Two new grants awarded to advance potential treatments of lung cancer

Recently, the lab of Juan Valcárcel, at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), discovered that alterations in the process known as alternative splicing can play a critical role in the control of lung cancer cell proliferation. Alternative splicing is a major mechanism of gene regulation by which different messenger RNAs and proteins are generated from a single gene, often displaying distinct, even antagonistic functions. In particular, the group found that modulating alternative splicing of a key regulatory gene can help to reduce the growth of lung cancer cells and the growth rate of tumours in animal models.

Now, the group has been awarded a grant from the UK-based Research Charity Worldwide Cancer Research as well as a PRODUCTE grant, 2018 Knowledge Industry, from the Catalonian Government. The grants will support different aspects of the development of novel reagents known splicing-modifying antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) that are able to revert the splicing alterations observed in tumours. The grants will allow to carry out work aimed to validate and optimize these reagents for therapeutic use in different lung cancer types.

Given the high incidence, poor prognosis and lack of efficient therapies for lung cancer, these grants can contribute to a deeper understanding of these regulatory mechanisms and to translate fundamental knowledge into applications of potential medical value.