2025 New Treatment - Dr. Mark Adams

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, partly because current treatments  often don’t work well. Our research has uncovered a new biological process that seems  to be switched off in cancer cells that do not respond to chemotherapy. We want to  understand how this process works and whether turning it back on could make  treatments more effective for pancreatic cancer. 

What we’ve found so far:

We discovered that a protein called CDCA3 is found at low levels in pancreatic tumours  that resist treatment. When we increase CDCA3 levels, it promotes damage to only the  cancer cells and makes these cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapy. CDCA3  helps a specific enzyme function properly, and this enzyme controls important cell  processes that are usually inactive in treatment-resistant tumours. We’ve figured out  how CDCA3 interacts with this enzyme, which gives us a way to control its activity. 

What we’re testing: 

We have developed a new tool called MNT02 that specifically mimics the function of  CDCA3. In laboratory models, MNT02 is able to turn on enzyme activity in cancer cells.  Importantly, our early experiments show that MNT02 is successful at making resistant  cancer cells respond to chemotherapy again. Now, we want to test MNT02 more thoroughly using advanced laboratory models that closely resemble real patient  pancreatic tumours. 

What we hope to achieve: 

This study will show whether combining MNT02 with existing treatments can help  overcome resistance in pancreatic cancer. Successful completion of this project will provide strong evidence to support further development of MNT02 as a potential new  drug. 

This grant was made possible by Woolworths' Woolies Wheels and Walks in partnership with Tour de Cure.