Novel research into chemotherapy currently underway at the University of Malta has received a fresh impetus thanks to a donation of €84,000 by the HSBC Malta Foundation via the Research, Innovation & Development Trust (RIDT).
The study is being led by an accomplished scientist in the field of micro-ribonucleic acid (miRNA), Dr Duncan Ayers, who is investigating ways to mitigate the often damaging side effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients by exploiting the potential of miRNAs. RNA is a vital molecule for living beings and it can in turn be controlled by miRNAs. While at the University of Malta, Dr Ayers is credited with discovering a miRNA combination that affects specific cancer chemo-resistance.
If successful, the collaborative research holds the potential to become a precursor to pharmaceutical trials.
If successful, the collaborative research holds the potential to become a precursor to pharmaceutical trials.
The project is being orchestrated between the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking of the University of Malta and the Functional Cancer Genomics and Applied Bioinformatics Group at Ghent University, Belgium.
“Patients undergoing repeated cancer chemotherapy cycles often must endure high doses of chemotherapy drugs, with severe side effects. The cancer tumour might also develop resistance to such drug therapy, rendering chemotherapy cycles less effective and leading to increased doses administered to the cancer patient,” explained Dr Ayers.
“The project proposes an additional step to the commonly employed chemotherapy treatment procedure, through the added use of novel miRNA antagonists that would force the cancer cells to be more receptive to chemotherapy.”
Preliminary results have shown that the new treatment methodology would benefit patients, particularly whose cancers have spread, in two ways; increasing the effect of chemotherapy dose positively, and achieving the same level of treatment with reduced dosage, in turn, reducing side effects in patients with poor tolerance to conventional chemotherapy drugs.