Translating New Knowledge Into New Treatments
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Our number one goal is to understand and
cure.
- Yi Zheng,
PhD |
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We need to use new knowledge for the benefit
of patients.
- Yi Zheng,
PhD |
As a scientist who does basic biomedical
research, I want to understand and to cure. We need to use new
knowledge for the benefit of patients.
I came to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center two
years ago because of the opportunity to do what is called
"translational" research — translating what we learn from
laboratory bench study into clinical use for patients.
I was trained as a biochemist. It always interests me to
understand the molecular basis of biology. What really causes
cancer at the molecular level?
Just understanding the biology in itself is very exciting to me.
But at Cincinnati Children's there's a strong emphasis on going
beyond this. I'm still interested in the molecular biology, but now
I focus more on the physiological and pathological relevance
— trying to find a use for the knowledge. That's more
fulfilling. It's a very ideal environment in which to do biomedical
research.
I'm interested in a molecule that plays an essential role in
causing cells to become malignant, to grow and to spread. The
molecule is Rho GTPase. It's actually a family of molecules. Some
are found in blood cells, others in brain cells, skin cells, lung
cells. They're all over.
The molecules sit in the middle of the cells and are regulators.
They transmit signals. If the signal says "turn on," the cell will
be activated. The signal tells the cell to grow, or to interact
with other cells or with the environment.
It's like turning a light on and off. But if you have too much
signal, the lights are always on. The cell becomes hyperactive. It
might grow out of control and cause cancer or move all over and
become invasive.
Our data shows our molecule is involved in many aspects of
cancer development. We're trying to understand its role in causing
leukemia and
lymphoma and solid tumors, such as lung cancer, pancreatic cancer
and breast cancer. And we're trying to design drugs targeted to
control the molecule's hyperactivity. Can we put in a small switch
to turn off some of the lights? Can we back its activity down to
normal?
We can do this in the laboratory. We understand how these
changes happen, and we've identified a compound to block the
molecule's activity. We can take a cancer cell, test to see if Rho
GTPase is abnormally high, put our drug in a Petri dish and cure
the cancer. We have done this for lung cancer and for chronic
myeloid leukemia. If we can prove that our drug works in animal
models, the next step would be to organize human trials.
It's fascinating and very fulfilling work. Because our number
one goal is to understand and to cure.
