Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment reduced levels of estrogen and important heart-protective proteins, researchers reported in the Nov. 2, 2022, online edition of Science Translational Medicine. Hormone therapies could target this endocrine-cardiac-immune pathway and mitigate myocarditis risk without affecting treatment responses.
X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) is not unique to female cells and may confer some survival advantage to male cancer cells, according to scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard. The noncoding RNA XIST (acronym for X-inactive specific transcript), which in female mammals (of genotype XX) inactivates one of the X chromosomes, preventing the overexpression of the genes of the repeated chromosome from early stages of embryonic development, also acts somatically in some male cancers, compensating for the loss of the entire chromosome.
“We found that a small percentage of male cancers are expressing XIST, which normally is expressed in female cancers. And the percentage of male cancers that express XIST is variable depending on the cancer type,” Srinivas Viswanathan, researcher in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard and assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, told BioWorld.
The U.S. FDA hit a Phoenix-based Abraxis Biosciences LLC facility with a warning letter citing out-of-control aseptic manufacturing processes for Abraxane (paclitaxel), a key chemotherapy drug. The letter, posted Nov. 8, noted that multiple media fill failures occurred last year during simulated aseptic processing operations on the Abraxane filling line.
Bayer AG has described phosphorus derivatives acting as son of sevenless homolog 1 (SOS1)/GTPase KRAS (G12C mutant) interaction inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Qingdao Ruiji Medical Technology Co. Ltd. has identified benzofuran derivatives acting as farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, inflammation, metabolic, cardiovascular, liver, inflammatory bowel and renal diseases.
Kinimmune Inc. has received US$400,000 in funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for its phase I STTR application to advance the preclinical development of KIN-102, an immunostimulant for intratumoral injection that is designed to turn cold tumors hot for synergy with immuno-oncology drugs, such as checkpoint inhibitors.
Hamlet Pharma AB has shown that daily, long-term treatment with bovine α-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells (BAMLET) in drinking water inhibits intestinal tumor development in mice genetically susceptible to intestinal tumors, compared to mice not receiving BAMLET.
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