Researchers have identified a promising new strategy to halt the progression of aggressive liver and bowel cancers by targeting a specific protein exploited by the disease. The approach focuses on disrupting a critical biological pathway that these cancers hijack to fuel their uncontrolled growth.
The work centers on the WNT pathway, a natural signalling system that tells cells when to grow and when to stop. Cancers with specific genetic faults can co-opt this system, leading to tumour formation in the intestine and liver. The team discovered that a protein called nucleophosmin (NPM1) is present at high levels in these cancers due to these errors. By blocking NPM1 in laboratory models, they found a way to interrupt the cancer's growth mechanism.
Lead researcher Professor Owen Sansom explained the potential safety and mechanism of this target. "Because NPM1 isn't essential for normal adult tissue health, blocking it could be a safe way to treat certain cancers," he said. "We found that if NPM1 is removed, cancer cells struggle to make proteins properly and this allows a tumour suppressor to activate, preventing cancer growth." This finding is particularly significant for bowel cancer, the second most common cause of cancer death in the region, and liver cancer, which together claim thousands of lives annually.
The next steps involve translating this discovery into a tangible therapy for patients. Researchers will now work to develop drugs capable of effectively and safely blocking the NPM1 protein in humans. This pathway offers a hopeful new direction for treating cancers that currently have limited therapeutic options, potentially leading to more precise and effective treatments in the future.