A new combination of medicines could treat up to 40% of patients with advanced prostate cancer.
The researchers identified a new treatment strategy that could change how prostate cancer is treated in advanced stage. Two out of five advanced prostate cancer patients could be treated with a combination of two targeted drugs, according to a new study, conducted by a team from Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and published in the magazine Nature Communicationson October 8th.
The method, initially tested in the laboratory and animal models, combines two drugs already developing or use for other types of cancer and has demonstrated the ability to destroy tumor cells resistant to current hormonal therapies.
The specialists tested a “two steps” approach meant to simultaneously block two essential proteins for the survival of cancer cells – MCL1, which prevents the programmed death of the cells, and AKT, an enzyme involved in the processes of growth and tumor resistance.
The inhibition of these proteins was achieved by a combination of drugs: Fadraciclib (in clinical studies for blood cancers) and, either IPATERTIB or CAPIVENTIB, both tested or used in the treatment of certain types of cancer, such as breast.
The researchers observed that the association of Fadraciclib with one of the AKT inhibitors triggered the death of prostate cancer cells, while the administration of each drug as monotherapy had no significant effect.
The results were particularly promising in the case of a form of prostate cancer characterized by the loss of the PENE gene and the activation of the PI3C – a genetic alteration encountered in about 40% of the patients.
In tests performed on bearing mice of this tumor form, the combination of drugs has significantly slowed cancer and caused the death of malignant cells.
“For men with advanced prostate cancer, who no longer respond to hormonal therapies, treatment options are extremely limited. We have analyzed a wide range of developed or already approved drugs and identified a very promising combination, which not only slows down tumors, but destroys them. Adam Sharp, coordinator of the translational therapy group, quoted in a statement of the Institute.
According to experts, “progress in oncology does not mean only new molecules, but also a new use of existing ones.”
The identification of effective combinations and the right patients could provide more target and effective treatments
“If clinical trials will confirm these results, the new strategy could become a vital option for patients where current therapies no longer work,” said Dr. Matthew Hobbs, Prostate UK research director, adding that the new treatment approach provides real hope for men with advanced disease forms:
According to the most recent report of the National Prostate Audit Cancer, in 2024 over 58,000 men with prostate cancer were diagnosed in the United Kingdom, and about 12% of them were found only after the disease had spread to other parts of the body.
The study was funded by Wellcome Trust, Prostate Cancer Foundation and Prostate Cancer UK.
