A cancer treatment that is already approved and being used for certain types of cancer has been found to block cell growth in a common form of lung cancer, for which there is no specific treatment currently available.
Lungs
The research, led by a team from the University of Glasgow, has been published in Science Translational Medicine and suggests that a large proportion of patients could benefit from this treatment if used in combination with additional therapies.
Lung cancer is estimated to cause more than 1.5 million deaths per year globally, which is more than cancers of any other organ. The largest subtype of lung cancer, which the researchers studied, is adenocarcinoma.
A third of patients with adenocarcinoma carry a mutant gene called KRAS. It is this gene that the researchers demonstrated requires activity of EGFR/ERBB growth factor receptors in order to drive cell proliferation. Presently, there are no KRAS-inhibiting drugs available for treatment of these cancers and first generation EGFR drugs have failed to show any benefit to this form of cancer.
In the study, the researchers found that the treatment, which is a second-generation EGFR inhibitor (a drug that slows down or stops cell growth), blocked the proliferation of KRAS-mutant lung cancer cells in lab studies and actually prevented the formulation of KRAS-driven lung cancers in mice.
“There is a pressing need to develop alternative strategies for more effective treatment of KRAS‐driven lung cancer, and this is a promising breakthrough which we hope could benefit patients soon,” said lead author Dr Daniel Murphy, senior lecturer at the University’s Institute of Cancer Sciences and a scientist at Glasgow’s Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute. “The inhibitor we studied — a multi-ERBB inhibitor — helped sensitise tumours and was of therapeutic benefit when used in combination with another cancer drug called Trametinib, resulting in a clear extension of lifespan.
“Based on our findings, we hope lung cancer patients with the KRAS-driven form of lung cancer may in future benefit from inclusion of this inhibitor in their treatment plan.”
As the treatment is already approved, it is hoped that it may be deployed to patients in the near future. However, unwanted side effects of these drugs on normal tissues are a concern but strategies to limit delivery of these drugs to the tumour site could reduce these and improve the utility of this class of therapeutics.
“These findings in the lab have revealed a new role for four related molecules in a particular type of lung cancer. Furthermore, by targeting these molecules in mice the researchers found this increased the effectiveness of an existing lung cancer drug,” commented Dr Catherine Pickworth of Cancer Research UK. “We now need further studies to work out if this holds true in people and what the side effects might be. We urgently need new and better ways to treat lung cancer, a disease where survival has remained stubbornly low.”
Dr Alan McNair from the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office added: “We are delighted to have been a partner in funding this important research. It is through collaborations of this type that effective new approaches to the treatment of lung cancer are likely to be developed.”
“Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, so research into new treatments is vital,” stated Ian Jarrold, head of Research at the British Lung Foundation. “This is a promising finding, which could potentially help thousands of people a year, and we are delighted to have been involved in funding the project. More research is needed now to determine if this combination of treatments, which has proven successful in a laboratory setting, is safe and effective in people with lung cancer.”