Breakthrough Announced On World Cancer Day

This research found that adding lithium to the chemotherapy regime blocks the cancer cells’ ability to repair the internal damage normally inflicted by chemotherapy. This makes the chemotherapy more effective and reduces the risk of the cancer returning again. Lithium has been used before as a mood stabiliser in the treatment of neurological disorders – but not in chemotherapy, so this is a novel concept that is being tested in a Phase I clinical trial. Because this is an alternative use of a known drug, it is likely to have a shorter timeframe to be adopted for treatment, should it prove safe after completion of this initial trial phase.

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer related death in Ireland, with 1,010 people dying annually, and more than 2,819 new cases each year. Oesophageal and stomach cancers have two of the lowest 5-year survival rates at just 24% and 30% respectively.

As these types of cancers are rarely detected early enough for surgery, because they are internal, chemotherapy is the most common treatment. However, the cancer cells can be highly resistant to the chemo drugs, so the cancer frequently comes back.

Resistance to chemotherapy is a major challenge for clinicians and devastating for patients. Recognising this challenge, with your help, over the last few years at Breakthrough we have invested over €1 million in funding to researchers at UCC, including Principal Investigator Dr Sharon McKenna and lead scientist Dr Tracey O’Donovan, so they could explore how cancer cells that responded to chemotherapy were different from those that did not. They identified that a cell recycling process called autophagy (self-eating) enabled the cells to repair themselves and recover. They then found that lithium blocks this ability to repair, which greatly enhances the effectiveness of the chemotherapy treatment.

This discovery was fuelled by collaboration between researchers in the lab and doctors in the hospital working to overcome clinical challenges. This is a wonderful example of how patient-focused research, supported by your generosity, can translate from the lab into new treatments in the clinic. Patients don’t fail treatments but treatments sadly do fail patients. It is hoped that this new breakthrough could potentially make an impact on the effectiveness of treatments and improve survival rates for people with cancer.