Beth Israel Trials: BIG . . . also going into humans soon! From 10Q
In March 2012, Cellceutix entered into an agreement with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, on an innovative research project with Kevetrin. The Medical Center wishes to exploit the nuclear and/or mitochondrial pro-apoptotic function of p53 in melanoma and renal cell carcinoma, two types of cancer that are particularly resistant to therapy. BIDMC hopes to improve therapy for melanoma and renal cell carcinoma, cancers that are particularly resistant to therapy.
BIDMC initiated combination studies with multikinase inhibitors which activate pro-apoptotic activity by translocation of p53 in mitochondria thereby inducing apoptosis. Apoptosis is enhanced by MDM2 inhibitors by stabilizing p53. As presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in April, Kevetrin phosphorylates MDM2 which activates and stabilizes p53 by monoubiquitination inducing apoptosis. Prior data from the BIDMC laboratory showed that agents of this class can augment the pro-apoptotic and antitumor effects of MDM2 antagonists and is expected to have a synergistic effect with Kevetrin. BIDMC will test the effects of Kevetrin alone and in combination with FDA-approved VEGFR antagonists in the renal cell carcinoma and melanoma studies. In vitro study endpoints include apoptosis by measuring caspase activation and PARP cleavage. In vivo endpoints include efficacy in a xenograft model, tumor vascularity, p53 levels, p21 expression and apoptosis. This study will provide vital insight to exploit the nuclear and/or mitochondrial pro-apoptotic function by Kevetrin in combination with other multikinase inhibitors in treatment of these difficult to treat malignancies. At this time the study is in progress. We expect human trials to begin on this study only after a few months have passed in our Kevetrin study on solid tumors.
