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Much like a supercomputer, the cells in our bodies are programmed with various codes. One of these many thousands of ‘codes’ kickstarts in the womb, programming our tissues to grow until we reach adult size, at which point it switches off. But research is showing cancer tumours are finding a way to switch this code back on with potentially lethal consequences.
“It makes sense when you think about it,” said Professor Helen Abud from the Department of Anatomy and Development Biology at Monash University.
“You had to do all this growth when you were developing as an embryo and the memory of that is still in the cell. So, the tumour can literally hijack that program to drive the growth of the tissue that forms the tumour.”
Prof. Abud began her research career studying these ‘foetal codes’ and is now using that knowledge to find a link between them and tumours that become more resistant to therapy. While this link has been identified in the case of bowel cancer where Prof. Abud has focused her research, the idea is now an emerging theme that is being explored across a whole range of different cancers. This research could lead to new discoveries in how to develop personalised treatments for advanced-stage cancers.
De-coding tumours and speeding up discovery with the latest tech
Generously funded by gifts in Wills to Cancer Council Victoria, Prof. Abud’s current project, in collaboration with Cabrini Hospital, seeks to understand this cell ‘hijacking’. Using state-of-the-art computer technology, called ‘spatial transcriptomics’, she and her team are creating a tumour map – identifying different cells, how they cooperate with each other and where these foetal codes exist.
Through this, they hope to find biological indicators, or ‘biomarkers’, that will help clinicians understand if a tumour will respond to therapy or not.
“Most people don’t even realise that each person’s tumour is different,” said Prof Abud. “If we find the biomarkers unique to each individual patient, our goal is to enable treatment to be tailored for each patient.”
New technologies, including AI, are making it possible to advance discoveries like this, allowing researchers to identify and analyse thousands of biomarkers rather than just three or four. This means they can get a lot more information from a single pathology sample, significantly accelerating the research process.
“At the moment, this technology is very, very expensive. So, it's not feasible to use it as a diagnostic. But I can see a time when we are going to incorporate these technologies to look at literally thousands of markers on a pathology and have a very personalised view of a patient’s tumour,” said Prof. Abud.
Providing the ultimate gift for future generations
Prof. Abud is quick to point out the incredible gift of tissue samples from patients with stage 4 bowel cancer who have made this research possible.
“We appreciate each piece of tissue is from a person and their whole family who are going through a really agonising journey. So, we have a feeling of respect for that tissue knowing those patients have provided it as a gift for us to do the research.
“They know it's unlikely to affect their own cancer journey, but it's going to affect the future of people that are suffering with cancer, and they’ve made that generous gift.”
With a dramatic increase in young people being diagnosed with bowel cancer, and most often at a late stage, research into how to treat these advanced, lethal tumours is critical. By enabling Cancer Council Victoria to fund twice as much cancer research than we could otherwise, gifts in Wills play a major role in helping researchers explore theories like Prof. Abud’s and find much-needed answers that will improve therapies and survival for people with bowel cancer in the future.
“We have ideas in the lab, and we can't act on them without funding and unfortunately research is expensive. So, we're enormously grateful to Cancer Council Victoria and gifts in Wills supporters. Without that funding we just would not be able to approach some of these new questions. It’s just not possible,” added Prof. Abud.
