Investigational antibody boosts chemotherapy’s cancer-killing potential
pharmafile | June 29, 2017 | News story | Research and Development | CFH, Cancer, oncology, rituximab
A proof-of-concept study conducted at the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) in North Carolina has shown that an investigational antibody has the ability to boost the cancer-killing effects of chemotherapy rituximab in those who have a natural resistance to it.
Senior Author Edward F Patz Jr and his team at DCI identified an antibody which acts against the protein complement factor H, or CFH. CFH is not present in all people, and works to protect cells and enhances the effect of cancer-killing drugs or immune system response, manifesting as an improved natural capacity to fight cancer.
Rituximab is an effective leukaemia treatment, but some patients benefit less from its effects due to a natural resistance. When used in combination with rituximab in a study of 11 chronic lymphocytic leukaemia patients, the CFH antibody was shown to improve cancer cell death in 45% of participants, after 10 of the 11 patients were deemed to be non-responsive to rituximab based on the level of leukaemic cells in their blood.
“This work builds on earlier findings that some patients are naturally resistant to the chemotherapy drug rituximab,” explained Patz, who serves as the James and Alice Chen Professor of Radiology at Duke, as well as professor of Pathology and Pharmacology & Cancer Biology. “The drug works in part through an immune mechanism that triggers cancer cells to die. In some people, this immune mechanism is de-activated. Our antibody basically re-activates it.”
“This is a combination approach, and it appears to strip away immune protection of cancer cells,” he continued. “Patients who had been rituximab resistant became rituximab sensitive.”
A Phase 1 study is planned to further explore the antibody, first focusing on advance solid tumours of the lung, breast and colon.
Matt Fellows
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