Doctors have found a new and effective way to treat a dangerous problem in some people with kidney cancer.
This problem is called hypercalcemia, which means there is too much calcium in the blood. It happens in about 1 out of every 10 patients with advanced kidney cancer.
When calcium levels get too high, people may feel confused, weak, or even have seizures. Sadly, it also means the person’s illness may be getting worse.
Normally, doctors treat high calcium levels with certain drugs that stop calcium from leaking out of bones. These drugs can help, but they also have serious side effects. Some patients develop bone damage, broken bones, or end up with too little calcium, which causes other health problems.
Now, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have tested a new kind of drug called HIF-2α inhibitors. These drugs were specially made to fight kidney cancer. In a recent study published in the journal Cancer Discovery, scientists found that these drugs can also fix high calcium levels in the blood.
The reason this works is because kidney tumors sometimes make a hormone-like substance called PTHrP. This substance tells the body to raise calcium levels.
A few years ago, scientists at UT Southwestern discovered that a protein called HIF-2 helps kidney tumors make PTHrP. That’s when they got an idea: what if they stop HIF-2 from working? Maybe the tumors would stop making too much PTHrP.
So the researchers gave a HIF-2α-blocking drug called PT2399 to mice with human kidney tumors. These mice had high calcium levels, just like some patients do. After getting the drug, the mice quickly got better.
Their calcium levels dropped in just a few days. The mice also looked healthier—they had more energy, stopped losing weight, and didn’t have calcium building up in their bodies.
Further tests showed why the drug worked. It stopped HIF-2 from turning on the gene that makes PTHrP. With less of this substance in the body, calcium levels dropped to normal.
The team also tried this in a real patient—a 63-year-old man with advanced kidney cancer and high calcium. They gave him a newer version of the drug called belzutifan. After treatment, his calcium levels returned to normal in just a few days. Best of all, he didn’t have the side effects that often come with older treatments.
This discovery is important. It means doctors now have a safer way to treat a dangerous problem in kidney cancer. Instead of just treating the symptoms, this drug targets the root cause. More research is needed, but this study gives real hope to patients.
For more health information, please read studies about important cause of kidney disease and Cruciferous vegetables may reverse kidney damage in diabetics.
If you care about kidney health, please read studies about High blood pressure drugs may affect kidney health and findings of Effective home remedies for kidney infections.
The study is published in Cancer Discovery.
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