Project Details
Grant Program
Grant Funding for Young Researchers 2025-2027
Project Description
Latest estimates of Global Cancer Observatory, an interactive platform designed to provide comprehensive global cancer statistics, listed brain and central nervous system (CNS) cancers among top global burden diseases. Over the last three decades, the global incidence and deaths of brain and CNS cancers have been reported to have increased significantly. Study investigating the mortality of brain and CNS cancers from 1990 to 2019 showed an increase of global deaths by over 75%. During this period of time (1990 to 2019), substantial increased burden of brain and CNS cancers was also evident in Kazakhstan and continuously increasing incidence of these cancers was estimated for the 25 years ahead. Glioblastoma among all brain and CNS tumors has been found to be the most common and the most aggressive, accounting for 40-50% of all malignant brain tumors due to its invasiveness, resistance, and recurrence, resulting in frequent failure in early detection and standard treatments. Consequently, the median survival from glioblastoma is the lowest of all malignant brain tumors. Therefore, researchers around the world are racing to develop new effective alternative or adjuvant treatment options against glioblastoma. Developments in technology, molecular biology, and immunotherapy allow the search for new therapy, ranging from targeting specific molecular alterations, immune checkpoint blockade, chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, to oncolytic virotherapy.
Another promising therapeutic approach is the use of plant based natural products as an alternative cancer treatment, which is gaining attention as the potential therapeutic agents against cancer, as plants have long been considered as an essential source of medicine to treat different diseases and over 60% of current approved anti-cancer drugs are from medicinal plants. Among many plants , the genus Artemisia L. is one of the largest genera in the Asteraceae family which has been used as folklore medicines for various diseases including tumors. More than 500 species have been found in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. They mostly grow on the steppe and desert. There are around 80 species of the genus Artemisia in Kazakhstan. However, the phytochemical profiles and pharmacological activities of these Artemisia species have not been or rarely studied. Artemisia vulgaris (A. vulgaris; common mugwort) and Artemisia glauca (A. glauca) growing wild over Kazakhstan territory could be novel sources of anticancer agents, as some phytochemical studies revealed these species to contain high amount of bioactive components terpenoids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, coumarins, amino acids, steroids, proteins, phytosterols, and diterpenes, which were reported to have anti-tumor effects against cancers including glioblastoma. Additionally, recent studies identified anticancer effects of A. vulgaris on several cancers. Interestingly, however, A. glauca has never been studied against any cancers. Because A. vulgaris and A. glauca have anti-cancer bioactive components, studying their effects on glioblastoma is of great importance and holds promise. Additionally, understanding the mechanisms of anti-tumor effects of these plants (if any) would be a valuable tool for us to understand the complex pathogenesis of glioblastoma. To reach this, studying the cell signaling pathways will be of high value, especially Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling axis, as it has been well demonstrated that PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling axis is one of the major driving factors of glioblastoma and found to be overactivated in 90% glioblastoma cases. Additionally, PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway is associated with cancer hallmarks such as cell proliferation, DNA damage, autophagy, apoptosis, and chemoresistance. Therefore, finding natural plant products against glioblastoma with low toxicity on normal cells and understanding PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling axis involvement would be a promising therapeutic approach against glioblastoma.
Another promising therapeutic approach is the use of plant based natural products as an alternative cancer treatment, which is gaining attention as the potential therapeutic agents against cancer, as plants have long been considered as an essential source of medicine to treat different diseases and over 60% of current approved anti-cancer drugs are from medicinal plants. Among many plants , the genus Artemisia L. is one of the largest genera in the Asteraceae family which has been used as folklore medicines for various diseases including tumors. More than 500 species have been found in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. They mostly grow on the steppe and desert. There are around 80 species of the genus Artemisia in Kazakhstan. However, the phytochemical profiles and pharmacological activities of these Artemisia species have not been or rarely studied. Artemisia vulgaris (A. vulgaris; common mugwort) and Artemisia glauca (A. glauca) growing wild over Kazakhstan territory could be novel sources of anticancer agents, as some phytochemical studies revealed these species to contain high amount of bioactive components terpenoids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, coumarins, amino acids, steroids, proteins, phytosterols, and diterpenes, which were reported to have anti-tumor effects against cancers including glioblastoma. Additionally, recent studies identified anticancer effects of A. vulgaris on several cancers. Interestingly, however, A. glauca has never been studied against any cancers. Because A. vulgaris and A. glauca have anti-cancer bioactive components, studying their effects on glioblastoma is of great importance and holds promise. Additionally, understanding the mechanisms of anti-tumor effects of these plants (if any) would be a valuable tool for us to understand the complex pathogenesis of glioblastoma. To reach this, studying the cell signaling pathways will be of high value, especially Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling axis, as it has been well demonstrated that PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling axis is one of the major driving factors of glioblastoma and found to be overactivated in 90% glioblastoma cases. Additionally, PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway is associated with cancer hallmarks such as cell proliferation, DNA damage, autophagy, apoptosis, and chemoresistance. Therefore, finding natural plant products against glioblastoma with low toxicity on normal cells and understanding PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling axis involvement would be a promising therapeutic approach against glioblastoma.
| Status | Active |
|---|---|
| Effective start/end date | 3/1/25 → 12/31/27 |
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