
“By piecing together this information with other research, it will undoubtedly lead to the development of new treatment strategies for lung cancer. Understanding the biology behind it will ultimately lead to better treatments and enable the selection of those most likely to benefit from conventional or novel therapies,” said Dr Corley.
Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in Ireland, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 people every year, or one in five cancer deaths.
It is predicted to overtake breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, and about nine in 10 lung cancers are caused by smoking.
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