Early Trials Of Cancer Drug Show Promise
16th June 2005 - Promising results from the UK’s first clinical trial of a prototype cancer drug – labelled 17AAG – raised the prospect of an effective new treatment against a range of cancers, including breast, prostate, bowel, kidney, ovarian and skin cancer.
The research revealed the drug’s ability to attack cancer cells on a number of fronts at the same time, and gives the first indication that it may have the potential to halt the disease in patients.
The drug works by targeting and inactivating a crucial molecule called Hsp90. Hsp90 plays an important role in the transmission of messages around the cell by helping to control the structure and function of a large number of other molecules many of which are critical for cancer growth. Cancer cells are dependent upon these molecules and will die if deprived of them, whereas healthy cells are not seriously affected by their loss. This makes the new drug highly targeted, as well as deadly, to cancer cells.
Further trials, each looking at patients with a specific tumour type, are planned to establish the extent of the drug’s treatment potential in different kinds of cancer.
Find out more about the scientists working on this project:
- Professor Paul Workman
- Signal Transduction and Molecular Pharmacology Team
