Grant: Operating Grant

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in 2008, ~7.6 million deaths worldwide were attributed to cancer. In Canada, the number of cancer-related deaths in 2010 was estimated at ~76,200. Despite the wealth of cancer research conducted each year and the various drugs available to combat cancer, the WHO forecasts that cancer-related deaths will continue to increase and claim ~12 million lives in 2030. What's more, many of the current drugs used to treat cancer are linked to a variety of side effects stemming from the nonspecific nature of the drugs employed. Accordingly, new treatment approaches and new drug targets must be identified that will not only enhance the specificity and effectiveness of those treatments, but eliminate or minimize many of the current side effects. Defects in specific genes cause genome instability which is a common step required to convert normal cells into cancer cells. This instability most often results in the abnormal chromosome numbers which is a hallmark frequently found in nearly all tumor types. We believe the presence of abnormal chromosome numbers is an effective way to distinguish cancerous from normal cells and therefore is an attractive therapeutic target. As a result, we believe that the instability, or the defective genes causing the instability, can be used as a homing beacon to selectively and specifically target and kill cancerous cells while leaving normal cells unaffected. Thus, our major goal is to identify and characterize genes that regulate genome stability, and use this information to identify new drug targets that can specifically kill cells with defects in those genes. Using state-of- the-art approaches, we seek to uncover new and highly selective drug targets. The result of this work will dramatically impact the future development of cancer therapies, by increasing the specificity of cancer treatment while minimizing the adverse side effects.