Oncology New drug causes ovarian cancer tumors to shrink

Is the doctor a breakthrough in the treatment of ovarian cancer succeeded?
Ovarian cancer is a dangerous disease that affects many women around the world. Researchers now developed a novel targeted treatment for ovarian cancer, which showed very promising results in women in advanced stages of the disease.

The scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London found in their study that an investigational drug can be effectively used to treat ovarian cancer. The physicians published the results of their study at this year's American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.

A drug called ONX-0801 appears to be able to effectively shrink tumors in women with ovarian cancer. This reduces the pain of the affected women. (Image: freshidea / fotolia.com)

Medicine ONX-0801 has an almost immediate clinical effect
The experts examined the drug called ONX-0801 to check the safety of human intake. Surprisingly, the researchers found that the drug leads to an almost immediate clinical effect. It shrank the tumors in half of the women treated, the researchers say. The results could lead to successful treatment of women who do not respond to currently available treatments.

Tumors in subjects shrank and pain was reduced
Ovarian cancer is a difficult disease to treat and the prognosis in advanced stages is usually very poor, explain the scientists. For example, one of the participants was treated for a period of six months. The drug at that time caused all three tumors in her body to shrink. As a result, the pain of the patient were massively reduced, add the physicians.

Treatment with medication saves the side effects of chemotherapy
During the study, the experts found that in seven out of 15 patients the tumors had shrunk significantly. ONX-0801 is the first drug in a new class of drugs that selectively counteracts cancer cells by mimicking the ability of folic acid, the authors explain. Thus, the healthy tissue is not affected and side effects of traditional chemotherapy, such as diarrhea, nerve damage and hair loss can be avoided.

Drug interferes with the chemistry of cancer cells
Once docked with a cancer cell, it interferes with its chemistry by blocking the action of a key molecule that normally causes widespread DNA damage and causes cell death, the experts explain.

Further research is needed
The researchers now hope to carry out larger clinical trials as soon as possible. The experts have developed a test that can reliably identify which women are most likely to benefit from the treatment.

Drug can even be used to treat children
The results of the study are very promising, explains author Udai Banerji. It is very rare to see such clear evidence of reproducible responses at such early stages of drug development, the expert adds. Another pleasing effect of the drug is that it leads to fewer side effects. For this reason, it can also be used to treat children with ovarian cancer. (As)