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Headlines 5 TINY COURIER MOLECULES DELIVER HUGE RESULTS D r Jiney Jose, Dr Peter Choi and their team from the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre at the University of Auckland have developed a class of dye molecules that can do exactly this. Since starting his research into finding a cure for brain cancers part-time 3-4 years ago, Dr Jose now dedicates 100% of his working life to this project. Dr Jose is more than happy about this – he’s the first to admit he lives and breathes the art of making molecules. “I guess it’s my hobby,” he says. “It’s really amazing to make something in the laboratory that may actually help to cure someone somewhere. Nothing can beat that for me.” Dr Jose was adamant from the start that this direct delivery shouldn’t target a genetic mutation within the tumour. The reason is that genes can quickly adapt and change, so the “address” would no longer work. Dr Jose’s strategy is to target the tumour as a whole. He’s collaborating with Dr Thomas Park and Professor Mike Dragunow at the University of Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research and with a team in Korea, and says the results so far in patient-derived glioblastoma cell lines and animal models have been “outstanding”. The courier dye molecule has also worked in models of paediatric brain cancer, and they’re investigating whether it might be of use in models that may one day help patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. At present, some drugs can cross the BBB unaided. The one most commonly used to treat glioblastoma is temozolomide, after surgery and radiation. This approach can increase survival by an average of six months in 20-30% of patients, but Dr Jose believes it should be possible to do much better. He hopes the courier molecule his team is developing will help improve the survival of patients, as its use can vastly increase the number of drugs that can be tested for efficacy in glioblastoma. The next steps are to demonstrate that the courier molecule works in other animal models and then to take the approach into clinical trials. If all goes well, it could be available for use within 10 years to test a variety of drugs in glioblastoma. Ideally, a new treatment could even replace the need for radiation. This would be a huge benefit, especially in paediatric patients. Dr Jose wants to acknowledge the Neurological Foundation for funding and for their belief in the project from the start. He says it wouldn’t have gone anywhere without that support. A massive obstacle to finding an effective treatment for glioblastoma is the seemingly impenetrable blood-brain barrier (BBB). The holy grail of research is to find a carrier that can transport a drug across this barrier and then pinpoint an exact drop-off address – the tumour, rather than any surrounding tissue.