Scientists report on promising new approaches to induce cancer ce...( factor instead of a growth factor. Whe...)

"The ability of the R2Fas receptor to switch the function of VEGF from a growth factor to a death factor may allow a new approach to anti-angiogenesis by simultaneously targeting both the VEGF-producing cancer cells and the tumor blood vessels," said Tim Quinn, M.D., assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco Pediatrics Department. "Animal studies in which R2Fas will be expressed in tumors and tumor blood vessels will determine the feasibility of this approach."

ZD6474, a vascular endothelial growth factor reception 2 (VEGFR-2) inhibitor, inhibits growth of multiple primary central nervous system tumor types: Abstract 709

Researchers have shown that a new and experimental drug ZD6474 -- strongly inhibited the growth of three deadly brain tumors in animals. In the study, conducted at Duke University Medical Center, ZD6474 inhibited the growth of three types of human tumors grown in mice -- glioblastoma, medulloblastoma, and ependymoma a remarkable finding, given that brain tumors are very distinct in their biologic makeup.

"Despite our best efforts in the laboratory and the clinic, the survival rate for glioblastoma the most common and lethal brain tumor -- hasn't changed in ten years," said Jeremy Rich, M.D., assistant professor in the Brain Tumor Center at Duke. "This new drug candidate has demonstrated great promise in treating human tumors that were grown in mice, and we feel these results are indicative of how the drug may act in humans."

Mice that received ZD6474 showed a 10- to 25-day delay in growth in all of the tumors compared to control mice. The drug worked by blocking tumor angiogenesis, the process by which tumor cells grow new blood vessels. Specifically, ZD6474 blocked activation of the receptor f
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Contact: Warren Froelich
froelich@aacr.org
215-440-9300
American Association for Cancer Research
20-Nov-2003