According to a press release on Newswise, there’s a one-two punch that could save the lives of thousands of people living with drug resistant rare cancers.
Researchers at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, in collaboration with colleagues at the UC San Diego CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinic — the cell therapy arm of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at UC San Diego Health– are getting in the ring with a combination of drug therapies aimed to TKO B cell cancers, like chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). If they are correct, the new combination therapy could boost remission rates and long-term cancer control, according to a recent news release issued by University of California San Diego Health.
The approach combines an experimental drug called cirmtuzumab that targets certain cells and stimulates the immune system to attack those cells, with ibrutinib, a drug that inhibits a protein that regulates B-cell malignancies. Ibrutinib is already approved to treat B cell cancers, including CCL and MCL.
Getting in the Ring for a Cure
“Although ibrutinib has been approved for treatment of patients with CLL or MCL, it is exceptionally rare for this drug by itself to get rid of all the leukemia cells or cause long-lasting remissions without continuous therapy,” says Thomas Kipps, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Deputy Director of Research at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, who heads up the combo drug trial to test its safety and efficacy. “As a result, patients are recommended to take ibrutinib indefinitely — until they develop intolerance or resistance to this drug. By blocking a survival/growth-stimulating pathway that provides a lifeline to the leukemia cells of patients taking ibrutinib, cirmtuzumab can work together with ibrutinib to potentially kill all the leukemia cells, allowing patients to achieve a complete remission and stop therapy altogether.”
Understanding the Target
B cell malignancies are cancers of the blood. B cells are a type of white blood cell or lymphocyte, part of the immune system. Some B cells produce antibodies to immediately help fight off infections while others, called memory B cells, “remember” the pathogen in case of future infections. In B cell cancers, mutated B cells dysfunction or grow in an uncontrolled manner, resulting in diseases like CLL (the most common type of leukemia) and most non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. Approximately 20,000 American’s are diagnosed with CLL every year. MCL is even rarer, with only about 4200 cases per year.
These rare and often deadly cancers don’t get the same attention as other more common malignancies, so the fact that this combo treatment research received a $18.29 million grant is big news. The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is underwriting the next clinical trial phase being conducted at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.
