I am the only one shocked we haven't found a cure for cancer after decades of research and billions of dollars? This new research is allegedly another step in that direction.
(PHYSORG)- In a technical tour de force, scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center have cataloged and cross-indexed the actions of 178 candidate drugs capable of blocking the activity of one or more of 300 enzymes, including enzymes critical for cancer and other diseases. Additionally, a free library of the results has been made available online to the research community. This unique library represents an important new tool for accelerating the development of an entire class of targeted cancer drugs.
The enzymes, called kinases, catalyze a wide array of vital biological activities. Unfortunately, they can also act as drivers for many forms of cancer. For this reason, the candidate drugs, called kinase inhibitors, have the potential to act as powerful anti-cancer agents. They can also interfere with normal processes in the body, however, resulting in side effects. With the new library, researchers will be able to analyze the complex interactions of these inhibitors with their targets to develop cancer drugs that block specific kinases responsible for disease while seeking to avoid major side effects. The results from the Fox Chase team's first-of-its-kind study will appear in the November issue of Nature Biotechnology.
"These results have pushed the field closer to finding truly specific inhibitors of the processes that drive cancer," says Jeffrey R. Peterson, Ph.D., associate professor in the Cancer Biology Program at Fox Chase and senior author on the new study. "We now have a collection of kinase inhibitors that are more well-characterized and understood than any other library. The next step is to use this information to identify specific, effective therapies that stop cancer in its tracks while avoiding healthy processes."
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