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NewsCancer breakthrough for Glasgow scientists
30/04/2010
Scottish scientists have made cancer tumours vanish within 10 days by sending DNA to seek and destroy the cells.
The system, developed at Strathclyde and Glasgow universities, is being hailed as a breakthrough because it appears to eradicate tumours without causing harmful side-effects. A leading medical journal has described the results so far as remarkable, while Cancer Research UK said they were encouraging.
Dr Christine Dufes, a lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences and leader of the research, said: “The tumours were completely gone within 10 days. It is fantastic. When you talk about 10 days that is the time frame for curing a cold. Imagine if within 10 days you could completely make a tumour disappear.”
Researchers around the world are trying to find ways to use genes as a cancer treatment, but one problem is ensuring they attack the tumour without destroying healthy tissue.
In laboratory experiments the Strathclyde research team used a plasma protein called transferrin, which carries iron through the blood, to deliver the therapeutic DNA to the right spot. Once in situ the DNA produced a protein that attacked the tumour cells.
The findings have been published in the Journal of Controlled Release, with an accompanying comment from editor Professor Kinam Park, of Purdue University, Indiana, saying other attempts to target genes at cancer cells have “seldom shown complete disappearance of tumours”.
The research was initially supported with a grant from charity Tenovus Scotland, which supports the work of young scientists to help their ideas get off the ground.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/scientists-make-cancer-cells-vanish-1.1022114
New
06/04/2010
Today MGB Biopharma Limited, a late preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company, has commenced operations in Glasgow, UK to develop and commercialise a new class of antibacterial product: DNA Minor Groove Binders.
The senior executives are highly experienced pharmaceutical and biotech experts with a well-proven track record and the company has received start up funding from a syndicate of business angel groups led by Archangel Informal Investments Ltd alongside Tri Capital Ltd, Barwell plc and the Scottish Enterprise's Scottish Co-Investment Fund.
The technology has been licenced from the University of Strathclyde an has so far demonstrated very significant activity against Gram positive bacteria, including MRSA and also against some Gram negative bacteria.
The technology involves a new class of DNA minor groove binders (MGB's), to be used as anti-bacterial drugs. These compounds have arisen from the work of a multidisciplinary team comprising medicinal chemists, molecular modellers and microbiologists.
The initial development of the technology was created entirely through Scottish-based funding, intially through the former Synergy Fund, owned by University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow, then through Scottish Enterprise's Proof of Concept Programme and from royalties from Leucovorin©, the cancer treatment produced from research at Strathclyde University in the 1980's. The funding for further development and commercialisation is being led by Scotland's largest angel group, Archangels.
Dr Miroslav Ravic, Chief Executive Officer of MGB Biopharma said, "the introduction of a new class of antibacterial is an all too rare event in medical science. We are particularly proud to be working with the DNA Minor Groove Binder Technology from the University of Strathclyde - I believe the last Scottish association with the discovery of a new antibacterial class was none other than that of Sir Alexander Fleming\'s discovery of penicillin 82 years ago. We are excited by the fact that MGB Biopharma has the potential to bring a new mechanism of action into the treatment of serious hospital and community acquired infections. This is a new area of high unmet need as a result of the rise of resistant bacteria which are not susceptable to many currently available antibacterial products".
Professor Colin Suckling, of Strathclyde's Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, has been Principal Investigator in the DNA minor groove binder technology. He said, "This is technology which was initiated and developed in Scotland and which is now being funded to grow in Scotland - for worldwide benefit.
"Minor Groove Binders, which are found in DNA structures, have great potential to act as anti-infective agents to deal with infections which can have a serious, and even fatal, impact. We look forward to the new company taking the technology further so that improved and safer treatments can be delivered to patients."
About the Technology
DNA is the fundamental building block for an individual's entire genetic map. It is presented in the form of a double helix formed by base pairs attached to sugar-phosphate backbones which spiral around the outer surface of DNA
Between these backbones are two different sized grooves, designated the major and minor grooves. These grooves are the site where regulatory proteins interact with DNA. They recognize specific regions of DNA with a high selectivity and produce their activity by modulation of biochemistry of cells at the fundamental levels of DNA replication or the transcription of key genes
DNA minor groove binders (MGBs) are a class of compounds that specifically bind to DNA Minor Grooves, demonstrating potential anti-bacterial/antifungal/antiviral and anticancer activity.
The activities of MGBs are determined by their ability to bind to specific sequences of DNA base pairs.
A New Class
MGB BioPharma's technology represents a new series of compounds that have markedly different profiles from the only significant pharmaceutical product belonging to the class of DNA Minor Groove Binder. The latter product is used in cancer where an effect is essential for efficacy in that indication. The distinctive chemistry of our compounds carried out by original research by the University of Strathclyde results in selectivity such that bacteria, rather than mammalian cells are targeted.
http://www.archangelsonline.com/article.asp?aid=879
Strathclyde in the news - Scots pioneer breast cancer test that could boost survival rates
06/01/2010
SCOTTISH scientists are developing a test for breast cancer that could dramatically improve survival rates.
