Vic discovery provides hope of cancer drug

MELBOURNE scientists have been involved in a discovery they hope will lead to a new cancer drug.

The scientists have created a new chemical compound designed to block a protein that has been linked to poor results in cancer treatment.

They say the development of the compound, called WEHI-539, is a big step towards designing a potential new cancer-fighting drug.

The compound has been developed by experts at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), with colleagues at American biotechnology firm Genentech.

The death of abnormal cells is important in protecting the body against cancer developing.

But WEHI's Dr Guillaume Lessene said some proteins were acting to keep cancer cells alive.

As a result, the effectiveness of anti-cancer treatments such as chemotherapy are reduced.

"The idea behind the compounds that we've developed ... is that the compounds are basically reinstating the cell death process and therefore kill cancer cells," he said.

Dr Lessene said more development was needed to transform the compound into a drug which could be effective on patients.

"It will lead to a drug that would have efficacy and we think it may have efficacy in solid tumours for example," he said.

"This is a first step towards the drug but there is quite a lot of work to get to that point.

"What is important about it is that particular field of research is really challenging."

The research was published online on Monday in the Nature Chemical Biology journal.

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