Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.Researchers from Ohio State University have found that a derivative of aspirin called NCX-4016 holds potential for the treatment of ovarian cancer when combined with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
As a first course of treatment, ovarian cancer is generally treated with surgery followed by a regimen of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin. However, cisplatin is not an effective treatment when the ovarian cancer inevitably returns. The study showed how NCX-4016 can be used to re-sensitize ovarian cancer cells to chemotherapy with cisplatin.
Once treated with cisplatin, the ovarian cancer cells develop an abundance of thiols, which are a kind of cellular antioxidants that protect the cancer from the chemotherapy. The scientists hypothesized that the abundance of thiols could be used against the ovarian cancer cells. The study found that the nitric oxide released from the aspirin derivative NCX-4016 reacts with the cellular thiols, which causes the cancer cells to stop proliferating. In addition, the nitric oxide depletes the thiols, making the cancer cells more susceptible to the chemotherapy.
“The nitric oxide-releasing ability of the aspirin derivative NCX-4016 is enhanced by thiols, so I thought this type of treatment might work better in a tumor cancer cell that is rich in thiols, such as a resistant ovarian cancer,” said Periannan Kuppusamy, a professor of internal medicine at the Ohio State University.