Groundbreaking Cancer Drug Developed, Offers Hope For Solid Tumour Treatment

Scientists at City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles, California, have developed a revolutionary cancer drug that targets and destroys solid tumors without harming healthy cells.

After two decades of research, Dr. Linda Malkas and her team announced the creation of the drug, AOH1996, named after Anna Olivia Healy, a young girl who passed away from childhood cancer in 2005.

AOH1996 targets a previously “undruggable” protein called proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), essential for tumor growth.

The drug has shown promising results in laboratory tests across 70 different cancer cell lines, including breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, and lung cancers.

Published recently in Cell Chemical Biology, the study highlights the drug’s potential to kill cancer cells while sparing healthy ones, offering a major advancement in cancer treatment.

Phase 1 clinical trials are currently underway to test AOH1996’s safety and effectiveness in patients.

Dr. Malkas explained how the drug selectively disrupts DNA replication in cancer cells, preventing their growth while leaving healthy cells unaffected.

“PCNA is like a major airline terminal hub,” Malkas said. “Our cancer-killing pill is like a snowstorm that closes all flights in and out of planes carrying cancer cells.”

Dr. Long Gu, co-author of the study, emphasized the significance of targeting PCNA, which was previously deemed untreatable.

He said, “No one has ever targeted PCNA as a therapeutic because it was viewed as ‘undruggable,’ but City of Hope has managed to develop a medicine for this challenging protein.”

Researchers are now focused on understanding the drug’s mechanism of action to further improve its application in clinical trials and combination therapies.