Although the introduction of the HPV infection preventive vaccine (cervical cancer vaccine) is progressing worldwide, the inoculation rate still varies greatly from region to region, falling below 0.5% in Japan. The number of patients with CIN and cervical cancer is expected to continue to increase, but partial resection of the cervix, which is a common treatment for CIN, has a perinatal prognosis such as preterm birth and abortion. There is a risk, and a new treatment method that does not hurt the body with antiviral drugs for HPV is desired.

　Under these circumstances, a research group at Kyoto University has revealed that the groundbreaking antiviral drug "FIT-039" developed by the group has anti-HPV activity and can be a therapeutic drug for CIN. Since FIT-039 targets factors in host cells, the risk of drug resistance due to mutations in viral genes is small, he said.

　According to reports, FIT-039 is an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9), and the gene responsible for the carcinogenic and viral replication function of HPV is regulated by CDK9.Therefore, when HPV was introduced into mucosal epithelial keratinized cells that are mainly infected with HPV type associated with cancer and the effect of FIT-039 was examined, cell proliferation and dysplasia, which is a characteristic of CIN, were suppressed. It showed a therapeutic effect.In addition, growth suppression of HPV-infected tumors was also observed in Xenograft tumors of cervical cancer cells in mice.

　Currently, a clinical trial is underway at the FIT-039 Hospital at the Faculty of Medicine to verify the effect of preventing the recurrence of viral warts caused by HPV infection.Furthermore, in the future, a clinical trial to confirm the therapeutic effect on CIN will be started based on this study.

Paper information:[Clinical Cancer Research] CDK9 Inhibitor FIT-039 Suppresses Viral Oncogenes E6 and E7 and Has a Therapeutic Effect on HPV-Induced Neoplasia