Although mesothelioma is generally regarded to be a rare cancer, it appears to be getting more common. More than 2,300 people are diagnosed with the disease every year in the UK alone, with approximately five-times as many cases in men as in women. According to Cancer Research UK, the number of cases of mesothelioma in the UK each year is expected to rise dramatically over the next 20 years because of the heavy use of asbestos in industry from the end of the second world war up until the mid-1970s. Mesothelioma in the chest (pleural mesothelioma; PM) is much more common than in the abdomen (peritoneal mesothelioma).
Recent work by Rosetta Genomics and New York University demonstrated the potential of miR-31, an miRNA that has recently been characterised as a suppressor of breast cancer metastases, to be used for the development of new therapies against mesothelioma and other cancers. In the study, published in the 12th May online edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (10.1074/jbc.M110.100354), cell lines derived from mesothelioma patients were found not to express miR-31. Functional assessment of miR-31 activity revealed its ability to inhibit proliferation, migration, invasion and clonogenicity of mesothelioma cells. The reintroduction of miR-31 suppressed cell cycle and inhibited expression of multiple factors involved in co-operative maintenance of DNA replication and cell cycle progression.
miRNAs, described as the body's master switches, hold significant potential for therapeutic applications, and have been shown to be highly-sensitive and specific biomarkers in recent work. Kenneth A Berlin, President and CEO of Rosetta, commented: "This latest publication is another demonstration of miRNAs' potential role in cancer therapeutics and details the significant impact a single miRNA can have on disease course." Using its diagnostic tests for cancer, and robust and diverse miRNA-based product pipeline, Rosetta plans to continue its research in this field by harnessing the power of miRNAs.
A further development in mesothelioma also occurred in May, as MolMed received clearance from the FDA for the IND application filed to initiate a Phase III trial of its investigational antitumour drug, NGR-hTNF, for the treatment of malignant PM (MPM). The study, NGR015, is a pivotal randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, international, multi-centre, Phase III trial, expecting to enrol adult patients affected by MPM with disease progressing after chemotherapy. The main endpoint of the trial is overall survival; secondary endpoints include progression-free survival, disease control rate, safety and patient quality of life. Based on the positive results of a multi-centre, Phase II study, this Phase III trial is optimally designed to investigate the full therapeutic potential of NGR-hTNF in the treatment of MPM. If positive data are yielded from this study, NGR-hTNF may represent a novel treatment option for malignant mesothelioma.
Alice Rossiter
Editor, Cancer Drug News
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