Researchers of Molecular Therapy Research Group of the cancer of the Hospital del Mar Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) and doctors of the Hospital del Mar, have demonstrated the effectiveness of the application of a drug in patients with metastatic bladder cancer who did not respond to the usual treatment. A positive response has been recorded in four of the seven participating patients.
It has been found that the use of TAK-228, an inhibitor of the mTORC1 / 2 protein, usually present in tumors, allows the progression of the disease to stop, as reported by the health center on Friday.
The essay also has the participation of the Hospital de la Santa Creu and Sant Pau, the Parc Taulí de Sabadell University Hospital, the Navarra University Clinic and the Elche General University Hospital. The results, published by ‘Molecular Cancer Research’, have shown, not only the good preclinical results of this drug, but these are reinforced in combination with other treatments.
Researchers have also detected that it was more effective in a subgroup of tumors with certain characteristics, genetic alterations that can be used as therapeutic targets. According to Joaquim Bellmunt, director of the IMIM and lead author of the study, “the fact that this mTORC1 / 2 inhibitor has a new mechanism of action, beyond inhibiting this pathway, that is, it is active against a molecular target , a specific genetic alteration opens up expectations beyond what was expected ”.
The trial, which has evaluated seven patients, has shown how four of them showed a positive response to the drug, by slowing tumor growth and preventing tumor progression. These are patients who had metastatic bladder cancer that did not respond to usual treatments, including immunotherapy.
Second therapeutic treatment
The principle of this drug (prepared by the pharmaceutical company TAKEDA), is the inhibition of the mTORC1 / 2 protein, whose function is key in the development and spread of tumors. Researchers have analyzed in the laboratory its effectiveness, in cultured bladder cancer cell lines in vitro, as well as implanted in mice. They have also worked with fresh tissue from patient tumors. The novelty is that, at the same time, a clinical trial has been designed that is now in progress.
The drug TAK-228 is a candidate to become the “second potential therapeutic target” in patients with bladder cancer, since only one treatment against a molecular target of bladder cancer, other than chemotherapy and radiotherapy, is approved in the world, In U.S.A.