Glasgow scientists have been awarded over £214k to lead a 'vital' cancer study. 

Cancer Research UK scientists in Glasgow are examining the role DNA and its biological messaging system, RNA, play in the development of bowel cancer.

The team, led by Professor Victoria Cowling, is examining ways to stop RNA giving the wrong information to DNA.

DNA contains the instructions our bodies need to grow and repair themselves, while RNA is the messaging system that decides which instructions to pass on to specific cells so they know when to grow and how to develop.

However, sometimes there is a mistake and cells grow in the wrong place and potentially develop into tumours.

The team are hopeful that being able to tackle bowel cancer in its early days will stop it from developing and spreading to other parts of the body.

Professor Cowling said: “This is an exciting, emerging area of biology not currently being investigated.

“It has enormous potential because with many treatments, cancers learn how to get round them and this is when cancer comes back.

“However, this research focuses on a unique point in the cell when it receives its instructions from the DNA.

“If we can find treatments which stop cancer at this stage, at its very beginnings, then it would make it difficult for the cancer to adapt and return.”

The team has been awarded a Therapeutic Catalyst grant of £214,492 by Cancer Research UK to explore the cell messaging system.

According to Cancer Research UK, around 4,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Scotland annually.

Around 1,800 Scots die with the disease each year.

Catherine Elliott, director of research at Cancer Research UK, said: “Cancer Research UK is delighted to fund this innovative approach which we hope will lead to new insights into how bowel cancer begins and grows.

“This kind of discovery research is vital in our overall aim to understand cancer from how it begins in the body to finding new and kinder treatments to tackle it.”