Two new studies led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (USA) have identified a possible way to block the progression of several forms of blood cancer using a drug clinical trial phase against breast cancer.
In depth
The studies – both conducted in patient samples and animal models – found that inhibiting a protein called RSK1 reduces inflammation and stops the progression of blood cancers called myeloproliferative neoplasms (NMP), as well as an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia (LMA). With the RSK1 inhibitor now in clinical testing, its use as a treatment for hematological cancers is likely to accelerate.
Thus, the first of the studies is published in ‘Nature Communications‘, while the second is available online at ‘Blood Cancer Journal‘.
In humans, the NMP They can be slow-growing blood cancers that remain dormant for years. Doctors can monitor the disease and treat the symptoms, but There is no reliable method to cure it or slow down its progression.. Patients with NMP are at high risk of developing secondary AMLvery aggressive and without effective treatment options.
“Patients with chronic MPN can live with the disease sometimes for decades, but are at increased risk of developing secondary AML, which has a bad prognosis“said the main author Stephen T. Ohassociate professor of medicine and co-director of the Division of Hematology at the University of Washington.
“These patients lack of effective medical therapies, so we hope that this new drug will help fill that gap in clinical care. At a minimum, we hope that this drug can stop the progression of chronic disease to AML. But The goal is to eliminate the disease and put patients into remission.“he added.
According to Oh, researchers have been searching for an inhibitor to block the progression of MPN for some time because current therapies only reduce the symptoms caused by the diseasesuch as intense fatigue, night sweats, loss of appetite, weight loss and enlarged spleen, but they do not slow the progression of the disease or reduce the risk of it progressing to acute leukemia.
More details
In theory, the use of RSK1 inhibitors to treat patients withn Chronic NMP could improve their health to the point of making them fit for a stem cell transplant, which is the preferred therapy for many blood cancers because it can lead potentially to long-term remission.
In the study of ‘Nature Communications‘, the inhibition of RSK1 helped reverse the progression of NMPs in mice, reducing fibrosis, or scar formation, in the bone marrow. Inhibiting RSK1 eliminated up to 96 percent of cancer in mice within four weeks. It was also shown to prevent chronic disease from developing into secondary AML..
On the other hand, in the study of ‘Blood Cancer Journal’blocking this protein treats a specific form of AML called FLT3-ITD AML that develops directly – without MPN developing first. This type of AML can be treated with established drugs called inhibitors. FLT3but cancer usually develops resistance to this treatment over time. Since the RSK1 inhibitor blocks a different pathway, Oh and his co-authors suggested it could help combat this resistance.
The specific RSK1 inhibitor used in both studies, called PMD-026is administered in pill form and is currently in clinical trials as a treatment for breast cancer. Ongoing studies aim to determine its effectiveness, and early tests showed that trial subjects with metastatic breast cancer have tolerated the drug well with few side effects.
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