TRANSDUCTION MARKERS · Novel biomarkers for targeted therapy in cancer: Signal transduction components post-translationally modified in response to receptor activation

Final Activity Report Summary - TRANSDUCTION MARKERS (Novel biomarkers for targeted therapy in cancer: Signal transduction components post-translationally modified in response to receptor activation)

Many cancers could be identified by using antibodies to indicate the presence of certain proteins within human cancer cells. Detection of these proteins using antibodies allowed for the identification of a cancer type, a determination of how dangerous the cancer was and, also, for a determination of whether the cancer might be successfully treated with certain anti-cancer medicines. This project aimed to make and test new antibodies that could be used to determine how dangerous a patients cancer would be as well as to give the patient's doctor an idea of what medicines would be suitable to treat the patient's cancer. More specifically, this project set out to make antibodies that were of unrivalled quality so that the patient's doctor could have complete faith in the results obtained using the antibody. Making high quality antibodies was technically very difficult and several antibodies already existed on the global market. Unfortunately, these antibodies often detected other proteins as well as their target protein giving confusing or incorrect results. Many new antibodies were made during the course of this project but two were shown to be of a suitably high quality for use in hospitals. These two antibodies were perfectly specific for their own particular proteins in cancer cells, and tests to determine their performance in a hospital setting showed good results. Working in collaboration with real hospitals in Oxford and Budapest our antibodies were shown to provide a reliable and accurate diagnosis allowing doctors to make fast and accurate decisions regarding patient treatment; thus improving the welfare of the patient. As the design and making of these antibodies was technically difficult we also investigated new and improved ways of making and testing new antibodies. New tests were developed using actual cancer cells grown artificially in the laboratory and these tests proved to be very successful at selecting new high quality antibodies. Using laboratory grown cancer cells to select antibodies that were then capable of detecting human cancer cells proved to significantly improve both the speed and accuracy of antibody preparation. We also improved the current antibody making strategies by integrating the latest scientific research technology into the present antibody preparation methods. This allowed us to shorten the time taken to make new antibodies and to increase our level of knowledge about the quality of the antibody when used in a hospital setting. It was anticipated that when these antibodies would have become widely available they would provide doctors with new tools to improve patient treatment by allowing for the fast and correct administration of effective medicines to cancer patients. Dako Denmark launched four antibody products in 2007 and 2008, which were developed as part of this project, helping pathologists and researchers all over the world.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union