In light of the latest development of a yearslong study conducted by teams of doctors in Türkiye's leading institutions following the footsteps of the chemistry research of Nobel laureate Professor Dr. Aziz Sancar, a new front has opened in the "fight against cancer." The findings now reveal that the malicious disease can be prevented with the use of specific drugs that were already tested on animals.
Sancar, a Turkish scientist working in the United States and co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry, has worked for around 10 years to study DNA mechanisms. The scientist discovered last year a special molecule (EdU molecule) that could be used in the fight against brain cancer.
According to the new research – which is the first in the world – the only way to "prevent cancer" is to delete the protein called "CRY" from the mechanisms that regulate the biological clock in the absence of a gene called p53, which is called the "guardian angel" against cancer.
The p53 prevents the uncontrolled proliferation of cells causing 50% of all cancers. Through Sancar's research, it was found that if this gene is mutated, cancer can be prevented because when CRY is destroyed, other pathways that lead the cancer cell to "self-death" are activated in the living body and the tumor is blocked before it even occurs.
However, the professor noted that is not possible to apply this deletion (genetic intervention) to humans, that is, to destroy the CRY protein by genetic means as the process was only tested on animals, namely mice.
A group of Turkish scientists from Koç University conducted a study that can "medicate" this protein. Proving the effectiveness of the "drug candidate" molecule in animal experiments, the researchers are preparing for phase studies on humans.
Professor Dr. Halil Kavakli, the head of the research which is conducted by several leading institutions, noted that he worked side by side with Sancar for five years, saying that this new discovery, which is still in the research phase, could take its place on the shelves as a medicine in pharmacies within five to six years if "everything goes well."
At the moment the team has begun studies on mice to see the efficacy of this molecule, especially in pancreatic and liver cancers, which now have very high mortality rates.
From the research team, Associate Dr. Şeref Gül researched around 2 million natural molecules to find the potential molecule that can destroy the CRY protein.
After the molecule that was thought to be effective was discovered, a professor from Medipol University Pharmacology Department named Dr. Mustafa Güzel chemically synthesized this molecule obtained from sea creatures and hence obtained the "medicine form" that can be given to experimental animals. Professor. Dr. Alper Okyar from the IU Faculty of Pharmacology conducted the side-effect studies of the drug candidate molecule in animals and the tests on the effectiveness of the drug.
Kavaklı noted that the study, which actually took around three years, proved to have no side effects. He said they used a mouse that did not carry the p53 gene. While the control group of mice that were diagnosed with tumoral gland cancer died in about 20 weeks. He said they observed that mice with the drug lived 25% longer.
"After all, this shows that, when you delete CRY in the absence of the p53 gene, you can really protect the animal from cancer formation. We have completed the laboratory and animal experiments, which we call preclinical. Now, when we look at our molecule, we are ready for phase studies. If everything goes well, we estimate that it will take its place on the pharmacy shelves as a drug in five to six years,'' he concluded.