993 000 € was granted to a research project led by our Group Leader Professor Jukka Westermarck titled “Small-molecule targeting and nuclear functions of CIP2A in triple-negative breast cancer.”

The project aims to advance the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer by developing small-molecule compounds that target the CIP2A protein. Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most lethal forms of breast cancer, and there are currently no curative treatments available for it.

CIP2A is a cancer-promoting protein that the research group first characterized in a breakthrough study published in 2007. In 2021, the group discovered an entirely new role for it: it is selectively essential in cancer cells with defective DNA damage repair mechanisms, making it a highly attractive target for cancer drug development.

The project is conducted in collaboration with the research group of Professor Antti Poso, specializing in drug design at the University of Eastern Finland. It combines the team’s leading position in the CIP2A research field with the partners’ significant expertise across multiple areas of drug development.

“Continuity is extremely important in long-term basic research of this kind. Our goal is to advance fundamental research to the point where, by the end of the project, we are able to identify candidate molecules that could be transferred into the drug development pipelines of pharmaceutical companies,” says Jukka Westermarck.

This could lead to the development of the first CIP2A/NOCIVA inhibitor drugs for patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

“Support from foundations is extremely important for experimental biomedical research; there is no other source of comparable funding for us. I am therefore very grateful for the funding granted by the foundation,” Westermarck emphasizes.

>>University of Turku Press Release (in Finnish)
>>All funding decisions

More information:
Jukka Westermarck
Research Director and Professor of Cancer Biology
jukka.westermarck@utu.fi
+358-294502880
>>Group’s website