Researchers from University of Colorado, lead by Antonio Jimeno,
have found that, a new drug, Rigosertib, allows pancreatic
cancer cells to rush through replication - and then stops them
cold, killing them in in the middle of a step called M phase.
Healthy cells that don't rush are unharmed. Data from a phase I
clinical trial of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer and
additional solid tumors recently published in the journal
Clinical Cancer Research shows the strategy has promise. While
the goal of any phase I trial is to establish the dosage that
best balances effectiveness against side effects, 11 of the 19
patients treated achieved stable disease, which lasted for a
median of 113 days. "Really, the drug takes one of cancer's
greatest strengths and turns it into a weakness," says Wells
Messersmith, MD, co-leader of the Developmental Therapeutics
Program at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and the
clinical trial's national principal investigator. Instead of
going with the flow of the natural cel