Early hope for halting cancer-causing gene

Wednesday October 26th 2022

Promising results have been reported in the first trial to effectively inhibit a gene known to cause cancer, a European conference has heard.

The MYC gene drives many common cancers including breast, prostate, lung and ovarian cancer. It is one of the ‘most wanted’ targets for treatment but so far no drug that inhibits MYC has been approved for clinical use.

Now, scientists at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain, have developed and tested a protein known as OMO-103, which can enter the cell nucleus.

Dr Elena Garralda and colleagues carried out tests on mice which showed that OMO-103 successfully inhibits MYC's ability to promote tumour growth. It blocks the gene's control of passing on many common cancer-causing genetic mutations.

They then recruited 22 patients with a range of solid tumours to assess the safety of OMO-103 and early signs of efficacy.

Results of this phase I trial are presented at the 34th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Barcelona, Spain.

The team explain that OMO-103 was given intravenously once a week at a range of dosages. Tumour biopsies from the start of treatment were compared with those from three weeks after treatment began.

Dr Garralda said: “It’s still very early days to assess activity of the drug, but we are seeing stabilisation of disease in some patients. Remarkably, one patient with pancreatic cancer stayed on the study for over six months, his tumour shrank by eight per cent and there was a reduction in tumour-derived DNA circulating in the bloodstream.

"The patient with a salivary gland tumour has stable disease and is still in the study after 15 months.

She added: “The most exciting thing is that biological markers show that we are targeting MYC successfully. In addition, the adverse side effects are mostly mild."

Abstract no: 7, Dose escalation study of OMO-103, a first in class Pan-MYC-Inhibitor in patients (pts) with advanced solid tumors, Elena Garralda, presented at the 34th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium, which starts Wednesday 26 October in Barcelona, Spain.

Tags: Cancer | Europe | Genetics | Pharmaceuticals

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