‘Mutant worm’ boost to cancer fight family
Tiny genetically modified creature raises drug hope
A “MUTANT worm” has given hope to a Scots family struck down by a rare and aggressive cancer.
The animal is being used in groundbreaking research to find treatments for a cancer called Phaeo.
Jo Williamson lost his wife Sue to the illness in December 2003 after doctors discovered she had a defective gene.
Now two of his four children, 39-year-old twins Jennie and James, who inherited the mutated gene, have been struck down by the cancer.
James, a firefighter in Dundee, has had five tumours removed from near his abdomen and has one on his carotid artery which is too dangerous to operate on. His daughter, Abbi, does not carry the faulty gene.
Jennie’s tumour is wrapped around her jugular vein and is impossible to operate on and has spread elsewhere in her body. Her two young children have not yet been tested.
But Jo is hopeful his children can be helped thanks to his next-door neighbour Dr Anil Mehta – and a millimetre- long worm called Caenorhabditis elegans.
The worm is being genetically modified with a model of the cancercausing gene – allowing researchers to study it in depth and hopefully find a treatment.
Jo, 69, from Dundee, who has raised more than £200,000 for Cancer Research UK, said: “Anil is a specialist in cystic fibrosis that led him to look into the workings of faulty genes.
“He’s worked closely with doctors in India, Singapore and Hungary and now, thanks to this tiny worm, they are making great strides towards treatments and possible cures.”
Dr Mehta said: “We have the possibility of screening these mutant worms with drug cocktails, looking for drug candidates that might kill the worms and in turn might also kill the cancers found in the family.”