RESEARCH: A team of Irish scientists has made a breakthrough in understanding how cells guarantee their vital supply of oxygen, in a move that has major implications for the treatment of several diseases, including cancer, strokes and Crohn's disease.
The team, led by Dr Cormac Taylor of the Conway Institute at UCD, has identified levels of nitric oxide as one of the signals that tells the body that too little oxygen is reaching the cells.
"In diseased tissues, such as in the case of a stroke or cancer, there is not enough oxygen getting to the tissue. The tissue responds by growing more red blood cells to compensate, which raises the level of oxygen being consumed," says Dr Taylor.
"That's fine in the case of a stroke, but with cancer, for example in the bowel, essentially the tissue is feeding the tumour, and causing it to grow.
"We need to be able to stop that process, and we have been looking at the regulation mechanism that determines this response.
"If we understand the mechanism, then we can manipulate it so the tumour doesn't register the lack of oxygen and thus doesn't produce more blood cells."
Dr Taylor's team found that by altering the levels of nitric oxide, they could use this as an "off switch" that would stop the organ tissue feeding the tumour.
The research was funded by the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI), a body set up by the Government to invest in such projects and help foster co-operation between Irish scientists and leading international research centres.
The team has been working in collaboration with Prof Salvador Moncada, of University College London, who Dr Taylor describes as "one of the top scientists in the world" .
"We will be continuing this collaboration to measure the exact level of oxygen required in individual organs, for example, in the heart, lungs or kidneys, and the results may be able to help us combat these diseases," Dr Taylor added.