An international research team led by The Institute of Cancer Research in London and the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has identified potential new treatment strategies for microsatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancer, icr.ac.uk reported. The disease affects more than 39,000 people in the UK each year. Researchers utilized artificial intelligence to analyze 2,000 patient tumour samples, integrating genetic, metabolic, protein, and clinical data to uncover vulnerabilities in tumours that currently have limited treatment options.
Targeting MSS Colorectal Cancer Tumours
Microsatellite stable colorectal cancer accounts for 80 to 85 percent of the 48,213 new bowel cancer cases diagnosed annually in the UK. These tumours remain challenging to treat because they respond poorly to many newer therapies, and standard clinical trials combining chemotherapy with targeted drugs or immunotherapies have shown only modest improvements.
Researchers hope this approach accelerates clinical testing by relying on drugs that already have regulatory approval for other tumour types.
Professor Annette Byrne, head of the Precision Cancer Medicine Group at the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, noted the urgent need for better options when metastatic disease stops responding to standard therapy. While these findings remain preclinical, they highlight promising therapeutic opportunities and provide a strong foundation for further development,
Byrne stated. The next phase will focus on identifying biological markers that predict patient response before moving toward clinical evaluation.
Professor Anguraj Sadanandam, group leader of the Systems and Precision Cancer Medicine Group at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, emphasized the scale of the dataset assembled through European partnerships. By bringing together data from patients across multiple countries and integrating DNA, RNA, epigenetic, protein, metabolic, single-cell and clinical data at this scale, we were able to expose connections between tumour biology and therapeutic dependency that would otherwise be missed,
Sadanandam said. The project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme through the COLOSSUS project, alongside a Research Ireland Project Award.
lncRNA Molecules Offer Potential Targets for Cancer Treatment
Expanding the scope of cancer targets, separate research published by QIMR Berghofer highlights the role of long non-coding RNA molecules, or lncRNA, located within the 98 percent of the human genome once dismissed as junk DNA. Dr. Prakrithi Pavithra, first author and researcher at QIMR Berghofer, explained that lncRNA molecules act as master regulators by controlling cellular processes or switching genes on and off. Because these molecules are expressed in very small quantities within specific cell types, they offer potential targets that could destroy cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.
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