Researchers from Strathclyde and Edinburgh Napier universities have identified a \"biomarker\" in the blood that could be used to screen people at risk from the disease.
They said the breakthrough potentially could lead to far earlier diagnosis and ADVERTISEMENTremove the need for more invasive tests.
Survival rates from breast cancer are improving across the UK, thanks to new treatments.
But, despite this, the disease still causes more than 1,000 deaths in Scotland each year – and about 4,000 Scots are diagnosed with the disease annually.
Gemma Gallacher, a student at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, who led the initial stages of the research, said: \"Breast cancer has a devastating impact on the people who suffer from it and their families. The diagnosis is still reliant on invasive techniques, such as mammography and biopsy, which can themselves cause a great deal of discomfort and distress to patients.\"
Ms Gallacher said, while death rates were dropping, researchers had been lacking a marker to help them detect the disease – something that could be tested for in the blood to indicate the presence of cancer.
The Strathclyde-led research was carried out in collaboration with Dr Kevin Smith, of Edinburgh Napier\'s School of Life Sciences, and Professor David George, of Glasgow University.
They have been awarded a grant of about £25,000 by the charity Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test to build on the findings.
Dr Smith, who will lead the next stage of the research, said the grant would help bring them closer to the \"holy grail\" of breast cancer research – identifying a molecule that not only appears to be diagnostic for an earlier detection of the cancer but which can also be detected by a simple testing of a blood sample rather than an invasive tissue biopsy.
The researchers explored the possibility that a protein called Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), which is present in blood, could form the basis of a diagnostic marker for early breast cancer.
They obtained samples from people with and without breast cancer. The AGP in the samples was isolated and blood sugar levels were compared. The levels varied between different groups, and samples from people with benign and invasive cancer were found to contain N-acetylgalactosamine – a type of sugar not normally found in AGP.
Ms Gallacher said: \"It\'s not yet clear where this sugar came from, but we would hope it could lead to earlier detection of breast cancer.
\"A tumour can be growing for up to eight years before there is a physical manifestation of it, so anything which can speed up the diagnosis would be of huge benefit to patients.\"
Dr Laura Bell, Cancer Research UK\'s science information officer, said: \"Detecting cancer earlier saves lives, and biomarkers that can flag the early stages of certain cancers are an exciting area of research which could make diagnosis much quicker and easier in future.\"
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/health/Scots-pioneer-breast-cancer-test.5947865.jp
CABI choose SIDR to screen the world’s largest genetic resource collection of fungi
25/06/2007
Scientists may be one step closer to finding new drugs to fight MRSA, cancers and other diseases, after CABI, a leading bioservices organisation announced that its fungal collection will be screened by the University of Strathclyde.
CABI houses one of the world’s largest genetic resource collections of fungi, numbered at over 28,000 strains, including Fleming’s original penicillin producing isolate. They will be supplying the University of Strathclyde’s Institute for Drug Research (SIDR) with extracts from filamentous fungi which will be screened to identify pharmaceutically active compounds, which could potentially be developed into drugs.
Joan Kelley, Executive Director Bioservices, CABI said:
“This is a really exciting collaboration and we are looking forward to working with the expertise of the scientists at SIDR. We are hopeful that our partnership will prove the winning formula for discovering new pharmaceutical drugs to fight cancers, diseases and resistant strains of infections such as MRSA.”
For the full press release please click on the link below.
http://www.cabi.org/datapage.asp?iDocID=657
New drugs for TB
16/03/2007
A research group at the University of Strathclyde have designed new molecules towards the discovery of new drugs to treat tuberculosis. The breakthrough made by scientists in the molecular modelling and drug design group at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences (SIPBS) could eventually lead to new medicines that will improve the treatment of the disease.
Using state of the art computer modelling techniques, the group have designed new molecules that interact with a specific enzyme in Mycobacterium tuberculosis which causes the disease. When these molecules bind to the enzyme called mtFabH, fatty acids called mycolic acids which are essential for the mycobacterium to grow and survive, are no longer produced.
Dr Geoff Coxon from SIPBS said “Over the last decade we have been interested in a naturally occurring antibiotic called thiolactomycin, known to destroy Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but which is not potent enough to be considered a drug. We have made new versions with similar but easier to synthesise scaffolds using the 3d structure as a guide and these appear to work in the same way as the natural compound. As our new molecules are easier and cheaper to make we can now begin to develop our new compounds for consideration as new drugs”
Tuberculosis infects one person every second and kills once every 15 seconds. The resurgence of the disease is due to the fact that it takes up to nine months to treat the disease, resistant strains of the mycobacterium exist which cannot be treated and there is a strong epidemiological association between TB and HIV which causes 30% of all AIDS deaths globally.
Dr Coxon comments “It is vital that we design our new drugs to be effective against resistant forms of the disease and reduce treatment times. Combining synthetic medicinal chemistry and modern computational techniques in close collaboration with biological colleagues in SIPBS, the UK and internationally is vital to the continued success of the TB research strategy at the University of Strathclyde. We realise that we have a long way to go with our new compounds but we know that we are moving in the right direction.”
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