Associate professor Ruth Ganss

Cancer researchers are hailing an Australian medical breakthrough that slows the growth of tumours. Researchers at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research have discovered a gene that can reverse angiogenesis — the growth of blood vessels inside a tumour.

Their work, led by associate professor Ruth Ganss, is a world first and has been recognized by the scientific journal Nature. Professor Ganss described the gene, named RGS5, as a “master gene” which, when removed, can trigger a process capable of destroying cancerous tumours.

 

Cancer is the number one killer of Australians. Three out of every 10 people will be diagnosed with the disease. “It’s the uncontrolled growth of blood vessels and the formation of abnormal blood vessels inside tumours that ‘feed’ them, allowing them to grow and stopping the immune system from wiping out the tumour,” Professor Ganss said.

“What we’ve shown is that RGS5 is a master gene in angiogenesis and that, when it is removed, angiogenesis reverses and the blood vessels in tumours appear more normal.”
Professor Ganss said she and her team of 12 had been working on the breakthrough for “many, many years.” “The novel aspect is it will hopefully cause open-mindedness in saying we can manipulate the vessels and we can manipulate the tumour. That’s the message out of this.”

Mathew Vadas, the executive director of the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, compared the discovery with Professor Ian Frazer’s lauded cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, which earned him the title of Australian of the Year for 2005.

“Ian’s [discovery] was a little bit further along. It was for a vaccine rather than a therapy but this has got international acclaim by being published in Nature,” Professor Vadas said. “It’s got immense promise. I don’t think at the moment you could say it is as important as Ian’s but it could become [as important].”

Sandra O’Toole, a St Vincent’s Hospital pathologist and clinical research fellow at the Garvan Institute, a Sydney medical research body, said the discovery could lead to more targeted therapy which could reduce side effects during treatment. “It’s really exciting to see Australian researchers with modest funding can produce such research,” she said.