Sydney, February 14: A team of researchers has identified a potential new drug treatment for lethal diffuse childhood cancer Cancer Pontine Glioma (DIPG).
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, highlights a combination of drugs that can – in animal studies and in 3D models of the tumor worldwide – “be highly effective in destroys the cancer cells, ”according to the researchers
In preclinical trials in mouse models, the researchers found that the promising combination of drugs caused survival in two-thirds of the mice and that the drug combination completely stopped the growth of highly invasive tumors. that in those mice.
Importantly, the drug therapy, currently in early trials in adult cancer, is the most effective treatment ever tested in laboratory models of this unstable childhood cancer, the said researchers, including David Ziegler of the Australian Institute of Childhood Cancer.
The treatment is a combination of two drugs – difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), an established drug, and AMXT 1501. The DFMO is gaining increasing attention as a treatment for difficult-to-control cancers such as neuroblastoma, other invasive childhood cancers, and colorectal cancer in adults. . DFMO works by targeting the polyamine pathway – an important mechanism that allows tumor cells to grow, the team said.
For the study, the team developed their first research program in DIPG using tumor cells donated by parents of children who have died from the disease. From these, they created the first laboratory models of the eardrum to try new drugs. These models were used to show that DIPG can inhibit DFMO activity by pumping polyamines to cancer, essentially allowing the eardrum to continue to grow despite treatment with DFMO, the team said.
They have now found that treatment with a new developmental drug, AMXT 1501, strongly inhibits the transport of polyamines into the DIPG cancer cell.
Treatment with AMXT 1501 was found to reactivate the DIPG cells to DFMO leading to what Ziegler stated, “it was a remarkable response in animal models, with much higher survival and minimal toxicity (anti-inflammatory). effects) ”.
Disclaimer: This story is automatically generated from the IANS service.
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