In a new study, researchers have discovered a safe and potent next generation of drugs to fight multiple types of leukemia and lymphoma in adults and children.
The research was conducted by a team at UT Health San Antonio and the University of Florida.
According to the team, this is a new class of drugs called PROTACs that target an essential survival protein in cancer cells.
The previous drugs that have targeted the cancer cells decrease platelets dangerously, with a high risk of bleeding.
The new drugs markedly reduce that risk and thus would be potentially far more useful in cancer patients.
The new drugs reported here would treat T-cell malignancies such as T-cell acute leukemia and T-cell lymphoma.
T cells are produced by a gland in the upper chest called the thymus. These cells are very important participants in the body’s immune response.
When they turn cancerous, they rely on the cancer cells for survival.
The team says the PROTAC drugs degrade the cancer cell protein rather than merely inhabiting it.
Potentially this class of drugs can be developed against certain childhood cancers that have been untreatable.
One author of the study is Robert Hromas, M.D., FACP, professor of medicine and dean of the university’s Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine.
The study is published in the journal Nature Medicine.
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