Project goals
Cancer is a general term for a large group of diseases characterized by the growth of abnormal cells beyond their normal boundaries, which can then invade adjacent parts of the body and/or spread to other organs. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and accounts for an estimated 10 million deaths in 2020. Each year Vietnam has ~ 165 000 new cancer cases and ~ 115 000 cancer deaths. The age-standardized cancer mortality rate in Vietnam is 104 (per 100,000 population), and ranks 57th globally. Up to now, all cancer treatment drugs sold on the domestic market are imported to Vietnam; no cancer treatment drugs have been produced in Vietnam. Today, the rising costs of new drug development and the dwindling number of truly effective drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) present unprecedented challenges for the pharmaceutical industry and public health care. In this context, our main aim is to develop new effective active ingredients for the treatment of cancer that can be clinically tested and, if successful, manufactured in Vietnam and thereby participate in the dynamic and highly competitive pharmaceutical industry in the world.
Main tasks of the project
The goal of this project is to design and develop new anti-cancer agents that can be tested and produced in Vietnam. These new anti-cancer substances will be designed, synthesized and tested for anti-cancer activity against three common types of cancer in Vietnam: lung cancer, liver cancer and breast cancer. This project involved the efforts of 3 strong research groups with excellent skills and expertise in the fields of computational chemistry, organic synthesis and testing of anti-cancer activities. Therefore, there are 3 specific goals that each group will accomplish. 1) From the analysis of previously published studies, thereby identifying the main biomolecules (proteins/enzymes) that are related to the cancer types considered, and with the help of the approaches such as machine learning and QSAR methods, initial theoretical simulations reveal detailed molecular structures of targeted agents, or potentially cytotoxic agents with the ability to form strong interactions and bonds. Theoretical calculations are also used to rationalize experimentally determined data on interactions between drugs and biomolecules. 2) Analysis of published data and combined analytical evaluation of chemical interactions led to the design and development of a series of compounds containing several pharmacologically active centers. Synthesis of compounds as suggested from the results of theoretical calculations will be performed. 3) Clinical investigation of the anti-cancer activity of the synthesized molecules on 3 common types of cancer in Vietnam (lung cancer, liver cancer and breast cancer). Results from comprehensive design, synthesis and testing studies on anti-cancer activities will be published in high-impact international journals (ISI, Q1). In phase 2, 2 patents on new highly active and effective anti-cancer compounds will be registered.
Project impact
We propose to design and develop new anti-cancer active ingredients (expected to target three common cancer types in Vietnam including lung, liver and breast cancer) that can be tested and manufactured in Vietnam. This is part of our ambitious goal to gradually participate in the drug manufacturing industry, which Vietnam currently relies heavily on super expensive supplies from foreign companies. This topic is expected to have an impact on anti-cancer drug development research designed to contribute to the drug development research community in Vietnam as well as around the world. The project also facilitates close collaboration or coordination with outstanding experimental and theoretical research groups from both Vietnam and Europe, to join forces to find ways to solve health problems Vietnamese people is facing every day. When successful, the project will: i) Designs, approaches and new synthetic pathways for substances with anti-cancer activity. ii) Provides oncology data on our newly synthesized agents for the three most common cancers in Vietnam (lung, liver and breast cancer). iii) Provides an understanding of the correlation between chemical structure and anticancer activities as well as the mechanisms behind the interaction of drug candidates with cellular components using biological assays combined with theoretical computational simulations. Most of the key members in this project are dynamic and creative scientists with many research works in prestigious international journals (ISI). Therefore, this project provides an opportunity to establish a close cooperation that benefits the long-term development of the scientific research community in Vietnam. In addition, results from this project can be very useful in developing new anti-cancer drugs in Vietnam.
