Funded by Cancer Research UK, the study seeks to tackle this common problem, which makes successful treatment of the disease difficult.

The researchers' focus will be on RNA – the messenger for our DNA - which tells our cells when to grow, how to behave and, crucially, when to stop growing.

This abnormal growth can be stopped early

Cancer occurs when cells grow too much and form into tumours, but if this abnormal growth can be stopped early, then the cancer can be prevented from developing.

Lead researcher Dr Susanta Chatterjee from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen’s, said: “Our research aims to investigate how bowel cancer cells develop resistance to drugs we already know work against cancer.

“We know cancer can resist treatments by hijacking healthy processes designed to remove the errors which cause cancer cells to grow. If we can better understand these mechanisms, we could ultimately improve anti-cancer therapies.”

Bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is a key focus for cancer research. There are around 17,400 bowel cancer deaths in the UK every year, with about 490 being in Northern Ireland, and the disease is increasingly being diagnosed in younger people.

A recent study by the American Cancer Society published in The Lancet Oncology showed early-onset bowel cancer rates in adults aged 25-49 are rising in 27 of 50 countries studied including the UK.

Genotoxic drugs, the focus of this new study, are commonly used to treat bowel cancer by killing cancer cells through damage of the DNA and RNA of cancer cells.

However, cancer can become resistant to these treatments and begin to grow again so the team will focus on the mechanics that cancerous RNA cells use to overcome chemotherapies.

One of the biggest challenges

Cancer Research UK director of research, Dr Catherine Elliott, said: “Cancer’s ability to eventually overcome existing treatments and start growing again is one of the biggest challenges in cancer research. That’s why we, at Cancer Research UK, are funding many projects, including this exciting project at Queen’s University Belfast, to tackle this problem. Bowel cancer is increasingly being diagnosed in younger people, so new solutions are needed urgently.”

Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK. Despite this, treatment options remain limited, particularly for patients who are diagnosed at later stages of the disease. Every year, around 1,300 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Northern Ireland. 

Dr Seyed Mehdi Jafarnejad, from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen’s, added: “This work helps us to understand how cancer cells respond to common chemotherapy drugs and why some cancers develop resistance or fail to respond altogether.

“With the vital support of Cancer Research UK, we aim to further expand this research to uncover how bowel cancer cells acquire resistance to other widely used anti-cancer drugs. These insights could pave the way for more effective treatment strategies and enable the precise selection of drugs for patients who would benefit the most.”