[Medical Press] A new precision medicine targeting cancer's ability to repair its DNA has shown promising results in the first clinical trial of the drug class.The new study, designed to test the drug's safety, found that half of patients given the new drug either alone or with platinum chemotherapy saw their cancer stop growing, and two patients saw their tumors shrink or disappear completely.
Damage to the DNA in cells is the root cause of cancer—but it is also a fundamental weakness in tumors, and cancer cells can be killed by further damaging their DNA or attacking their ability to repair it.
The new phase I trial tested the first in a new family of drugs blocking a key DNA repair protein called ATR. Phase I trials are designed to assess the safety of new treatments, and it's unusual to see a clinical response at this stage.
A team at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, led a trial of the benefit of an ATR inhibitor called berzosertib either on its own or with chemotherapy in 40 patients with very advanced tumors, treated in hospitals around the world.
The researchers established the doses at which the drug was safe for use in further clinical trials, and found berzosertib on its own caused only mild side effects.