Lok Sabha Question No. 2845 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-12
Subject: Research Work to Check Damage of Cells
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: M.K. Vishnu Prasad

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2845

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2021)

## RESEARCH WORK TO CHECK DAMAGE OF CELLS

## 2845. DR. VISHNU PRASAD M.K.:

Will  the  Minister  of  SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

विज्ञान एिं प्रौद्योगिकी मंत्री

- (a)     whether the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies of the Council of Scientific and Inustrial Research is undertaking any  research  work  to  check  damage  to  the  normal  cells  of  the  body during cancer treatement;
- (b)
- if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (c) wheher the Government is working on any other research works related to cancer; and
- (d)
- if so, the details thereof?
- (a)&(b)   No, Sir.
- (c)&(d) Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) through its constituent laboratories, namely, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CSIR-CDRI), CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB),  CSIR-Indian  institute  of  Chemical  Biology  (CSIR-IICB), CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), etc. has been pursuing  R&D  activities  in  the  area  of  cancer.    In  doing  so,  CSIR efforts  are  focused  on:  understanding  the  disease  biology;  disease diagnostics; drug discovery and development; studying the environmental  &  genetic  causes  of  specific  cancers  in  India;  and creating  innovative  platforms  for  enhancing  the  innovation  in  the domain.

The  cancer research at CSIR-IGIB is focused to find ways  of suppression  of  telomerase  is  important  with  promise  in  therapy.  A protein called telomerase when present in high amounts is known to

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE; MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; AND MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES

(DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

promote  cancer,  and  spread  of  cancer  (metastasis)  in  different organs. Research at CSIR-IGIB shows how telomerase, which otherwise is tightly regulated, gets mis-regulated in cancer cells. New mechanistic understanding enables researchers to design approaches that include small molecules and peptides to decrease telomerase in aggressive  cancer  cells.  These  anti-telomerase  agents  might  have potential therapeutic value, which needs to be tested further. The cancer research at CSIR-CDRI is primarily focused on prevention of  cancer  in  women  particularly  cervical  and  triple  negative  breast cancer (TNBC). CSIR-CDRI is also exploring on design and synthesis of new  clinical  entities  (NCE)  against  clinically  validated  targets  in TNBC.  Simultaneously, the institute is involved in basic research in cancer  in  understanding  the  disease  biology  with  the  objective  to discover new targets in breast cancer therapy. CSIR-IIIM has been actively working in the anticancer drug discovery area,  with  the  aim  to  discover  new  potent  and  effective  preclinical candidates and take them  to human  clinical trials. CSIR-IIIM's extensive efforts in this area, has led to the discovery of IIIM-290, a new chemical entity which display favourable profile in all preclinical studies. The regulatory safety pharmacology (IND-enabling studies) of the lead are completed, and IND filed to DCGI in January 2020. The New  Drugs  Division  of  Central  Drugs  Standard  Control  Organization (CDSCO), Government of India granted the permission to CSIR-IIIM for conducting the clinical trial of this important drug candidate IIIM-290 in pancreatic cancer patients. Research at CSIR-IICB is focused to address different areas of Cancer mechanism,  management  and  treatment.  In  the  process,  CSIR-IICB has been instrumental in garnering novel insights in terms of understanding the biology of the disease and also contributed significantly  to  paving  ways  for  novel  therapeutic  approaches  in Cancer treatment. CSIR has also been supporting drug research through its infrastructure  and  facilities  as  well  its  creation  of  trained  human resource to carry out drug research in the country.

Details  regarding  some  ongoing projects at CSIR labs in the  area of cancer are provided in Annexure-I.

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## Annexure-I

Research projects in the area of Cancer Biology are being implemented at CSIR labs is as under:

|   S.No | PROJECT TITLE                                                                                                                                                  | Funding Agency                   | Start date of Project   | Completion date of Project   |
|--------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|-------------------------|------------------------------|
|      1 | Elucidating mechanisms underlying breast cancer invasion and metastatis: Role of E3 ubiquitin ligase Fbw7 in suppressing breast tumorigenesis                  | Lady Tata Memorial Trust, Mumbai | 06-07-2017              | 05-07-2020                   |
|      2 | Development of small molecular inhibitor specifically targeting mTORC2 for cancer therapeutics: Development of targeted anti- cancer strategy                  | SERB DST                         | 17-03-2018              | 16-03-2021                   |
|      3 | Amino acids derived steroidal and non- steroidal Ligands as inhibitors of steroid 5-α- reductase in cancer                                                     | DAE                              | 18-06-2018              | 17-06-2021                   |
|      4 | Determination and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds from the selected traditional medicinal plants of Mizoram with a focus on anticancer compounds | DBT                              | 29-09-2018              | 28-09-2021                   |
|      5 | Targeting Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) by a plant derived small molecule: An in-vitro and in-vivo approach                                             | SERB DST                         | 30-07-2018              | 29-07-2021                   |
|      6 | Role of p21Waf1Cip1 in regulation of autophagy: its implication in tumorigenesis and cancer therapy                                                            | SERB DST                         | 25-02-2019              | 24-02-2022                   |
|      7 | Repurposing of Anticancer Drugs for the Treatment of Malaria                                                                                                   | DBT                              | 12-06-2019              | 11-06-2022                   |
|      8 | Development of Novel Small Molecule SMAC Mimetics as Cancer Therapeutics                                                                                       | BIRAC                            | 03-05-2019              | 02-11-2020                   |
|      9 | Bio prospecting of medicinal plants of Sikkim Himalaya against breast cancer angiogenesis                                                                      | DBT                              | 30-09-2019              | 29-09-2022                   |
|     10 | Harnessing therapeutic potential of novel spisulosine derivative as robust autophagy inducer against triple negative breast cancer {TNBC) in vitro and in vivo | ICMR                             | 22-08-2019              | 21-08-2022                   |
|     11 | Development of new Smac Mimetic against chemotherapy resistant colon cancer                                                                                    | CSIR                             | 21-07-2020              | 31-03-2022                   |
|     12 | Deciphering epigenetic dysregulation in Hematopoietic stem cell transformation in human Myelogenous leukemia                                                   | DBT                              | 29.06.2017              | 19.12.2020                   |

|   13. | Development of a combinatorial nano-vehicles assisted therapeutic system for the efficient treatment of Glioma                                                    | DST                                             | 23.08.2018   | 22.08.2021   |
|-------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|--------------|--------------|
|    14 | Glucocorticoid Receptor-Assisted Drug Sensitization(GRADS) in colorectal cancer therapy: Nano-therapeutic strategy towards repurposing of anti-cancer drugs       | SERB                                            | 18.09.2018   | 17.09.2021   |
|    15 | 1s Rad50 a possible molecular link between chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer?                                                                          | DBT                                             | 29.07.2015   | 28.05.2019   |
|    16 | Transcriptomic Analysis of µTumor Spheroid Derived from Single Cancer Stem Cell to Identify Novel Therapeutic Targets in Breast Cancer                            | SERB                                            | 29.01.2020   | 28.01.2023   |
|    17 | Bio-assay guided isolation of anti-cancer compounds from Pterocarpus santalinus and assessment of cytotoxicity, pharmacokinetics and detailed molecular mechanism | National Biodiversity Authority, Govt. of India | 24.03.2020   | 23.02.2022   |
|    18 | Mechanism of Ets-1 transcription factor- mediated metabolic reprogramming and tumorigenesis in ovarian cancer                                                     | SERB                                            | 29.03.2017   | 28.03.2020   |

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