Major cancer breakthrough

Published: July 3, 2006 | 4370th good news item since 2003

A CAMBRIDGE company has made an important breakthrough in cancer treatment.

Two years ago Delta G, formed by William Bains, received £130,000 of funding to work on the ideas of Dr Aubrey de Grey, a Cambridge researcher. Dr de Grey’s work concentrates on the metabolism of cells and what goes wrong as they age.

Cancer cells use the energy they get from metabolism abnormally – a difference that many scientists have tried to fathom. Now, Delta G has discovered exactly what is wrong with cancer cells, allowing researchers to target them more effectively.

Delta G has filed its first patent, and hopes this is the start of a new approach to cancer treatment.

Prof Bains said: “This approach is likely to be particularly suitable for late-stage lung, colon and breast cancers, which kill more than 800,000 people a year in the West. A drug that offers a new approach to treatment would be of tremendous value.”

NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) chief executive, Jonathan Kestenbaum, said:

“Delta G is set to make a major impact in the field of cell research.”

The company has also been working on a new treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which is suffered by one in 400 people. Currently, the only effective treatment is a combination of graded exercise and therapy which can take years.

Delta G aims to refine its ideas in the lab and then sell them on to the major drugs companies to develop into medicines.

Published in Cancer and Science & Technology
See also: www.cambridge-news.co.uk