

A cancer therapy that targets a cancerous variant of a protein called proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). In its mutated form, PCNA is “critical” in the replication of DNA, and the repair of all “expanding tumours”. The lead researcher, Dr LInda Malkas, believes that proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), which plays an essential role in the replication and repair of cells, would be a less toxic cancer therapy that targets mutated cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone. The treatment has been shown in preclinical research to target PCNA and inhibit the growth and spread of a broad range of human cancer cells. The research protocol notes that AOH1996 is not toxic to healthy cells and that treatment with this medicine both pauses cell DNA synthesis and inhibits DNA repair, leading to a type of cell death known as apoptosis in the cancer cells.
As at 2023/2024 it was in its first in human clinical trial – see below