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Cancers and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are not often discussed on the same page. NTDs are chronic infectious diseases that disproportionately impact poor, marginalised communities in developing nations, and attract little in the way of innovative treatments.
On the other hand, cancer is a global health issue, with around 18 million cases diagnosed every year. It is the second leading cause of mortality in EU countries, after cardiovascular diseases, and billions of euro are spent every year developing and deploying treatments.
However, the VAHVISTUS project, undertaken with the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, holds potential to fight both.
From sandflies to cancer
Leishmaniases are a group of related diseases caused by a single-cell protozoan. Transmitted by sandflies, the disease frequently causes large, painful skin lesions.
“Leishmaniases impact 98 countries,” notes VAHVISTUS project coordinator Andriy Grafov from the University of Helsinki in Finland. “An estimated 700 000 to 1 million new cases occur annually.”
The most serious form of leishmaniasis kills up to 30 000 people every year, making it the second deadliest parasitic disease after malaria.
Surprisingly, tackling leishmaniases might overlap with efforts to develop more effective cancer treatments. “Inside the cell, proteins destined to be secreted move through what is called a secretory pathway,” explains Grafov. “This mechanism can sometimes be a backdoor for a number of infections. It could be that efficient antiparasite drugs may also possess essential antitumour activity,” says Grafov.
“We wanted to see if we could develop what are called drug-vector nanostructures (DVNs), capable of acting against both tumours and NTDs.”
Isolating new compounds from the Amazon
The EU-funded VAHVISTUS project focused on adaptive drug delivery that targets cells, either tumour cells or those infected by parasites.
Grafov and his team began by identifying several prospective drug candidates. The project team looked at the entire pipeline, from the development of these novel drugs to their targeted and adaptive delivery.
New active compounds and antileishmanial formulas were prepared, scaled up and made ready for production. DVNs that could offer antiparasite and antitumour properties were developed. Preclinical evaluations of successful DVNs were then carried out.
The project team was successful in identifying efficient antitumour compounds, isolated from plants endemic to Morocco and the Amazon. These agents were modified and developed into effective medical formulations.
“This project was focused on developing new treatments for cancer and NTDs, and we made progress in this,” notes Grafov. “But unexpectedly, we were also able to identify anti-neurodegenerative properties in several of the active compounds. This could be significant, taking into consideration the ageing of the global population and the growing importance of treating neurodegenerative diseases in older people.”
Another key success of the project has been the development of new professional skills among EU scientists. Critical to this was the presence of a Brazilian partner.
“This enabled our scientists to become directly engaged in studies and experiments in the Amazon region,” says Grafov. “We also had non-academic partners, who helped us to demonstrate and validate our findings in real industrial environments.”
While commercialisation of the identified active compounds is still a few years away, this will undoubtedly be the objective of future initiatives.
“VAHVISTUS was a fantastic opportunity to boost international collaboration and advance collaborative scientific research, particularly in new areas,” remarks Grafov. “Collaboration within the project has been strengthened, and we are preparing our next collaborative project proposals.”
Overall, through its research findings, the project has contributed in the development of new nanomedicine-based treatments against cancer and thereby yielded positive impacts for the health of EU citizens.
The most outstanding research findings of the project resulted in the preparation of three national patents, while commercialisation of project outcomes could further enhance the competitiveness of the European pharmaceutical industry.