By Fedor Villard-Lopez
MiamiDadeHealth.com
A new targeted cancer therapy called larotrectinib has shown promising results in children and adults for a wide variety of cancer types, according to the results of three small clínical trials.
According to researchers, the drug disrupts the activity of TRK proteins caused by an alteration, known as fusion, in a family of genes known as NTRK. In all trials, the therapy appeared to be safe, with little evidence that it causes serious side effects.
Cancer and the Circadian Clock
Targeting the body’s biological clock may render positive results in the war against cancer, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Nature.
Researchers say that two compounds that target components of the circadian clock killed several types of cancer cells in the lab and slowed the growth of brain tumors in mice without harming healthy cells, the study investigators reported.
The circadian clock regulates hundreds of biological functions, from sleep patterns to cell division. By targeting components of the clock machinery, the compounds restrain two functions that cancer and senescent cells need to survive, the researchers found.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors
Drugs that use immune checkpoint inhibitors have been another weapon in the doctors’ arsenal against cancer. These particular drugs help the immune system fight cancer, but most patients do not respond to these treatments.
In order to develop more effective immunotherapies, two groups of researchers, working independently, have announced a new type of drug that simultaneously targets two proteins involved in suppressing the body’s immune response against tumors.
The researchers created the drugs by fusing a receptor for a protein called TGF-beta to a monoclonal antibody that targets a checkpoint protein, such as PD-L1 or CTLA-4. The result is a single hybrid molecule that blocks two pathways used by tumors to evade the immune system.
