Chemotherapy-based cancer treatment has distressing side effects for patients and increases the risk of developing resistance to the treatment.
In a new study, researchers have developed a technique for quickly identifying from a large number of existing drugs the optimal combination and dose of products that can kill the tumor cells without affecting healthy cells.
They have demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach in colorectal cancer.
The best drug combinations identified were assessed using in vitro tests and, for the first time, in vivo on mouse models.
All the combinations were shown to be more effective than chemotherapy and did not cause any apparent toxicity in the healthy cells or in the animals.
This study further paves the way for personalized, effective and safe cancer treatment.
The research was conducted by scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and elsewhere.
The experiment incorporated 12 drugs, all recently approved for commercialization or in the final phase of clinical trials.
Colorectal cancer cell lines that had been perfectly characterized for the requirements of scientific studies were submitted to the TGMO-based “machinery”.
The aim of the search was to determine the combination of products closest to the desired outcome: the death of cancer cells together with an absence of effect on the healthy cell—and all using the lowest possible drug doses.
The procedure resulted in multidrug combinations of three or four drugs, all slightly different from each other.
The team found the drug combinations reduced tumor growth by about 80% and consistently outperformed the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
They revealed a total absence of toxicity in the healthy cells—unlike with chemotherapy—and significant activity on cancer cells freshly taken from current patients in Switzerland.
The study shows that it is possible to efficiently identify low-dose synergistic and selective optimized drug combinations, regardless of the mutation status of the tumor, and which are more effective than conventional chemotherapy.
The researchers are currently discussing setting up a clinical study on patients so they can take things a stage further.
One author of the study is Patrycja Nowak-Sliwinska, professor at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of UNIGE’s Faculty of Science.
The study is published in Molecular Oncology.
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