2023-05-25 15:44:16
Patients usually respond favorably to initial treatment, but often quickly develop resistance. Then the cancer comes back, and another round of chemotherapy does not help.
As a result, the options for further treatment are limited. Up to now.
Researchers of the Monash University in Australia have found a drug that seems to control resistance and more than double the life expectancy of patients.
By examining genes commonly found in cancer cells, oncogenes, the scientists discovered that a certain group, MYC oncogenes, were overrepresented after chemotherapy and were associated with the development of resistance.
So they scoured medical databases for drugs that could counteract the effect of the oncogenes. And the search paid off.
Fimepinostat, already in clinical trials for the treatment of brain tumors in children, had the right properties, and later experiments in mice showed that the drug reduced the size of the tumors and significantly increased the lifespan of the test animals.
In combination with other drugs, fimepinostat was even more effective.
The next step is clinical research in humans, which the researchers hope to start as soon as possible.
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