AI-generated illustration

Nobel Prize-winning Turkish academic Prof. Dr. Aziz Sancar presented research on the treatment of brain cancer at a talk held by Dicle University in Diyarbakır, telling students and faculty that significant progress has been made in mice but that it is not yet known whether the approach will work in people.

Sancar, who was born in Savur in Mardin province and has family roots in Diyarbakır, spoke at the 15 July Culture and Convention Center's Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı Hall and described a method combining the drugs TMZ and EdU that eliminated human brain cancer cells in laboratory mice.

Ties to Diyarbakır and unpaid appearances

The event began with a moment of silence and the reading of the Turkish national anthem. Sancar told the audience that as a rule, lectures only in Turkey and other Turkic states. Nobel laureates typically receive between 10,000 and 100,000 dollars for a conference appearance, Sancar said, adding: "I received such offers, but I did not go. I went to places in Turkey I could reach and to Turkish invitations without taking money."

Pointing to the size of the audience, Sancar said it was the first time in life that speaking before such a large crowd. Sancar, who was born in the Savur district of Mardin, described a family connection to Diyarbakır: "Actually, I have a Diyarbakır side too. My paternal grandmother is from Diyarbakır. I consider myself both from Mardin and from Diyarbakır, and I have shown that not only in words but also in deeds. I did my military service in Diyarbakır. After I became a professor, the United Nations had a program in America. They sent foreign-born professors to their own countries for four months to help. Through that program I came to Diyarbakır, to this university, and I taught microbiology and did research here. For that reason my ties to Diyarbakır are many, and I love Diyarbakır as much as Mardin and Savur."

A combined drug method against glioblastoma

Sancar then gave a presentation on the latest work on treating brain cancer, delivering it in English with an interpreter so the research could be described more precisely. The team has developed a method for glioblastoma, described as one of the most severe cancers. Glioblastoma is among the deadliest cancers, like pancreatic cancer, Sancar said, with average survival after diagnosis of 12 months and all patients dying within two years.

Treatment has long relied on the drug TMZ (temozolomide), Sancar explained: surgery first removes the tumor, radiotherapy clears remaining cells, and TMZ is then applied while doctors wait. What the team has put forward instead is a new drug molecule, abbreviated EdU, which Sancar said other scientists discovered and built on with serious results.

Sancar has worked on DNA damage for 50 years and on brain cancer for three. DNA is damaged by smoking, environmental pollution or ultraviolet radiation, triggering repair mechanisms before cancer develops later, Sancar said. In the mouse experiments, human cancer cells were injected into the brain and grew there, having been integrated in the laboratory with luciferase enzyme from fireflies so they glowed under a microscope. Tumor size could then be compared in mice given TMZ, EdU, or both. "The truth showed us that when TMZ and EdU are used together, the human brain cancer cell can be treated," Sancar said. Sancar added that the cells also recover when removed and treated outside the body with both drugs.

Why EdU is promising, and what remains unknown

Sancar pointed to the blood-brain barrier, which lets very few chemicals through and leaves brain and nerve cells strongly protected. EdU crosses that barrier and shows an effect that is absolutely not toxic to non-dividing nerve cells, Sancar said: "It never harms nerve cells. It only deals with cancer cells, it treats these cells. The combination of EdU and TMZ carries very serious potential in the treatment of brain cancer."

Sancar stressed the limits of the findings: "We tried this on mice, and although it was tried with human cells in mice, we do not know what will happen when this is actually given to humans." More work is needed, including trials in larger animals and more detailed analysis. Sancar also asked patients not to write: "I hope nobody here has a brain cancer patient, but if so, please do not make me cry, because heart-rending letters come: 'My mother is dying, my daughter is dying,' letters saying, 'Professor, help me.' I cannot do anything, because we have not reached that level, but we are working."

University honors and a planned Aziz Sancar Forest

Dicle University Rector Prof. Dr. Kamuran Eronat said the university was pleased to host Sancar, and described the scientific mark left in the university's Medical Faculty microbiology department in 1986 as a legacy that today illuminates the future of 37,000 students. Eronat praised the loyalty Sancar has shown to Diyarbakır and to the country, citing the donation of the Nobel medal to be displayed at Anıtkabir, and said Sancar has proven that geography is not destiny. "We believe that your presence here will show our students not only the power of science, but also that dreams can become reality through work," Eronat said.

Eronat announced plans to turn an almond garden on campus, currently home to 101 trees, into the "Aziz Sancar Forest" by expanding it to 2,000 trees, and closed by asking permission to name the university's Science, Technology Application and Research Center after Sancar. During the program, children presented flowers to Aziz Sancar and spouse Gwen Sancar, and Eronat gave Sancar a notebook containing notes written about Sancar by the students attending the event. A large number of academics and students took part.

Key takeaways

• Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Aziz Sancar presented brain cancer research at a Dicle University event in Diyarbakır.
• The team reports that combining TMZ with the molecule EdU treated human brain cancer cells in mice, with no sign of relapse.
• Sancar said it is unknown whether the results will hold in humans and called for trials in larger animals and deeper analysis.
• Dicle University plans to expand a campus almond garden into an "Aziz Sancar Forest" and to name a research center after Sancar.