 |  |  | | | MAKING CHEMOTHERAPY MORE SENSITIVE | | | | |
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Release Date: 23rd November 2004
Chemotherapy is vital treatment for people with leukaemia and related cancers of the blood such as lymphoma and myeloma. But the way many of these treatments destroy proliferating cancer cells is not fully understood. University of Cambridge researchers will tackle this important area with a new grant of £120,000 from Leukaemia Research.
They will focus on types of chemotherapy called alkylating agents which kill cancer cells by damaging DNA within cells. When cells are unable to repair damaged DNA, an automatic response mechanism kicks into force - forcing it to commit suicide.
Dr Julian Sale, from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, says: "While there is little doubt these are important treatments for patients, we need to find out why some people become resistant to these drugs.”
Detailed laboratory work will enable them to fully understand the effect of these drugs and to design strategies to make cancer cells more sensitive to these drugs.
Dr David Grant, Leukaemia Research Scientific Director, says: "This is crucial work that will identify which patients are most likely to respond to this treatment, vital information for doctors wanting to treat each patient in the best way."
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