Treatment for Lung Cancer to be Targeted

The scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Cologne have come up with possible treatment for one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

They have recognized the dependencies of multiple Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) types thereby laying a foundation for clinical trials of new targeted treatments which could revolutionize the current approach.

Now, the researchers have learnt that the survival of SCLC cells and human tumors relies upon a protein called Aurora kinase.

The study highlight the fact that 'targeted' therapeutic strategies should focus on testing Aurora kinase inhibitors, several of which have already been developed by pharmaceutical companies.

The team showed that Aurora kinase inhibitors are most effective at killing SCLC cells when the cells have high levels of the MYC cancer gene. These drugs might be most beneficial for SCLC patients with a MYC gene amplification, which is found in up to seven per cent of people diagnosed with SCLC.

According to the study nearly 40, 000 people are being diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK and SCLC accounts for nearly one in five of all these cases.

Whereas the diagnosis for the SCLC patients are very despairing because two third of the people the disease is being diagnosed in the late stages.

Dr Patrick Eyers, from the University of Sheffield's Institute for Cancer Studies, said: "A major goal of modern cancer research is to discover drugs that target vulnerabilities in specific cancer patient sub-populations. Current chemotherapy for SCLC kills cancerous cells and non-cancerous cells indiscriminately and results in severe side effects.

"However, revolutionary clinical trials have recently validated 'molecularly targeted' kinase inhibitors for treating cancers such as melanoma, leukemia and non-small cell lung cancer.

"We have been studying Aurora kinase inhibitors for several years, and the remarkable vulnerability of some SCLC-derived cells to such drugs can hopefully be rapidly confirmed by careful stratification of SCLC patients and their enrolment in new clinical trials."