Tag Archives: agent

Personalized therapy for cancer: Additional applications for FL118

In a study of preclinical models of colorectal cancer, the researchers identified an underlying mechanism for the activation of p53 by FL118. The agent activates the p53 tumor-suppressor protein largely independent of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-dependent DNA damage-mediated p53 activation. ATM-dependent activation of p53 is usually induced by many — if not all — types of DNA-damage drugs, including camptothecin compounds such as irinotecan and topotecan, leading the authors to conclude that FL118’s mechanisms of action are distinct among camptothecin analogues. “While FL118 is an analogue of irinotecan and topotecan, two FDA-approved cancer drugs that are also based on the naturally occurring compound camptothecin, our findings add further evidence that FL118 has novel mechanisms of action that may make it especially potent against solid tumors and especially effective as a well-tolerated, targeted therapy,” said Dr. …

Agent prevents prostate cancer growth, spread in animal studies — ScienceDaily

Published online Dec. 5 in PLOS ONE, the scientists say the agent, YK-4-279, is the first drug targeted at the chromosomal translocations found in about half of prostate cancer cells. These translocations occur when two normal genes break off from a chromosome and fuse together in a new location. …

Novel molecular imaging drug offers better detection of prostate cancer — ScienceDaily

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer in the United States, and it is second only to lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths in American men. An estimated 233,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2014, and an estimated 29,000 will die of the disease. More than 2 million men are currently living with prostate cancer in the United States…

Novel agent set for unique clinical test in inflammatory breast cancer

The finding, published online this month in the Journal of Experimental Therapeutics and Oncology, has led to development of a phase 1/2 clinical trial at Kimmel Cancer Center to test the agent, Romidepsin (Istodax™), in combination with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane™) chemotherapy for advanced inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). …

Cancer drug prevents build-up of toxic brain protein

They say their study, published online May 10 in Human Molecular Genetics, offers a unique and exciting strategy to treat neurodegenerative diseases that feature abnormal buildup of proteins in Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia, Huntington disease and Lewy body dementia, among others. "This drug, in very low doses, turns on the garbage disposal machinery inside neurons to clear toxic proteins from the cell. By clearing intracellular proteins, the drug prevents their accumulation in pathological inclusions called Lewy bodies and/or tangles, and also prevents amyloid secretion into the extracellular space between neurons, so proteins do not form toxic clumps or plaques in the brain," says the study’s senior investigator, neuroscientist Charbel E-H Moussa, MB, PhD. Moussa heads the laboratory of dementia and Parkinsonism at Georgetown. …