Leukemia Drug In Australian And US Trial

A drug targeting a leukemic stem cell marker discovered by researchers in Australia is currently undergoing clinical trials.

Asian Scientist (Oct. 23, 2013) – While there are a variety of drugs available for treating leukemia, many of these don’t work on all people or produce such serious side effects that the patient has to be withdrawn from treatment.

Now, researchers at Monash University in Australia have discovered a marker on leukemic stem cells that, when targeted, should prevent the cancer from spreading. Because the marker is specific for the cancer cells the treatment does not impact healthy cells – meaning that side effects may be limited.

The tumor marker is EphA3, and KB004, an antibody drug that binds to this marker, is undergoing clinical trials at several hospitals in Australia and in the US.

One of the diseases being treated is AML (acute myeloid leukemia), one of the deadliest and hardest to treat of the leukemias. To date, the outcome of the Phase I trial has been encouraging: as the drug has been well tolerated, even at high doses and has shown encouraging clinical activity. Phase 2 trials are set to begin by the end of this year.

Associate Professor Martin Lackmann and his team at Monash have been working on EphA3 for more than 15 years and have found that it is present on a wide range of leukemia and lymphoma cells as well as on solid tumors such as brain, lung, colon and prostate cancers. The marker is almost non-existent on non-tumor cells making it an ideal target for cancer therapy.

A clinical team at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne has treated some of the 30 patients receiving the anti-cancer agent, which is now called KB004, as part of a multi-centre open-label Phase 1/2 trial organised and sponsored by KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, a US-based biotechnology company. The clinical trial is also being conducted at a number of sites in the US, including the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Texas and the Moffitt Cancer Centre in Florida.

“We are very excited to see progression of KB004 into the clinic, and in particular to be part of the multi-centre trial that allows us to treat leukemia patients at the Alfred Hospital with the new investigational therapy,” said Dr Lackmann when the trial opened in Melbourne earlier this month.

Although the current trial is recruiting leukemia and other hematologic patients, the target protein EphA3 is also present in solid tumors.

“We believe this antibody could provide significant benefit to patients with a broad range of cancer types, given its potential to affect tumor growth through several distinct mechanisms,” said Dr Lackmann.

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Source: Monash University: Photo: epSos.de/Flickr/CC.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

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