Associate Professor Jiro Kikuchi and Professor Yusuke Furukawa of Jichi Medical University have discovered the mechanism by which cells of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, counteract anticancer drugs without causing gene mutations. bottom.In addition, we have succeeded in discovering a drug that interferes with the acquisition of resistance.At present, it is expected to lead to the cure of this disease, which is difficult to treat and has a very poor prognosis.

Multiple myeloma is a disease in which immune-related cells in the bone marrow become tumorous. It affects 10 to 3 people per 4 people and is common among middle-aged and elderly people over the age of 50.Current treatments can relieve or slow the progression, but no radical cure has been established.Treatment with anticancer drugs is mainly performed, but in order to gradually acquire resistance, it is required to elucidate the mechanism and lead to new treatment methods.

 Associate Professor Kikuchi and his colleagues devised a culture system that artificially reproduces how tumor cells acquire anticancer drug resistance.Using this, we observed and analyzed how resistance to anticancer drugs is acquired by controlling expression without mutation of genes.As a result, we found that the activity of an enzyme was suppressed.Furthermore, by investigating whether there is a drug that prevents the inhibition of the activity of this enzyme, we succeeded in discovering a drug that has a therapeutic effect on the disease in mice.

 In this way, we were able to elucidate the mechanism by which multiple myeloma acquires resistance to anticancer drugs, and to discover drugs that have therapeutic effects.In the future, we plan to proceed with clinical research toward the establishment of treatment methods using this drug.The combination of this new drug with an anticancer drug may make multiple myeloma a treatable disease.

Source:[Jichi Medical University] Discovery of a new mechanism for anticancer drug resistance in multiple myeloma

Jichi Medical University

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