Hope in battle against deadliest types of cancer after scientists discover new ways to target impenetrable ‘Death Star’ protein that fuels tumour growth

Experts have paved the way for new treatments against some of the deadliest forms of cancer after discovering ways to target the 'Death Star' protein.

Mutations in the protein, also known as KRAS, are responsible for one in ten cases of cancer and cause 40 percent of lung cancers, 45 percent of colon cancers and 90 percent of pancreatic cancers.

It has an impermeable, drug-resistant surface, is incredibly difficult to treat, and is called the 'Death Star' due to its spherical shape and lack of a place for drugs to be aimed at.

But now researchers have found certain areas on the protein's surface that are promising targets for future treatments – highlighting 'vulnerabilities' that could pave the way for new drugs that control the protein and prevent it from spreading causes cancer.

A team from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, near Cambridge, together with researchers from the Center for Genomic Regulation in Spain, made the discovery.

They used a technique called deep mutational scanning to map the protein on a scale never done before.

And in doing so, they uncovered four distinct “pockets” on the protein's surface that could be promising targets for future drugs.

These sites, called allosteric sites, are important because when molecules bind to them, they can cause a change in the shape and function of the protein.

And by discovering new ways to control the protein, experts hope they can prevent the Death Star from causing some of the deadliest cancers.

Dr. André Faure, co-author of the study, said: 'For the purposes of drug discovery, it's like turning on the light and revealing the many ways we can control a protein.'

Analysis, published in the journal Nature, also revealed that small changes to the Death Star protein can dramatically change its behavior.

This could lead to new strategies that control the protein's unwanted behavior without affecting its normal function in non-cancerous tissues, they said.

Despite four decades of research, tens of thousands of scientific publications, and more than 300 published structures of KRAS, only two drugs have been approved for clinical use to date.

The researchers hope that their new findings can lead to treatments with fewer side effects that are much safer and more effective.

Senior author Dr Ben Lehner said: 'The great challenge in medicine is not knowing which proteins cause disease, but not knowing how to control them.

'Our study represents a new strategy to target these proteins and accelerate the development of drugs to control their activity.'