‘Anti-evolution’ drugs against cancer cells targeted by scientists
Plans to develop new ‘anti-evolution’ drugs to stop tumor cells from developing resistance to treatment is the new strategy scientists are devising in the war on cancer. According to Britain’s Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), one of the world’s top cancer centers, its initiative was the first to have at its heart the target of overcoming cancer evolution and drug resistance.
Cancer cells also change to evade the medicines used to fight them in the same way that bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics. As a result, most cancer drugs eventually stop working, leading to patient relapse.
However, there are signs that drugs can be developed to tackle this problem, while advances in immunotherapy may also make it possible to direct patients’ immune systems to adapt in response to cancer changes.
The ICR aims to discover at least one new drug targeting a novel evolutionary mechanism and a new immunotherapy over the next five years.
Doctors have known about cancer drug resistance for decades, but it is only nowthat scientists are unraveling the factors driving the process because of the advances in genetics and the development of ultra-fast DNA sequencing. “We now have an incredibly precise understanding of the genetic basis for resistance,” said ICR Chief Executive Paul Workman.
Already an experimental medicine inhibiting the protein Hsp90, which cancer cells use to protect themselves from stress, has shown encouraging results in clinical trials. ICR scientists are also working on an even more important controller of the stress response known as HSF1.Workman said experiments on HSF1 were still at an early stage but scientists were close to selecting a drug candidate.
The end result is likely be the development of a number of combination treatments to stop cancer evolving, similar to the drug cocktails used to control HIV or tuberculosis.
In addition to understanding biology, a large part of the research effort will be driven by “big data”, through the use of mathematical models to predict the path of cancer evolution from tumor samples.
Tapping into the terabytes of data thrown up by analyzing the genetic profiles of tumors is an increasing focus of cancer research worldwide. It is also a central plank of US Vice President Joe Biden’s “moonshot” initiative aimed at finding cures for cancer.
Category: Features, Pharmaceuticals
