A treatment used for toenail problems could be used to help eliminate dormant cells within bowel tumours, new research has unveiled.
A laboratory study in mice by the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute has shown that itraconazole can stop the growth and progression of certain types of bowel cancer.
Writing in the latest edition of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, the team describes characterising the molecular nature of dormant bowel cancer cells, which are resistant to drugs, including chemotherapy.
They identified two key pathways involved in cell dormancy and used miniature bowel tumours grown from the cells of mice with cancer, to test different drugs targeting these pathways.
They found that itraconazole blocked signals from the Wnt pathway, which is associated with the growth and spread of many types of cancer, leading to the collapse of the tumours in the mice.
Dr Simon Buczacki, co-lead author and Cancer Research UK clinician scientist, said: “What’s interesting is that this drug seems to kick both dormant and non-dormant cells into action.
“It forces cells back into a short cycle of growth before slamming on an irreversible ‘stop’ button, entering a permanent standstill that’s known as senescence.”
Professor Greg Hannon, director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, added: “The presence of drug-resistant, dormant tumour cells is a problem in many types of cancer. If we find ways to target these cells in bowel cancer, it might provide insights into tackling the problem of dormant tumour cells more broadly.”
The next stage will be to test this drug in people and the research team now hopes to launch a clinical trial where it can be tested on patients with hard-to-treat advanced bowel cancer.
Buczacki, S, JA., et al. Itraconazole targets cell-cycle heterogeneity in colorectal cancer. Journal of Experimental Medicine. June 2018.
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