Dr Aideen Ryan from NUI Galway found that switching off a specific protein in bowel cancer cells can stimulate an anti-tumour immune response.
The research that opens new avenues for the development of novel treatment approaches was funded by the Irish Cancer Society.
Bowel cancer is a significant health concern in Ireland with 2,400 new cases diagnosed and almost 1,000 deaths from the disease every year.
Up to now, therapeutic developments to stop its spread to other parts of the body have had very little success.
Dr Ryan found the activity of a key protein known as NF-kappaB, with the help of a type of immune cell, called tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs), promotes the spread of cancer cells from the bowel to the abdominal cavity.
TAMs are present within or close to tumour tissue and can act in tumour-promoting or a tumour-killing manner, depending on their surrounding environment.
Dr Ryan and colleagues in NUI Galway found TAMs can be switched from being tumour-promoting to being tumour-killing by turning off the NF-kappaB protein in bowel cancer cells, thereby causing a significant reduction in bowel cancer spread to the abdominal cavity.
Dr Ryan said the findings had, for the first time, uncovered the effect of targeting the NF-kappaB protein in bowel cancer cells.
“We are continuing this important research in order to develop a new treatment approach for bowel cancer which could potentially result in better treatments for patients with this disease,” she said.
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