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Princess Margaret and PTC Therapeutics bring a novel cancer stem cell drug to the clinic.
Posted On: June 10, 2015
PTC Therapeutics recently announced that it will begin a clinical trial at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to evaluate the safety of a drug known as PTC596, which specifically targets cancer stem cells.
Originally discovered in the early 1990s by McEwen Centre Researcher Dr. John Dick, cancer stem cells have now been found within a wide variety of tumours as well as in patients with blood cancers. These cells have the unique ability to form new cancer cells or produce cells with identical stem cell-like properties. Cancer stem cells are also capable of evading chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, and may largely be responsible for the failure of certain cancer therapies and/or cancer recurrence.
PTC596 inhibits the function and activity of a protein known as B cell moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 protein (BMI1), which is critical to the survival and growth of cancer stem cells.
This first-in-human trial is a critical initial step towards bringing this potentially life-saving treatment to the clinic as it will determine the safety and the effectiveness of PTC596 as a cancer therapy.
“Targeting cancer stem cells by BMI1 inhibition is a promising approach to address the challenge of drug-resistant cancers,” stated Princess Margaret Cancer Center Senior Scientist Dr. Lillian Siu. “Cancer is a complex problem and the development of treatments that focus on molecular targets shows promise for the next generation of cancer therapies."
Originally discovered in the early 1990s by McEwen Centre Researcher Dr. John Dick, cancer stem cells have now been found within a wide variety of tumours as well as in patients with blood cancers. These cells have the unique ability to form new cancer cells or produce cells with identical stem cell-like properties. Cancer stem cells are also capable of evading chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, and may largely be responsible for the failure of certain cancer therapies and/or cancer recurrence.
PTC596 inhibits the function and activity of a protein known as B cell moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 protein (BMI1), which is critical to the survival and growth of cancer stem cells.
This first-in-human trial is a critical initial step towards bringing this potentially life-saving treatment to the clinic as it will determine the safety and the effectiveness of PTC596 as a cancer therapy.
“Targeting cancer stem cells by BMI1 inhibition is a promising approach to address the challenge of drug-resistant cancers,” stated Princess Margaret Cancer Center Senior Scientist Dr. Lillian Siu. “Cancer is a complex problem and the development of treatments that focus on molecular targets shows promise for the next generation of cancer therapies."