Download February 2017 update: read here

Research Update
The Debbie Fund team have now analysed almost half a million DNA modifications in over 150
patients with cervical cancer; revealing different patterns of modification in the cancers compared
with healthy tissue. This discovery may lead towards ways to improve screening and prognosis. The
results are currently being prepared for a patent filing and a high-impact publication. Debbie Fund
researchers will present the work in a talk at the 31st International Papillomavirus Conference, the
major meeting of scientists, clinicians and public health professionals focused on the prevention and
treatment of cervical cancer.
Laboratory-based efforts to identify novel therapeutic targets for cervical cancer have also been
fruitful, leading to the discovery of a gene required for the growth of cervical cancer cells. The team
are now testing the effect of silencing this gene on the growth of transplanted tumours, which will
guide efforts to develop inhibitors of the gene as drugs to treat cervical cancer.
In addition, Debbie Fund scientists have continued to develop therapeutic antibody-based drugs to
target cervical cancer cells. The antibodies are being loaded with highly toxic warheads using novel
chemistry to ensure stability during circulation within the body and timely release of the drug in the
cancer cells. Similar chemistry is being applied to carry radio-isotopes on the antibodies. The
radiation is being used to visualise tumours and provide information about the radiation doses
which might be effective in subsequent radio-immunotherapy. The team have also made novel gene
fusions of the antibodies with protein toxins and generated the resulting, potentially therapeutic,
fusion proteins in yeast.