Researchers from Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered potential new drugs that work in concert with other drugs to deliver a deadly one-two punch to leukemia.

Figure 1: A new leukemia killing compounds.

Figure 1 shows that the potential drugs are still years away from being tested in cancer patients. In previous studies, the research groups of Rice biochemist Natasha Kirienko and MD Anderson physician-scientist Marina Konopleva screened some 45,000 small-molecule compounds to find a few that targeted mitochondria.

In the new study, they chose eight of the most promising compounds, identified between five and 30 closely related analogs for each and conducted tens of thousands of tests to systematically determine how toxic each analog was to leukemia cells, both when administered individually or in combination with existing chemotherapy drugs like doxorubicin. [1]

Kirienko and Konopleva reasoned that drugs that induce mitophagy could weaken leukemia cells and make them more susceptible to chemotherapy.

“We hypothesized that activating mitophagy could be particularly toxic to leukemia cells,” said Kirienko, the corresponding author of the new study. “In fact, six of the eight small molecule compounds were found to be deadly to leukemia cells. Next, we wanted to study them in more detail, so we looked at closely related molecules and looked at combinations. I did. “

When two or more drugs are given in combination, researchers can also administer them individually and compare the effectiveness of each regimen.

“There is a number called the synergistic coefficient that quantifies the interactions between drugs,” Kirienko said. “If the coefficient is negative, the drugs are antagonistic and interact with each other. Zero means ineffective, positive numbers indicate positive interactions. Anything above 10 is synergistic. It is considered to be.” [2]

As of now, the compound is being experimented with through a cutting-edge technique called a patient-derived xenograft (PDX), also referred to as a “mouse clinical trial,” where the mice will be implanted with leukemia cells before being exposed to the drugs.

“Although this is very promising, we’re still some distance from having a new treatment we can use in the clinic,” Kirienko added. “We still have a lot to discover. AML has a lot of variations, and we need to know which patients are most likely to benefit from this treatment and which are not. Only after we’ve done that work, which may take a few years, would we be able to start testing in humans.” [3]

References:

1. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-06-leukemia-killing-compounds.html
2. https://thewebserv.com/researchers-discover-new-leukemia-killing-compounds/
3. https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/07/01/rice-university-ut-md-anderson-cancer-center-researchers-discover-new-leukemia-killing-compounds/

Cite this article: Sri Vasagi K (2022), New Drug Work with Other Drug to Kill Leukemia, AnaTechMax, pp.192