New Compound Sensitizes Cancer Cells to Chemotherapy

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to new results published in the journal Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, researchers from three German institutions have identified a novel class of chemical compounds that sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs.

Furthermore, they identified the target enzyme of these chemicals, thus opening the possibility of developing new drugs that target that enzyme. The compound from the class of chemicals the researchers identified stimulates the death of rapidly proliferating cells by chemotherapeutic drugs. The compound is non-toxic. By sensitizing cancer cells to chemotherapy, lower doses of chemotherapy can be used, which will in turn decrease toxicity and resistance.

The new class of compounds is called T8, which specifically sensitizes cancer cells to the drug etoposide. Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) is the target protein that the researchers identified for novel agents to have a sensitizing effect. In addition, the researchers found that the effect on PDI is reversible and its effect is only observed when administered with a chemotherapeutic agent like etoposide.

The researchers also say that T8 is capable of sensitizing various types of cancer cells, including breast, leukemic, and pancreatic cancer cells. The researchers hope to test T8 in a variety of in-vivo animal models and determine whether PDI can be used as a drug target.