Roswell Park Awarded Grant to Study
Multifunctional Anticancer Agents
BUFFALO, NY – Youcef Rustum, PhD, Distinguished Member, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, department of Cancer Biology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), has been awarded a grant by the National Cancer Institute to study curaxins, novel multifunctional anticancer agents that came out of a collaborative drug discovery program between researchers of RPCI and Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (CBLI).
Inactivation of the tumor suppressor p53 is frequently found in many types of cancer. Constitutive activation of pro-survival pathway NF-kappaB is another common property of tumor cells. This is commonly associated with poor response to chemotherapy and thus decreased survival chances. Curaxins are a novel class of multifunctional anticancer agents that simultaneously target p53 and NF-kappaB, causing their activation and suppression, respectively.
The study will aim to select a lead curaxin for development through the side-by-side evaluation of efficacy and pharmacodynamics in assisting p53 to “turn on” and NF-kappaB to “turn off”. Mechanistic aspects of curaxins’ anticancer activity are being addressed in the studies conducted by the laboratories of Drs. Katerina Gurova and Andrei Gudkov at RPCI who will collaborate with Dr. Rustum’s on this project in a partnership with CBLI and Buffalo Biolabs, biotech companies supporting the development of curaxins.
It is hoped the comparison of the efficacy and pharmacological properties of curaxins will enable RPCI’s scientists to prioritize these drugs. The significance of the potential findings lies in the ability of our bodies’ compounds to simultaneously target multiple pathways frequently associated with poor response to chemotherapy and has broad applicability over many types of cancer.
Inactivation of the tumor suppressor p53 is frequently found in many types of cancer. Constitutive activation of pro-survival pathway NF-kappaB is another common property of tumor cells. This is commonly associated with poor response to chemotherapy and thus decreased survival chances. Curaxins are a novel class of multifunctional anticancer agents that simultaneously target p53 and NF-kappaB, causing their activation and suppression, respectively.
The study will aim to select a lead curaxin for development through the side-by-side evaluation of efficacy and pharmacodynamics in assisting p53 to “turn on” and NF-kappaB to “turn off”. Mechanistic aspects of curaxins’ anticancer activity are being addressed in the studies conducted by the laboratories of Drs. Katerina Gurova and Andrei Gudkov at RPCI who will collaborate with Dr. Rustum’s on this project in a partnership with CBLI and Buffalo Biolabs, biotech companies supporting the development of curaxins.
It is hoped the comparison of the efficacy and pharmacological properties of curaxins will enable RPCI’s scientists to prioritize these drugs. The significance of the potential findings lies in the ability of our bodies’ compounds to simultaneously target multiple pathways frequently associated with poor response to chemotherapy and has broad applicability over many types of cancer.
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