Novel Radiosensitizer for Cancer Treatment
- Others
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None
- *Abstract
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Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College discovered that a naturally occurring compound (A-08) can significantly improve the effect of radiation therapy when it is administered orally to the patients at certain dosage and certain time prior to radiation therapy. An effective therapy can be developed to treat various cancers by combining this compound with radiotherapy.
Technical Merits
Radiation therapy uses x-rays, electron beams or radioactive isotopes to target and destroy cancer cells. Radiation therapy, however, can damage normal cells as well. When damage to normal cells occurs it causes side effects such as skin damage. As a result, researchers are searching for drugs that make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. These drugs are called Radiosensitizers. Researchers at Weill Cornell discovered that a known compound can significantly improve the effect of radiation therapy when it is administered to the patients at certain dosage and certain time prior to radiation therapy. The compound was tested in 31 patients with unresectable brain metastases while another 32 patient control group received placebo. Patients were assessed by brain NMR and/or CT (to assess tumor response) and proton magnetic spectroscopy (to determine the metabolic profile of tumors). It was found that patients who received the compound showed higher tumor response rates and longer survival compared to those who received placebo. The post treatment survival increased from 1-3 months to 7-9 months with the use of this novel radiosensitizer. The researchers also developed a non-invasive assay that could be used as predictive marker to the therapy.
Market
About 40% of patients with advanced cancer develop metastases in the central nervous system, mainly from primary tumors of lung, breast, colon and melanoma. In most cases there are multiple CNS metastases, making surgery or localized radiosurgery not feasible. The current standard of care for these patients is radiation therapy. Currently there is no FDA approved radiosensitizer on the market.
- *Licensing
- Brian J. Kellybjk44@cornell.edu212-746-6186
- Country/Region
- USA
