Nigerian, Chinese varsities partner to develop anti-cancer drugs, others

What may turn out to be a landmark partnership began yesterday between the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and some Chinese researchers to develop anti-cancer drugs from marine organisms.

Cancer is largely seen as a death sentence in Nigeria. Lack of awareness and information, ill equipped hospitals, lack of manpower, high cost of treatment and fewer treatment centres as well as lack of will power on the part government to implement already made policies to tackle the scourge are some of the issues associated with the rising cases of cancer- related deaths in the country.

The partnership, which is championed by the Department of Pharmacology, Capital Medical University, China and the Department of Microbiology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, is expected to lead to the production of anti-cancer agents from marine elements.

Essentially, both parties are partnering for the exploration and exploitation of Nigeria’s marine and terrestrial microbes for medically and nutritionally beneficial natural products. They are also working jointly to promote research in the development of identified natural products and other commercially viable products.

Associate Professor and expert in cancer research and cancer drug development, Prof Joshua Liao, who led the team from China said the aim of the collaboration is to develop drugs from different organisms, especially marine organisms. “We do see a lot of opportunities, and I think both parties can make it by working together,” he noted.

Professor Xiukun Lin of Pharmacology Department, Capitol University, Beijing, China, gave further details about the partnership. “I have some drug candidates identified and isolated from marine organisms.

The global picture is that in human and global history, we have studied organisms from land a few thousand years. But due to technology constraints, we could not identify any useful drug from marine, from sea.  But now, we have the technology to have ships go to the sea, to very deep sea.

“Don’t forget that over 70 per cent of the earth is covered by sea. Inside the sea are bigger varieties of different organisms: plants, fishes, animals and microorganisms. All these marine organisms contain much larger resource for drugs, just as land organisms. Now, since ocean technologies allow us to go very far into the sea, simultaneously, we should be able to identify and use marine organisms as a larger resource.

“Working with my team, I have already isolated a few of these drugs from marine organisms, especially microorganisms and fish. For example, a lot of fish bones contain some peppipe. My department has also identified some peppipe (small protein) from bone and that is very good for cancer, and also for human illnesses. We can introduce our expertise, our knowledge to the Microbiology Department because Nigeria also has sea and some microorganisms”.