Scientists at the City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles have developed a new cancer drug that has the potential to kill all solid cancer tumors without harming other cells. The drug, codenamed AOH1996, targets a protein called proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) that is present in most cancers and helps tumors grow and multiply. PCNA was previously believed to be "undruggable," making this discovery significant.
In laboratory tests, the drug was effective against 70 different cancer cells derived from breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, cervical, skin, and lung cancer. It works by preventing cells with damaged DNA from dividing and making copies of faulty DNA, leading to cancer cell death. Importantly, the drug does not harm healthy stem cells.
The development of this drug is the result of 20 years of research and development by the City of Hope Hospital, one of America's largest cancer centers. It comes at a time of excitement about the potential for a cure for cancer within the next decade. This claim has been made by the scientists who invented the Pfizer Covid vaccine.
Curing cancer has also been a key goal of President Joe Biden, with his Cancer Moonshot operation aiming to reduce the cancer death rate by half in the next 25 years. However, he faced criticism for claiming that his administration had "ended cancer as we know it," despite signs of slowing death rates.
The new drug has been tested on more than 70 cancer cell lines and normal human cells in a laboratory setting. It selectively kills cancer cells by disrupting their reproductive cycle and preventing the replication of faulty DNA, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
Although the results are promising, they will need to be replicated in human trials. Currently, the drug is being tested in a Phase 1 clinical trial at City of Hope. Dr. Linda Malkas, the lead researcher, explained that the drug targets a unique form of PCNA found in cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unaffected.
This breakthrough therapy represents a significant development in cancer treatment and offers hope for more targeted and effective therapies. The researchers will continue to study the drug's mechanism of action and explore its potential in combination therapies and new chemotherapeutics. City of Hope has a history of groundbreaking translational research, including the development of synthetic human insulin and monoclonal antibodies used in cancer drugs.