Barcelona tests for the first time a new way to treat metastatic cancer

The Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology has analyzed the potential of a new cancer drug in 22 patients with different types of metastatic cancer in a clinical trial with the first specific inhibitor of the MYC oncogene. The results of the first clinical trial in humans of this drug published in ‘Nature Medicine’ show that it is safe and that, in some patients, it is capable of stabilizing or even reducing the disease. The research has also made it possible to identify two potential blood biomarkers that could be useful in the management of the disease through liquid biopsy. Related News standard No What makes some cells metastasize in cancer and others not? Study explains why R. Ibarra Researchers have been working for decades to understand and prevent the spread of tumor cells. However, the mechanisms that allow a cancer cell to survive in a distant organ and ultimately grow into a metastasis are largely unknown. It has long been known that the MYC oncogene is altered in the vast majority of tumors, but until recently it was considered therapeutically unattainable. Researchers at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology have developed a therapeutic mini-protein, Omomyc, which was shown in the laboratory to be capable of entering cells and reaching their nucleus, where the MYC oncogene is located. Once in the nucleus, Omomyc inhibits MYC’s ability to promote the growth of cancerous tumors. Omomyc is a therapeutic mini-protein that has been demonstrated in the preclinical phase in the laboratory that this protein is capable of entering cells and reaching their nucleus, where the MYC oncogene is located. Once in the nucleus, Omomyc inhibits MYC’s ability to promote the growth of cancerous tumors. In collaboration with the START Early Phase clinical trial units of the Fundación Jiménez Díaz and HM CIOCC university hospitals, both in Madrid, a phase I clinical trial began in 2021 in which 22 patients with different types of tumors participated. . metastatic solids. The objective was to verify the safety of OMO-103 and show if there were early signs of cancer control. The patients who participated in the study had different types of solid tumors in an advanced metastatic stage, all of them had been previously treated with between 2 and 12 lines of treatment and had no further therapeutic options. 22 patients with different types of metastatic solid tumors participated in the clinical trial. “The objective of the study was the safety of the drug, which turned out to be very well tolerated by patients with some mild side effects such as chills or nausea,” explains Emiliano Calvo, medical oncologist. is START-HM CIOCC . «But from very low doses we already observed clinical benefits in patients. “In 8 of the 12 patients who underwent a CT scan after 9 weeks of treatment, we observed stabilization of the disease in which tumor growth had stopped.” Elena Garralda, director of the UITM-CaixaResearch of the VHIO and first author of the article, highlights the case of “a patient with pancreatic cancer who remained in study for more than six months in which the diameter of the tumor was reduced by 8% , and which presented an 83% reduction in tumor-derived DNA circulating in the bloodstream. In this specific case, the decrease in the total volume of all the patient’s metastases was also analyzed and it was found that this had been reduced by 49%, an encouraging result for metastases. Fatal cancer We must not forget that pancreatic cancer is the eighth most common tumor in Spain and, however, due to its high lethality, it is the third cause of death from cancer, being responsible for 7% of cancer deaths. . . In our country, it is estimated that 8,697 new cases will be diagnosed per year, with an estimated mortality for 2021 of 7,568 deaths per year. Most die from this disease because the tumors are diagnosed late, when they are no longer curable. The overall median survival of a person diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer is seven months, one of the lowest among cancer patients. In addition, it is increasing in the younger population and in women. Likewise, Garralda adds, “we also observed the case of a patient with sarcoma, who had responded very little to previous treatments, who remained stable for 8 months in this study, and the notable case of a patient with a salivary gland tumor whose disease “It remained stable for 26 months.” Liquid biopsy because it was the first time that this drug was used in humans, explains Laura Soucek, head of the VHIO Antitumor Therapies Modeling Group and co-founder of the spin-off Peptomyc, “one of our objectives was to demonstrate that it actually has an effect on its target MYC as well as identifying possible biomarkers. In addition, the researchers have also identified two potential blood biomarkers that, after validation, could be useful in the management of the disease. One of the markers identified will be used with the liquid biopsy to know if the tumor is progressing and thus make appropriate and quick clinical decisions for that patient. The results of the first clinical trial of OMO-103 in humans have led to the launch of a second phase clinical trial that evaluates the activity of the drug in combination with standard treatment in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.