Article
The drug targets multiple proteins that are overexpressed in head and neck cancer, the study published in Clinical Cancer Research says.
Head and neck cancer is among the few solid tumors whose incidence is increasing in the United States. and outcomes have been slow to improve. Results of a phase 1 trial of the drug CUDC-101 with radiation and chemotherapy were reported by the University of Colorado Cancer Center and 6 other US cancer centers in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
CUDC-101, currently being developed by Curis, Inc, works by inhibiting two growth factors and an enzyme that effects DNA expression—EGFR, Her2 and HDAC—all of which are overexpressed in many cancers, including the target of this trial: the common type of especially aggressive head and neck cancer that is not caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV-) but rather by tobacco or alcohol.
Link to the complete report in ScienceDaily: