Unfortunately, most of us have lost someone or know someone who is going through cancer.

 

As a child, Dr Pradeep Tanwar was fascinated by nature and patterns. His PhD focused on understanding molecular patterns constituting basic biology and at Harvard University in Boston his research led to work in molecular patterns and how diseases interrupt these.

 

He is part of a team that has identified a protein that allows endometrial cancer cells to metastasise from the uterus to nearby organs. The team have repurposed an existing drug to switch off the protein signal, thereby preventing the cancer from spreading and making surgical removal of the primary cancer a more effective and potentially curative operation. If you can prevent metastatic spread, there is reason to remove the primary growth.

 

“If the tumour is detected early enough a hysterectomy can be performed for a complete cure, but it becomes much more serious when metastasis occurs,” Dr Tanwar said. “The drug we’re using was developed for arthritis and fibrosis but we have repurposed it for cancer because there are some pathological similarities”, he added.