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news.Researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in a study funded by Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC) have found a new target for treating advanced bowel cancer which could also be used to identify tumours that will respond to Bristol Myers Squibb's cancer drug Sprycel.
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Lead researcher Janine Erler has said the study found Sprycel, already in use to treat other cancers, to reduce bowel cancer cell growth in the lab by blocking the effects of an enzyme called lysyl oxidase, or LOX.
This finding follows previous work in which the team found LOX to play a role in the spread of breast cancer, leading them to suspect it may also be key in other tumours.
The latest study has confirmed LOX also as important in bowel cancer growth and spread, as high levels of LOX were found to increase cell growth in tumour cells.
The team also showed LOX capable of activating a molecule called SRC to promote cancer growth and spread – a finding that led them to look at Sprycel known to block SRC function and is already being used to treat patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.