Tag Archives: drugs

Double-pronged attack could treat common children’s cancer

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, found that combining two separate molecularly targeted therapies could stop processes driving growth in a cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, a major cause of cancer death in children. The drugs, called AZD8055 and AZD6244, block two different signalling pathways involved in cancer growth — acting like road-blocks on two separate routes that cancers could otherwise use to evade treatment. The study, published in Clinical Cancer Research, was funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Cancer at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), with additional funding from Cancer Research UK, The Royal Marsden Hospital Charitable Fund and the Chris Lucas Trust. Rhabdomyosarcoma tumours can form anywhere in the body and resemble primitive muscle tissue…

Researchers detail possible resistance mechanisms of colorectal cancer to bevacizumab (avastin)

"Think of it like damming a river. Bevacizumab can block the main flow, but then once a tumor’s need builds up behind this dam, water starts to flow around the blockage in the form of streams and tributaries. That’s like these other growth factors — eventually a tumor becomes able to use these tributaries of VEGF-C, VEGF-D and placental growth factor to supply itself with the ‘water’ it needs," says Christopher Lieu, MD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and assistant professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine…

Cutting off all points of escape for melanoma cells

They found that resistant melanomas acquired a mutation in the MEK2 gene and multiple copies of the mutant BRAF oncogene, simultaneously decreasing the sensitivity to both drug targets. Their findings also uncovered a new potential target for melanoma therapy, a protein called S6K. Additionally, early studies in a laboratory model for melanoma show that a triple combination of drug inhibitors halted the growth of resistant tumors. "Melanoma tumors are particularly adept at rewiring themselves so that anticancer drugs lose their effectiveness, and we must continue to outthink the disease in order to block off all points at which it can evade therapy," said Jessie Villanueva, Ph.D., assistant professor in Wistar’s NCI-designated Cancer Center and member of The Wistar Institute Melanoma Research Center. …

First randomized trial of targeted cancer medicine in all tumor types

Dr Christophe Le Tourneau, Head of the Phase I Programme at the Institut Curie, Paris, France, will tell the congress that the SHIVA trial is the first randomised trial to look at patient outcomes after treatments were chosen according to the individual molecular profiles of each person’s tumour. It is also the first trial to do this for all tumour types. About 40% of all those taking part in the trial have molecular abnormalities that can be targeted by existing drugs, he will say…

Molecular marker predicts patients most likely to benefit longest from two popular cancer drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs, gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva), are prescribed for lung and pancreatic cancer patients but only a few who have mutations in the EGFR gene usually benefit with a prolonged reduction of tumor size. The two drugs block the gene’s ramped-up protein production, but patients’ response to the drug varies widely — from no survival benefit to several years. The average is several months. …

Origin of inflammation-driven pancreatic cancer decoded

The study, published online today in The Journal of Cell Biology, maps how inflammation pushes acinar cells in the pancreas — those that produce digestive enzymes — to transform into duct-like cells. As these cells change, they can acquire mutations that can result in further progression to pancreatic cancer, says senior author Peter Storz, Ph.D., a biochemist and molecular biologist at Mayo Clinic. …

Stopping cholesterol drugs may be associated with increased risk of Parkinson’s

The current study involved 43,810 people in Taiwan who were taking statins and did not have Parkinson’s disease. Taiwan’s compulsory national health insurance program reimbursement policy requests that doctors stop prescribing statins once the patient’s cholesterol reaches the treatment goal, which is contrary to standard treatment in the United States. "This policy allowed us to see whether there was any difference in the risk of Parkinson’s in people who stopped taking statins compared to the ones who kept taking them," said study author Jou-Wei Lin, MD, PhD, of National Taiwan University in Taipei. …