New cancer hope as drug found to shrink tumours

A DRUG that stops cancer cells repairing their DNA halted tumour growth in more than half of patients, a pioneering trial has shown.

Growth was stopped in eight out of 21 people with advanced cancers and another four even saw tumours shrink.

Researchers have called the results remarkable and say they could lead to new targeted treatments.

Study leader Professor Johann de Bono of The Institute of Cancer Research, London ( ICR), said: “Our trial shows this new treatment is safe and can benefit some patients even with very advanced cancers.

“It is very promising to see patients responding in an early- stage trial like this and we are looking forward to further clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy.”

The patients had advanced tumours with defects in genes which help co- ordinate DNA repair. The Phase I trial tested the safety of the drug in humans for the first time.

The drug, manufactured by Bayer and known by the code BAY1895344, works by blocking a molecule called ATR, which plays a key role in repairing DNA. Damage to DNA can lead to mutations that allow cancer cells to divide uncontrollably.

Precision

But it is also a weakness as the cells can be killed by treatments that cause further damage or stop them fixing it.

The treatment was particularly effective in patients with defects in a gene called ATM, which meant their ability to repair DNA was already weakened. All four whose tumours shrank belonged to this group.

The effectiveness of the drug seemed to be long- lasting and three out of four patients who saw their tumours shrink remained on the treatment for more than a year.

Further trials are under way to develop the drug into a new targeted treatment for a variety of cancers.

Professor Paul Workman of ICR said: “It is exciting to see a new class of precision medicine showing such promise in early trials.

“At the ICR we have pioneered neered ways of treating cancer by exploiting the weaknesses es that tumours often have in n repairing their DNA.

“One of our main goals is to find new targeted treatments and drug combinations that can tackle cancer evolution and drug resistance.”

The findings were re published in the Cancer ncer Discovery journal.