Lorus Therapeutics Inc, (Lorus), a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the research and development of pharmaceutical products and technologies for the management of cancer, announced publication by the California Cancer Consortium of a paper entitled "Identification of F-box/LLR-repeated Protein 17 a Potential Useful Biomarker for Breast Cancer Therapy". This presents results of proteomics studies from a clinical trial of LOR- 2040 in combination with Capecitabine in patients with advanced metastatic breast cancer.
"This study identified a relationship between the activity of the investigational anticancer drug LOR-2040 and its target, RRM2, also known as R2, and a protein identified now as Skp2, or FBXL17. Skp2 serves as a possible determinant of drug activity and resistance, which may present significant interest for future breast cancer research", said Dr Yen, who is associate director for Translational Research and director of Clinical and Molecular Pharmacology at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at City of Hope. "This proteomics analysis approach represents a valuable new tool for identifying useful biomarkers to help explain the activity of specific cancer drugs."
The primary author, Dr Gary Guishan Xiao, and Dr Yun Yen who directed these proteomics studies, carried out this research at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte California as part of the ongoing exploratory clinical investigation led by Dr Helen Chew of the same institution with the sponsorship of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP). Lorus is collaborating in this program with the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, NCI on the development of LOR-2040 under a Clinical Trials Agreement.
LOR-2040 (formerly GTI-2040) is an RNA-targeted drug that specifically targets the R2 component of ribonucleotide reductase, which is required for DNA synthesis and cell proliferation. Through down regulation of R2, LOR-2040 has demonstrated strong anti-tumour and anti-metastatic activity in a variety of tumour types in both in vivo and in vitro models and is under study in a multiple phase-I/II clinical program, including an advanced phase-II clinical trial with LOR-2040 and high dose Ara-C (HiDAC) in refractory and relapsed Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The R2 target has been described as a malignant determinant that is elevated in a wide-range of tumours, which can cooperate with a variety of cellular cancer causing genes known as oncogenes to enhance tumour growth and metastatic potential.
Lorus is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of novel therapeutics in cancer. Lorus' goal is to capitalize on its research, preclinical, clinical and regulatory expertise by developing new drug candidates that can be used, either alone, or in combination with other drugs, to successfully manage cancer.