Wonder drug attacks range of cancers

A team of cancer research scientists from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London say the drug 17AAG has shown in early trials, promising signs of fighting a range of cancers.

The drug apparently blocked breast, bowel, skin and prostate cancer in 30 patients as well as in the laboratory.

The experts say the study confirms 17AAG works, but more trials are needed before the prototype becomes a real treatment option.

They say the multi-pronged attack by this drug shows promise in treating a range of cancers and because it targets so many different features of cancer's machinery all at once, it should make it much more difficult for tumours to develop resistance to treatment.

The drug works by targeting a molecule that is important for tumour growth.

The molecule, heat shock protein Hsp90, relays messages around cells by helping to control the structure and function of a large number of other molecules that are critical for cancer growth.

Without these molecules cancer cells die, whereas healthy cells are not affected by their loss.

Lead researcher Professor Paul Workman explains that by blocking the action of Hsp90, the drug has the potential to attack cancer by shutting down a range of systems that cancer cells use to spread and grow.

The drug was tested in 30 patients with advanced cancers, and following the good results, they now plan more trials, which will look at patients with a specific tumour type, in order to establish how well it works for different cancers.

Professor Peter Rigby, chief executive of the Institute for Cancer Research, says the drug shows promise in treating a range of cancers.

Bill Greenhalf, a lecturer in molecular biology at the University of Liverpool, which has also been investigating drugs that target Hsp90, says the drug is a prototype, and there are more derivatives available that are going into their own trials, and in combination with other drugs, it is very exciting news.

The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.