{"id":17803,"date":"2014-05-27T11:37:49","date_gmt":"2014-05-27T15:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=17803"},"modified":"2016-06-11T12:49:54","modified_gmt":"2016-06-11T16:49:54","slug":"drug-sensitivity-target-identified-for-mesothelioma-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=17803","title":{"rendered":"Drug Sensitivity Target Identified for Mesothelioma Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lung<\/a>
(National Cancer Institute)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

27 May 2014. Researchers at the biopharmaceutical company Verastem Inc.<\/a> in Cambridge, Massachusetts found the loss of a certain tumor suppressor improves responsiveness to therapies targeting cancer stem cells that treat mesothelioma<\/span>, an aggressive form of lung cancer. The team led by Verastem’s research director Jonathan Pachter<\/a>, with colleagues from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, published its findings last week in the journal Science Translational Medicine<\/em><\/a> (paid subscription required).<\/p>\n

Mesothelioma<\/a> is an aggressive form of cancer affecting the lungs, but can also occur in the abdomen and heart cavities. In the lungs, which accounts for about three-quarters of the cases, cancer strikes the mesothelium<\/span>, the protective layer of the chest cavity. Exposure to asbestos in the air increases the risk of contracting mesothelioma<\/span>, which strikes 2,500 to 3,000 people in the U.S. each year, according to Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance<\/a>.
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Verastem’s technology<\/a> is built around limiting the signaling mechanisms that promote production of cancer stem cells that are able to self-replicate and transform into more mature types of cells. Cancer stem cells<\/a> are considered an underlying cause of resistance to chemotherapy experienced by some patients, as well as cancer’s recurrence and progression.<\/span><\/p>\n

In their paper, Pachter and colleagues test if low production of Merlin, a protein that suppresses tumors, increases the sensitivity of people with mesothelioma to treatments inhibiting another protein, known as focal adhesion kinase<\/a>, that affects how cells adhere to each other and move around. Merlin<\/a> affects the signals from cell frameworks, the parts of cells that adhere to each other, thus low production of Merlin — a condition in about half of all mesothelioma cases — could affect the ability of therapies to control cells’ adhesion behavior.<\/p>\n

One of the signaling mechanisms affecting cancer stem cells is based on the focal adhesion kinase. Verastem develops a small molecule compound code-named\u00a0VS-4718<\/a> to inhibit focal adhesion kinase activity, and in turn the activity of cancer stem cells. In their paper, the researchers test the responsiveness of VS-4718, a focal adhesion kinase inhibitor, in the lab on mesothelioma<\/span><\/span> tumor tissue samples, and find that low production of Merlin increases the sensitivity of mesothelioma<\/span><\/span> cells to VS-4718.<\/p>\n

Verastem is currently testing the safety and anti-cancer activity of VS-4718 in an early-stage clinical trial<\/a> among solid tumor cancer patients. The company also has an intermediate-stage trial<\/a> of a companion focal adhesion kinase inhibitor, VS-6063<\/a>, underway testing the treatments among mesothelioma patients, including those with low production of Merlin.<\/span><\/p>\n

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