Discovery paves way for new gastric cancer treatment

A discovery by Australian researchers raises the prospect of developing a better treatment for certain types of colon and gastric cancers.

The researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research found a protein involved in the growth of colon and gastric cancers associated with inflammation.

The research team, led by Dr Stefan Thiem and Associate Professor Matthias Ernst, also found that blocking this protein may help arrest the growth of these cancers.

The protein is already known to be involved in other cancers, but this is the first time its role in colon and gastric cancers has been discovered.

Inflammation is associated with many gastric cancers, and the immune system's inflammatory response can actually promote the growth of the tumours.

"In the digestive system, persistent inflammatory conditions have been linked with tumour growth," said Ernst.

"Patients who have stomach ulcers or gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) are more susceptible to gastric cancer, while inflammation of the colon, called colitis, is associated with an increased risk of developing colon cancer."

They found that mTorc1 inhibitor, RAD001, was able to reduce tumour vascularisation and cell proliferation in colon cancers in their mouse models.

mTorc1 inhibitors such as RAD001 are already under investigation as possible treatments for a wide range of cancers, with gastric and colon cancers now added to that list.

"We were excited to discover that the growth of these cancers in laboratory models could be prevented by treatment with mTorc1 inhibitors that are already in clinical trials for other types of cancer," said Ernst.

"In the future, we hope that this finding might lead to better treatment options for colon and gastric cancers that are associated with inflammation. Since there are also other types of cancer that are associated with inflammation, we suspect that these could also be susceptible to treatment with mTorc1 inhibitors."

They also found that RAD001 might also provide a prophylactic benefit as well as a therapeutic one, raising the prospect of a preventative medication for those at high risk of gastric cancer.

The research was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the Victorian Government, and was published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation