According to a study published in the journalGynecologic Oncology, patients with advanced, treatment resistant ovarian cancer may have a new therapy regimen available to them.
The chemotherapy regimen involves two drugs currently not approved for ovarian cancer: Ixabepilone is approved against metastatic breast cancer while sunitinib is approved against kidney cancer. Researchers found that together the drugs killed 70% of treatment resistant cancer cells.
Authors of the study found that when the two drugs are used together they activate a cellular protein known as RhoB, a molecular switch of sorts that is involved in important processes such as cell proliferation and apoptosis. With the increase of this protein, researchers see increased cell death.
According to a statement by study co-author Dr Gerardo Colon-Otero, "Women die from ovarian cancer because their tumors become resistant to chemotherapy, so a drug that might be able to reduce that resistance -- which may be what this combination of agents is doing -- would be a boon to treatment of this difficult cancer."
Source: Medical News Today
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