Dr. Manjeet Rao was recently awarded a grant from National Cancer Institute ($2.1 million) to test the therapeutic efficacy of a novel drug that can inhibit the function of a protein that is highly expressed in cancers.

Cancer cells use various mechanisms to manage their survival such as repairing DNA damage using alternative DNA repair mechanisms. Moreover, the ability of cancer cells to repair radiation or chemotherapy drug-induced DNA damage also serves as one of the mechanisms for therapy resistance.

According to Dr. Rao, the drug he is studying can suppress the alternative (or rescue) DNA repair responses of cancer cells and therefore may have promising therapeutic outcomes.

Furthermore, this drug has potential to enhance the efficacy of the current chemotherapy drugs and prolong survival of cancer patients.