Cancer researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) have made a breakthrough that could lead to improved treatments for ovarian cancer, which causes the death of a large number of women across the world.
Dr Bella Guerrouahen, a postdoctoral associate in genetic medicine at WCMC-Q, has discovered one of the aspects of how and why a patient may build up resistance to the popular cancer drug bevacizumab, sold commercially as Avastin.
Avastin prevents the growth of blood vessels to the tumour, thereby cutting off its food and oxygen supply. It does this by targeting VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) – a protein that stimulates the growth of brand new blood vessels, and the creation of new blood vessels from existing ones. The VEGF, produced by the cancer cells, then attracts the endothelial cells which form new blood vessels around the tumour.
But despite initial success where Avastin works and prevents the growth of new blood vessels, patients often suffer from a build-up of resistance to the drug, causing the blood vessels to begin growing again. This allows the tumour to thrive and potentially spread.
Dr Guerrouahen and her research team discovered that it was the endothelial cells – cells that line the walls of blood vessels – that were essentially building up a resistance to Avastin. Because the VEGF was being neutralised by Avastin, the cancer cells instead produced more FGF (fibroblast growth factor), another protein involved in the creation of blood vessels. This allowed the production of new blood vessels to re-start and eventually the tumour continued to grow.
Given that tens of thousands of women die from ovarian cancer each year, any improvement in the therapies used could be of huge significance.
“What my paper showed was that patients would benefit from a combination of therapies – when you use an anti-FGF in tandem with Avastin, you get better results. This could apply to other cancers as well,” Dr Guerrouahen said.
The objective is to optimise and improve treatments for the disease. It can help to build new translational research as combination therapies can be studied in trials.
Dr Guerrouahen explored the reasons behind the phenomenon, working in the research laboratory of Dr Arash Rafii, associate professor of Genetic Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at WCMC-Q. She received funding from Qatar National Research Fund under the Junior Scientists Research Experience programme, and support from Dr Ahmed Saleh from the pharmacy at Qatar’s National Centre for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR),
Dr Rafii added that the success of the research relied on strong collaboration between WCMC-Q and Hamad Medical Corporation.
Dr Bella Guerrouahen in the lab at WCMC-Q.
