BioPharma
Reversing tumour resistance to kinase inhibitors

Drug resistance is behind most relapses in cancer patients. This is partly why anti-cancer drugs targeting oncogenic kinase signalling have failed to live up to expectations. Kinase inhibitors are only effective in small patient populations, and there is no treatment to reverse or prevent resistance of tumours to most kinase inhibitors.
Dr Pedro Cutillas, has invented a method for sensitising cancer cells to kinase inhibitors through sequentially treating an epigenetic agent followed by a kinase inhibitor.
For example, it has been shown that after treatment with trametinib, a MEK inhibitor (MEKi), tumour cells activate pro-survival pathways to compensate for MEK pathway inhibition.
Queen Mary scientists have discovered that LSD1 inhibitor (LSD1i) treatment (as well other epigenetic agents) dampens the activity of these compensatory pro-survival pathways, preventing the tumours from becoming resistant to MEKi treatment. Through extensive proteomic analysis the team have created a robust panel of biomarkers from which to assay samples and predict patient response to treatment. These include tumour samples from a range of cancers and the invention has been proven in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
A patent has been filed and we’re actively seeking partners to license this technology for commercial development.
Contact
Dr Monika Kraszewska-Hamilton – monika.hamilton@qmul.ac.uk