Breast cancer, melanoma, colon cancer can now be treated using drug patented by University of Granada

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A new drug that may be an effective cure for breast, colon, and skin cancers is to be patented by scientists from the University of Granada, EurekAlert reports. The drug, which had anti-tumor effects on immunodeficient mice, can treat cancer stem cells (CSCs) in breast, colon, and skin cancers.

Studies on the new compound were performed by UGR research groups Research and Development of Pharmaceutical Drugs directed by Professor Joaquín Campos Rosa and Advanced Therapies: Differentiation, Regeneration and Cancer directed by Professor Juan Antonio Marchal Corrales. Canvax Biotech, a Cordoba-based company, has also participated in developing the patent.

According to UPI, studies performed on mice in 2014 showed that the new drug, called bozepinib, was effective in stopping tumor growth and preventing metastasis in the three cancer types. Initially, the process involved in the drug's chemical synthesis was lengthy, and required a long period of time to produce very little amounts of the drug, but by changing its molecular architecture, researchers found that it can now be "synthesized and produced on a grand scale, a fundamental condition for the drug's commercial development," researchers said in a press release.

"The powerful anti-tumour activity of Bozepinib is due to the inhibition of the HER2 signalling pathway, and to the fact that this drug inhibits the invasiveness and the formation of new vessels in the tumour," Dr. Juan Antonio Marchal, a professor at the University of Granada, explained in a press release last year.

Researchers first transplanted tumors to mice and treated them with the drug twice a week for 41 days. Results showed a 50-percent decrease in tumor activity at the end of the treatment period. More importantly, despite being treated with high doses of the drug, the mice showed that their healthy cells did not have any adverse effects from the drug. This is a breakthrough in cancer treatment, as chemotherapy and other types of treatmnt often targets both CSCs and healthy cells. In fact, the ability to target CSCs alone is very important as these cells are the root cause of the tumor, relapses, and resistance to anti-cancer treatments.

According to researchers, they will continue to study the effectiveness of the new drug in treating lung and pancreas cancers, which are two of the most aggressive types of cancers.

Breast cancer affects about 1 in 8 women in the United States alone, and in 2015, about 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed across the country, the non-profit organization Breastcancer.org reports. Meanwhile, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States for both men and women, as per the CDC.