Research

New anticancer leads for emerging cancer target potassium ion channels hEag1 and its validation in lymphoma tumors

Code:

J1-9192

Range:

01. July 2018 - 30. June 2021

Range:

0,75 FTE

Leader:

Lucija Peterlin Mašič

Field:

1-09 Natural sciences and Mathematics - Pharmacy

Abstract:

Cancer remains an important cause of mortality and economic losses worldwide. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is among the 10 most-frequent forms of cancer in the EU and have the bad prognosis with the current therapeutic options. NHLs are a very heterogeneous group of disorders that comprise some very aggressive subtypes, with no standard for therapy. Even for individuals affected by diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common NHL type in the western world, cure can be obtained in only two thirds of cases. For an improved cancer therapy approach, a permanent need for the discovery of new-generation, refined anticancer agents is needed, as well as the elucidation of novel cancer targets. These insights highlight the unmet medical need for development of new therapeutic strategies. Exploitation of genuinely novel classes of cancer targets with new mechanisms of action provides great opportunities for the discovery of new anticancer drugs for NHL. Targeting the voltage-gated potassium ion channels and hEag1 in cancer is one of the most exciting recent advances in cancer biology. In addition, combined modulation of two or more selected cancer targets (e.g., inhibitors of hEag1 in combination with known anticancer drugs) might lead to synergistic anticancer effects that have not yet been uncovered. The Project is designed to grow the cancer drug target space by targeting underexplored target with new mechanisms of action: voltage-gated potassium channels hEag1.