An experimental drug has shown the ability to shield healthy
tissue from radiation and enhance its ability to eradicate tumors. The study
is published in Science Translational Medicine by UT Southwestern
scientists. The pharmaceutical, named avasopasem
manganese (AVA), has already been shown to prevent acute mucositis (a condition
seen in head and neck cancer patients) in clinical trials. For the drug to
become a routine part of clinical care, its ability to protect healthy – not
only cancerous – cells from radiation needs to be tested.
Study leader Michael Story, Ph.D., professor of radiation
oncology at UTSW and member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer
Center’s Experimental Therapeutics Research Program, worked with colleagues to
treat cancerous cells with AVA prior to exposing them to radiation. After drug
treatment, the cancerous cells were not protected from radiation and appeared
to respond more to the adiation than those who did not receive AVA. This was
especially true when high radiation doses were administered.
In mice, cancerous cells were allowed to grow into tumors.
Before radiation treatment, AVA was administered, and the tumors shrank after
being treated. Some of the tumors disappeared completely. Several different
tumor types (lung, pancreatic, neck, head) also experienced positive results in
animal trials.
Story noted that AVA is currently being tested in phase 1
and phase 2 clinical trials. “With this drug, the radiation doses we deliver
could be profoundly more effective, while at the same time contribute to
protecting adjacent normal tissues,” Story said.
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