PARIS, Oct. 7 (Benin News) –
An epigenetic drug currently used to treat rare blood cancers and sarcomas can stop the growth of bladder cancer by activating the immune system, according to a new study led by Northwestern Medicine in the United States. United States in mice, report the researchers in the journal “Science Advances”.
They note that this is the first time that a drug used in rare hematological malignancies and sarcomas has been used to treat one of the most common solid tumors. The drug, tazemetostat, was originally developed to treat lymphoma.
“We found for the first time that the drug actually works by activating the immune system, not just inhibiting the tumor,” says study lead author Joshua Meeks, PhD, associate professor of urology and in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and a physician/scientist at Northwestern University. We think the specific mutations that might make the drug successful are found in nearly 70% of bladder cancers,” he said.
“Survival for advanced bladder cancer is extremely low, and the drug works through different mechanisms than any other therapy,” she continues. This is the first application of epigenetic therapy in bladder cancer.
The drug is a well-tolerated pill and might be added to other systemic bladder cancer treatments, Meeks says. It is currently being tested in a nationwide clinical trial being conducted by Northwestern researchers for patients with advanced bladder cancer.
The Northwestern researchers have shown that the drug, which targets the EZH2 gene – abundant in most tumors – can stop the growth of bladder cancer.
EZH2 is typically overexpressed in most solid tumors and works by ‘blocking’ growing-phase tumors,” Meeks says. We think this is one of the main genes involved in cancer. We were interested in this gene because the most common mutations in bladder cancer can make EZH2 more active. When cells have a higher level of activity of this gene, they proliferate.
When scientists knocked out EZH2 in bladder cancers in mice, the tumors were much smaller and filled with immune cells.
“That was our clue that the immune system might be suppressed by EZH2,” Meeks notes. We then administered a commercially available drug (tazemetostat) to inhibit the activity of this gene. This resulted in the presence of a large number of immune cells in the bladder. Finally, when we used mice that lacked T cells, we found the drug to be ineffective, confirming that the immune system is likely the primary pathway through which the drug works.
We have found that this treatment is a powerful immunotherapy in translational research,” he says. The drug alters the tumor to prime the immune system, activating helper CD4 cells that coordinate the immune response and recruit more T cells.
