Cancer cells proliferate rapidly, so one target for chemotherapy drugs are microtubules: a tiny subcomponent of cells which play an essential role in cell division.
Microtubule-stabilising drugs not only stop cancer cells dividing, they also cause cell death, and there are a number of these drugs used in the clinic today.
At Victoria University, PhD candidate Jessica Field (above left) and her supervisor John Miller (above right), have been studying the properties of microtubule-stabilising agents found in sea sponges. In particular, Jessica has been looking at Zampanolide, a cytotoxin isolated from the Tongan marine sponge Cacospongia mycofijiensis.
The drug can now be synthesised and while cancer cells become resistant to other microtubule-stabilising agents, recent research has found that Zampanolide binds to the microtubule in a unique manner, and therefore avoids the mechanisms of resistance presented by tumour cells. So far, studies have only been in cells in the lab, but there are plans to test Zampanolide in animal models.
The work on Zampanolide has been a combined effort with researchers located around the world, including Fernando Díaz at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Karl-Heinz Altmann at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; Susan Band Horwitz at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Ernest Hamel at the National Cancer Institute at Frederick; Michel Steinmetz at the Paul Scherrer Institut; Ian Paterson at Cambridge University; Arun Ghosh at Purdue University; and Paraskevi Giannakakou at Cornell University.
