Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-05-27

A Chemical Genetics Approach towards Cancer Therapy Targeting Histone Demethylases

Objective

Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in the EU. The disease is characterized by aberrant gene activity in certain cells. Even today, cancer therapy is little focused, which is reflected by severe side effects. Consequently, there is a need for novel and better tolerated therapies.
In this proposal an approach to validate a new class of enzymes as targets for cancer therapy is presented. In the cell nucleus, DNA is bound to special proteins, called histones, which play key roles in gene regulation. Histones can be dynamically modified with special marker groups, which allows the control of gene expression without alteration of the DNA itself. Specifically, it is intended to inhibit histone demethylases, specialized enzymes which remove certain marker groups (methyl groups) from histones, which results in gene silencing or activation. Histone demethylases are known to be upregulated in certain cancers and are therefore promising candidates for pharmacological cancer therapy. Ideally, small molecule inhibitors will inhibit cancer growth and might even be able to restore the normal genetic program of a cell.
During the study specific small molecule-enzyme pairs will be created, which allows the study of a single enzyme among very similar ones. This chemical genetics approach encompasses the mutation of the enzyme and the synthesis of specifically tailored small molecules. The properties of the enzyme-inhibitor pairs will be evaluated by in vitro assays and crystallization. Afterwards the compounds will be used to decipher the role of the histone demethylase in cell culture models by microarray methods and RNA sequencing.
The study will be very interdisciplinary and encompass chemical synthesis, biochemistry, cell biology and structural biology.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
EU contribution
€ 200 371,80
Address
WELLINGTON SQUARE UNIVERSITY OFFICES
OX1 2JD Oxford
United Kingdom

See on map

Region
South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Oxfordshire
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0