New Sources for Cancer Drugs
Reported December 09, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — New research could change the way scientists make cancer drugs.
Researchers discovered many more cancer target inhibiting agents could be clinically effective than previously thought. Traditionally, scientists did not utilize kinase inhibitor agents with short half-lives because it was assumed they could not provide safe and effective treatment compared to agents with prolonged half-lives.
However, in a study examining the relationship between depth and duration of kinase inhibition with respect to killing cancer, researchers found cell-death activation and the kinetics of cancer cell death were identical for both transient and prolonged target inhibition therapies.
“Our results provide compelling rationale for the clinical development of compounds capable of achieving potent kinase inhibition, irrespective of biological half-life,” lead study author Neil P. Shah, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, was quoted as saying. “It should be possible to optimize individual patient doses, balancing target inhibition with toxicity, in pursuit of the goal of rational personalized cancer medicine.”
SOURCE: Cancer Cell, 2008