Novel Drug Stops Cancer Growth

Innovative Approach to Safe, Targeted Therapy Without Side Effects

(WebMD) 
First Cancer Drug to Attack Lipid Molecule

What's really exciting, Mills tells WebMD, is that Sphingomab is the first drug to home in on one of the fatty molecules called lipids involved in cancer cell growth.

"We've known for a while that both lipid messengers and protein messengers are involved in cell growth. But all the existing drugs target proteins; no one has been able to figure out a way to target the lipids," Mills says.

That's really important, Sabbadini says, because cancer cells, particularly those that are resistant to standard chemotherapy, can mutate and make another version of the protein that the drug can't attack.

"You can't do that with lipids," he says. "There is only one form. If it mutates, it dies."

In mouse studies, Sphingomab completely eliminated about three-fifths of ovarian tumors and halted the growth of about half of lung and breast tumors and melanomas, Mill says. There were no side effects in the short-term studies, although the researchers caution that longer studies are needed.

Researchers Optimistic

Laboratory studies confirmed that Sphingomab has multiple modes of action: It both directly killed cancer cells and starved tumors to death by blocking the formation of blood vessels that feed them, Sabbadini says.

Researchers familiar with the ongoing studies are optimistic.

Sara A. Courtneidge, PhD, distinguished scientific researcher at the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich., and a keynote speaker at the cancer meeting, says targeting a lipid is an innovative approach to fighting cancer.

"That's what's really new here," she tells WebMD. "It's becoming increasingly clear that lipids also play an important role in cancer cell growth. Therefore targeting lipid molecules might represent a novel strategy in developing cancer treatments."

Sabbadini says the company hopes to start testing in humans by early 2007.