The Drug That Makes Cancer Visible: A Breakthrough That Could Change Everything

Highlights:

• A tablet taken at home strips cancer’s immune-evading “invisibility cloak”
• Tumours shrank by 30%+ across six of the world’s most common cancers
• Patients who had exhausted all other options saw measurable results

Cancer has always found a way to exploit a biological vulnerability using an enzyme called ERAP1 to cloak tumour cells from the immune system’s T-cells. This clever disguise makes it tough for the body to spot and fight the cancer. Even when immunotherapy seems like the right approach, it often falls short for many patients because the tumours can stay hidden and continue to grow.

However, scientists have recently introduced a new drug named GRWD5769 developed by researchers at Oxford University. This innovative medication works by inhibiting the activity of ERAP1, effectively getting rid of cancer’s camouflage. As a result, the tumour cells become visible to T-cells, enabling immunotherapy drugs like cemiplimab to recognise and attack the cancer. A significant advantage of this drug is that it’s taken in tablet form, allowing patients to take it at home without the need for hospital visits. Moreover, it was well tolerated by all participants in the study.

The clinical trial involved patients from the UK, France, Spain and Australia, with a total of 83 participants suffering from various types of cancer, including cervical, bladder, liver, bowel, lung and head-and-neck cancers. All of these individuals had previously not responded to other treatments and had run out of options.

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the results revealed that tumours shrank in 26 patients, with 15 of them experiencing a notable 30% reduction in tumour size. Disease progression was halted for six months or more in:

• 55% of lung cancer patients
• 51% of bowel cancer patients
• 38% of head and neck cancer patients
• 36% of bladder cancer patients
• 32% of liver cancer patients
• 18% of cervical cancer patients

Prof. Fiona Thistlethwaite, the principal investigator at the Christie, described the results as “very impressive” for a medication that can be taken at home. She emphasised that the drug “clearly helps immunotherapy work more effectively.” While these findings are promising, researchers not involved in the trial remain cautiously optimistic.

Dr. Samuel Godfrey from Cancer Research UK noted that it’s uncommon to see such results in patients with cancers that had stopped responding to treatment, especially across various difficult-to-treat types. He also emphasised the need for more comprehensive studies to confirm these benefits over longer periods of time.

Greywolf Therapeutics, the Oxford-based company that developed the drug, said its approach has the potential to turn hidden tumours into ones that the immune system can attack, offering hope to many patients who have no other options.

The phase 1 trial is still ongoing and a larger study is already in the planning stages. For patients who have exhausted all other treatment options, this tablet may be their only ray of hope at the present juncture.