Tumor Agnostic Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Exploring a new era of cancer research at this year’s ASCO event

I am proud to share my last blog for the ASCO 2018 done toguether with Dr Forrest Antony supported by IQVIA. ASCO is the biggest medical congress in cancer which is attended by 30.000+ oncologists all over the world.

https://www.iqvia.com/blogs/2018/05/tumor-agnostic-immune-checkpoint-inhibitors

Thyroid nodules are common but usually are not cancer

Your doctor may find a lump (nodule) in your thyroid during a routine medical exam. A thyroid nodule is an abnormal growth of thyroid cells in the thyroid. Nodules may be solid or fluid -filled.

When a thyroid nodule is found, an ultrasound of the thyroid and a fine-needle aspiration biopsy are often done to check for signs of cancer. Blood tests to check thyroid hormone levels and for antithyroid antibodies in the blood may also be done to check for other types of thyroid disease.

Thyroid nodules usually don't cause symptoms or need treatment. Sometimes the thyroid nodules become large enough that it is hard to swallow or breathe and more tests and treatment are needed.

Only a small number of thyroid nodules are diagnosed as cancer.

Thyroid cancer may not cause early signs or symptoms. It is sometimes found during a routine physical exam. Signs or symptoms may occur as the tumor gets bigger. Other conditions may cause the same signs or symptoms. Check with your doctor if you have any of the following:

A lump (nodule) in the neck, trouble breathing, trouble swallowing, pain when swallowing and hoarseness.

Venetoclax Shows Promise as Salvage Therapy in CLL

Venetoclax (Venclexta) induced a response in two-thirds of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who had progressed after receiving prior therapy with idelalisib (Zydelig), according to findings of a phase II study recently published in Blood.

Venetoclax was associated with a 67% investigator-assessed overall response rate (ORR) among patients who had received prior idelalisib (n = 36).

FDA granted a Fast Track Designation for a new drug in Multiple Myeloma

Selinexor (KPT-330) was recently granted a Fast Track designation by the FDA for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 3 prior lines of therapy, according to Karyopharm Therapeutics, the manufacturer of the oral SINE (selective inhibitor of nuclear export) compound.

Selinexor links to and inhibits XPO1, a nuclear export protein, which leads to the accumulation of tumor suppressor proteins in the nucleus of the cell. This reinitiates and amplifies their tumor suppressor function, which investigators believe leads to the selective induction of apoptosis in cancer cells, while sparing normal cells.

The designation is based on data from the phase IIb STORM study, a single-arm, open-label, multicenter study of selinexor plus dexamethasone in patients with penta-refractory multiple myeloma.

 

A Potential Anticancer Drug From Poppies Has Been Produced in Genetically Engineered Yeast

Researchers from Stanford University and collaborating institutions have successfully synthesized noscapine, a potential anticancer drug, in yeast cells. Noscapine, a nonnarcotic cough suppressant that is also being investigated as a potential anticancer drug, currently has only one source—the opium poppy. Because environmental factors such as pests, disease, and climate can threaten the poppy crop, which is only grown in a limited geographic area, other ways of producing noscapine are needed to ensure a stable supply of the drug.

The research team developed a strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that can produce noscapine from simple carbon and nitrogen sources through a biochemical pathway that involves 31 enzymes taken from a variety of sources including plants, mammals, and bacteria. They then used multiple techniques to optimize noscapine production, leading to an 18,000-fold improvement in the amount produced. They also used their engineered yeast strain to produce novel compounds related to noscapine, some of which might also be able to be developed into drugs.

This work demonstrates the potential for microorganisms such as yeast to serve as platforms for complex syntheses of valuable natural products from simple chemical building blocks. Microbial synthesis can ensure a reliable supply of a product and can provide greater batch-to-batch consistency in product composition than can be achieved with plants. Also, the desired compounds can be produced far more quickly; it takes only days to cultivate the yeast used to produce noscapine, but it takes an entire growing season to raise a crop of opium poppies. The success of this project, in combination with previous drug on drug synthesis in genetically engineered yeasts, highlights the transformative effect that synthetic biology may have on the development and production of drugs and other complex plant-derived chemicals.

Reference

1. Li Y, Li S, Thodey K, et al. Complete biosynthesis of noscapine and halogenated alkaloids in yeast. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. April 2, 2018. [Epub ahead of print].