Funding outcome

More than half of the cancer patients receive radiation as part of their treatment, significantly enhancing the success of the overall treatment. Unfortunately, it is impossible to deliver the radiation dose only to the tumour without also giving part of the dose to the surrounding tissues, such as the intestines (especially the colorectum) and the bladder (in case of gynecological cancer treatment) which can cause side effects. The resulting decrease in quality of life is due to acute side effects (short-term & easy to treat) or chronic side effects (long-term), with the latter being particularly difficult to reverse. As a result, new strategies, such as the use of protective or mitigating drugs to alleviate the long-term effects of radiation therapy to the abdomen, are required to achieve recovered intestinal health, thereby improving the quality of life in gynecological cancer survivors. Therefore, the aim of the project is to establish a new mouse model to study the underlying mechanisms of long-term radiation side effects, particularly to the colorectum (the last part of the large intestine). Currently, there is no mouse model that is suitable to study how to prevent long-term radiation side effects in the large intestine that mimics what happens in the clinic. In parallel, we use colon organoids (in the lab-grown structures of colon cells resembling the organ) to do preliminary tests of some drugs which we want to investigate in animal models later.