A new drug that blocks cancer\u2019s escape route from chemotherapy could be used to treat deadly lung and pancreatic cancers.<\/p>\n
Scientists, including\u00a0Michelle Garrett, Professor of Cancer Therapeutics,<\/a>\u00a0have shown in human cancer cells and in mice that the drug boosts the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy.<\/p>\n The drug, discovered at the Institute of Cancer Research,<\/a>\u00a0London (ICR) and known as CCT245737, is scheduled to begin first-in-human clinical trials in patients with lung and pancreatic cancers \u2013 two cancers with low survival rates that continue to resist currently available treatments.<\/p>\n Professor Garrett, School of Biosciences<\/a>,\u00a0was part of the ICR team that researched the effectiveness of a new class of drugs called CHK1 inhibitors along with colleagues at the drug discovery company Sareum<\/a> and Newcastle University.<\/a><\/p>\n Most chemotherapies work by damaging the DNA of rapidly dividing cells. In response, cancer cells activate a molecule called CHK1 which delays cell division and gives cancer cells time to repair their damaged DNA.<\/p>\n This research showed CCT245737 to be very effective in blocking CHK1 which could stop cancer cells from repairing DNA damage and prevent them from becoming resistant to the effects of chemotherapy.<\/p>\n The new study is published in the journal Oncotarget<\/a>, and was funded by Cancer Research UK<\/a>\u00a0and Sareum Limited.<\/p>\n For the full press release, please click here.<\/a><\/p>\n