Turkish scientists work on drug to prevent cancer

ISTANBUL

In the light of the previous studies of Türkiye’s Nobel laureate in chemistry, Aziz Sancar, Turkish scientists have conducted a study that could prevent the development of cancer with drugs.

The absence of the p53 gene, which is called the “guardian angel” against cancer and prevents the uncontrolled proliferation of cells, causes 50 percent of all cancers.

According to Sancar’s research, when the protein called “CRY,” which is one of the mechanisms regulating the biological clock, is deleted in a cell where the p53 gene is mutated, cancer development is prevented.

However, it is not possible to apply this deletion process, which Sancar performed in animals with genetic intervention, to humans.

Turkish scientists from Koç University have conducted a study that can delete this protein with drugs instead of genetic intervention.

Proving the effectiveness of the “drug candidate” molecule in animal experiments, researchers are preparing for phase studies to be conducted on humans.

Scientist Halil Kavaklı, the head of the research, noted that this new discovery, which is still at the research stage, could be on the shelves as a medicine in pharmacies in five or six years.

The team is currently conducting experiments on mice to see the effectiveness of this molecule, especially in pancreatic and liver cancer, which have a high mortality rate.

“Generally speaking, it is not possible to delete CRY, and it also poses a number of ethical problems. You cannot just delete the CRY protein in humans, it has a lot of other effects,” Kavaklı explained.

“But there is no obstacle to doing this through a molecule. In our study, we also found a molecule that can delete this protein. When we discovered its role in the biological clock mechanism, we thought that if we delete CRY using this molecule, it could become an anti-cancer or cancer-protecting molecule in non-p53 organism. We have started to explore its potential as a drug,” he stated.