FUNDING from the Cancer Council WA is giving medical genetics Professor David Ravine the chance to unravel the inner-workings of a drug used to treat ovarian cancer.
If successful with his studies, cell biology specialist Dr Evan Ingley and a yet to be recruited laboratory scientist could also help people with autism.
“The make-up of one of the rare genetic conditions of autism has a building block missing, similar to the anti-cancer drug Packlitaxol used to treat ovarian cancer,” Prof Ravine said.
“The missing building block is a molecule that the anti-cancer drug mimics.”
Expected to take a couple of years, this “important first step study” at Royal Perth Hospital’s WA Institute of Medical Research hopes to shed more light on how the Packlitaxol drug goes about its business.
“Made from a plant extract, it’s almost in the realm of herbal Chinese medicine used a long time ago – it’s clear that it has an anti-cancer effect, but it could also offer a useful insight into autism,” he said.
“As an anti-cancer drug it’s incredibly useful, but there are side effects, and we hope to find that extra detail of how it works.”
Prof Ravine said given the current economic climate, he was “incredibly grateful” for the $70,000 in funding from the CCWA.
“If we’re successful, we would go flat out (with a bigger study) to find something that hits the spot without the side affects,” he said.
Other projects to receive part of $1.8 million in funding from the CCWA include a study of carcinogen exposure in the workplace, and research into bowel cancer.
The CCWA has allocated close to $13 million to cancer research in the past decade, in a bid for new treatments.