New Drug Candidate Uses Novel Absorption Method to Target Cancer in Mice

A team of University of Michigan researchers is developing a new anti-cancer drug that is absorbed through the gut’s lymphatic system rather than blood vessels, potentially outmaneuvering the molecular signaling pathways that lead to drug resistance. 

In a study published Monday in Nature Communications, the team reports on a novel kinase inhibitor that significantly reduced disease, limited toxicity and prolonged survival in mice with myelofibrosis, a precursor to acute leukemia.

Cancer treatment often involves combination therapy to target different cancer cell vulnerabilities, but it can be challenging to sustain the right therapeutic balance of each individual drug at a concentration necessary to be effective while limiting drug toxicity and side effects.

“Within the therapeutic window, we are able to maintain the on-target inhibition of two distinct pathways that are talking to one another,” said lead author Brian D. Ross, Ph.D., the Roger A. Berg Research Professor of Radiology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

“This demonstrates the feasibility of delivering anti-cancer agents directly into the lymphatic system, which opens tremendous new opportunities for improving cancer therapeutic outcomes,” Ross said.

Lymphatic tissue is a common route for cancer metastasis, so the findings from Ross and his team may offer new strategies to prevent cancer spread.

Furthermore, Ross says, because the gut’s lymphatic system harbors over half the body’s immune cells, the study’s results could provide approaches for the treatment of autoimmune disorders and other conditions.

Ross and his colleagues are also developing additional lymphotropic targeted kinase inhibitors to treat solid tumors, including breast, brain, gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancers, along with autoimmune diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis.