{"id":8114,"date":"2020-04-10T13:01:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T17:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qa.vet.purdue.edu\/news\/?p=8114"},"modified":"2025-12-01T15:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:07:12","slug":"bms-scholar-helps-lead-cancer-research-team-harnessing-protein-power-to-stop-tumor-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/bms-scholar-helps-lead-cancer-research-team-harnessing-protein-power-to-stop-tumor-growth.php","title":{"rendered":"BMS Scholar Helps Lead Cancer Research Team Harnessing Protein Power to Stop Tumor Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Marxa
Dr. Marxa Figuieredo pictured in her lab. (Purdue University, Rebecca McElhoe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dr. Marxa Figueiredo, associate professor of Basic Medical Sciences<\/a> in the College of Veterinary Medicine<\/a>, played a leadership role on a team of Purdue University scientists who have created a new therapy option that may help halt tumor growth in certain cancers such as prostate, which is among the most common types of cancer in men.\u00a0 In 2018, approximately 324,000 men died from cancer in the United States. The combination of lung cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer equated to half of those deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large percentages of each of those cancers can be prevented\nor treated if caught early. \u201cWe have designed a therapy that can help recruit\nimmune cells to kill cancer and also help repair bone and tissues damaged by\ntumors,\u201d said Dr. Figueiredo, who is working with the Purdue Research Foundation<\/a> Office of Technology Commercialization<\/a> to patent the\ninnovation. \u201cOne of the best features of this technology is that it shows great\npromise in enabling treatment for many other cancers and diseases that could\nbenefit from halting tumor growth and promoting bone repair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The therapy technology is presented in the journal Molecular Therapy: Methods & Clinical Development<\/a>.  The Purdue team used a protein called\ninterleukin-27, or IL-27, which has shown promise in reducing tumor growth and\nhelping stop cancer from spreading in the body. IL-27 is a cytokine, a kind of\nprotein secreted by cells of the immune system that act as chemical messengers\nand can help the immune system target cancer and other diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"An
Cancer scientists at Purdue aim to use protein power to stop tumor growth and repair damaged bone and tissue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cImmune cells are naturally attracted to areas of the body\nwith lots of signals that come from proteins such as IL-27,\u201d Dr. Figueiredo\nsaid. \u201cSo, with our novel approach of targeting the IL-27 to the tumor or bone\ncells, we can use these proteins to produce signals that bring healthy cells to\nareas of the body with cancer or other disease and kill the tumors and begin\nthe process of repairing bone and other musculoskeletal tissues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Figueiredo said the new Purdue therapy technology has\napplications for people and animals with many different types of cancer,\nincluding breast and lung, and other diseases where protein targeting could\nimprove the immune system\u2019s response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research team and the Purdue Research Foundation<\/a> Office of Technology Commercialization<\/a> are looking for\npartners for this cancer therapy technology. For more information on licensing\nand other opportunities, contact Joseph Kasper of OTC at jrkasper@prf.org<\/a>.  Click here to view\na complete news release about the research<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Marxa Figueiredo, associate professor of basic medical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine, played a leadership role on a team of Purdue University scientists who have created a new therapy option that may help halt tumor growth in certain cancers such as prostate, which is among the most common types of cancer in men.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,41,29,11],"tags":[75,97,8,26,56,1623,808,1624,150],"class_list":["post-8114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer","category-faculty-staff","category-our-people","category-research","tag-bms","tag-cancer","tag-faculty","tag-featured-story","tag-homepage","tag-interleukin-27","tag-marxa-figuieredo","tag-protein-therapy","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8114"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31722,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8114\/revisions\/31722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}