| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/D506603/1 |
| Title: |
Mining the Interface of Chemistry & Medicine: the Discovery of Novel Compounds for the Detection and Treatment of Cancers |
| Principal Investigator: |
Barrett, Professor T |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Chemistry |
| Organisation: |
Imperial College London |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 August 2005 |
Ends: |
31 July 2009 |
Value (£): |
505,903
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Biological & Medicinal Chem. |
Chemical Biology |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the western world, and 80% of breast cancers contain estrogen receptor. Such cancers are treated with the drug Tamoxifen, which is the standard therapy for endocrine sensitive breast cancer. However, whilst curing 28% of people who are given it as an adjuvant to surgery for primary breast cancer, is use is commonly followed by the emergence of resistant cancer cells. This is despite the fact that these emerging breast cancer cells, are often in metastatic sites still containing estrogen receptor, which is the very target of the drug. There is an urgent clinical need for the discovery of new and improved drugs to treat cancer.Secondly, it is essential doctors carefully ensure that, following surgery, chemotherapy and other treatments, any residual cancers cells are removed so as to minimise the re-emergence of the disease. There is a major need for the development of reporter compounds that readily show the presence of any remaining cancer cells. An important new technique is the use of optical imaging agents, which work by their selective uptake by cancer cells where they can be detected by bright fluorescence.The discovery of new medicines and imaging agents is a multidisciplinary endeavour. It involves clinicians who identify a need for new therapies to control and cure disease. The discovery of new medicines involves many other scientists including pharmacologists, molecular biologists and chemists. Chemistry plays an absolutely vital role in the discovery, development and manufacture of all medicines. Without exception, all medicines are chemicals and the vast majority are organic compounds with molecular weights below 600. The discovery of a new medicine requires the chemist to synthesise new compounds so that their biological effects can be tested, optimised and ultimately used by clinicians in a hospital setting. Once an active prototype drug has been identified, the chemist prepares additional new compounds for assay. If the research is successful, and pharmaceutical discovery is very difficult, then the compound will be used to cure diseases such as breast cancer or to detect cancers cells in the body.This proposal is focused on a collaborative programme of research between a clinical group in Cancer Medicine at Imperial College London and a group in Synthetic Chemistry in the same university with focus on the discovery of new medicines and imaging agents.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.imperial.ac.uk |