A CHESHIRE laboratory has made a breakthrough that could help develop new cancer drugs.

Experts from Daresbury Laboratory have solved a puzzle involving the way cancer cells spread through the body.

The researchers have discovered a previously unknown “molecular shape” which transmits signals to cells in the body, telling them to grow and divide.

The research answers questions scientists have been asking for more than 30 years.

Staff at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility (CLF) and Computational Science and Engineering Department (CSED) made the discovery.

The molecules that make up this “shape” are called EGFRs (epidermal growth factor receptors).

Project leader Dr Marisa Martin-Fernandez said: “A number of drugs aim to limit EGFRs’ role in spreading cancer but because human EGFRs haven’t been well understood, the drugs are designed simply to block every signal they transmit.

“But the human body is good at compensating for losses of function, so it finds ways of bypassing blocked receptors to allow cancerous cells to grow again.

“Unfortunately, the current drugs therefore all too often only provide temporary remission.”

The breakthrough helps to explain the structures of EGFRs, meaning the pharmaceutical industry can develop drugs that target their cancer-related functions more specifically.

Professor John Collier, Director of the CLF, added: “Breakthroughs like this have the potential to really pay dividends in terms of saving lives and maximising the value of healthcare expenditure.”

The work was carried out with King’s College London, using funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).