Research to reveal cancer secrets

SCIENTISTS in Yorkshire are planning new research to uncover the hallmarks of cells infected with a virus responsible for the vast majority of cases of a cancer which claims nearly 1,000 lives a year in the UK.

Experts from Leeds University plan to use new techniques for determining human gene sequences to detect and analyse the key elements of cervical cancer cells and tissue infected with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) to gain a better understanding of how it contributes to the development of the disease.

Scientists have already established the virus, passed through sex, is a major cause of cervical cancer but the specific characteristics of HPV-infected cancer cells have yet to be identified.

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Researchers funded by the charity Yorkshire Cancer Research plan to identify potential cell and virus targets in these cancer cells that they can then use to develop new drug compounds to test in clinical trials.

Cervical cancer affects around 2,800 women each year in the UK – the majority aged under 50 – and causes nearly 1,000 deaths annually. It accounts for around one in 10 cases of cancer in women diagnosed worldwide.

Eric Blair, Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology, who is leading the research, said it was “vitally important” to understand the mechanism by which HPV infection led to cervical cancer development.

“More than 90 per cent of cases in the UK are associated with this infection and while there is a successful vaccination programme in place across the UK and the Western world many women are not eligible for vaccination and cervical cancer continues to be the most common cancer diagnosed in women under 35,” he said.

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“If we can define the hallmarks of cervical cancer cells infected with HPV we can hopefully identify the viral and cell targets that are driving cancer of the cervix.”

Once this had been done, it would be possible to develop therapies to combat the cancer, he added.