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Two-drug combination shows promise in anaplastic thyroid cancer
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Combination therapy with pazopanib and paclitaxel resulted in greater anticancer activity than treatment with either drug alone, according to findings published in Science Translational Medicine.
“Our results have implications for future drug development beyond those just related to pazopanib because more selective aurora kinase inhibitors and/or inhibitors of other cell cycle-critical kinases appear also to represent additional promising candidate [anaplastic thyroid cancer] therapeutics especially when combined with antimicrotubule agents,” researchers wrote.
Previously, pazopanib (Votrient, GlaxoSmithKline) monotherapy was reported to have poor clinical activity in anaplastic thyroid cancer. In this study, pazopanib/paclitaxel synergy was found in vitro and in vivo. Researchers wrote that the combination therapy was linked to heightened paclitaxel-induced mitotic catastrophe.
“Our investigations into the mechanisms underlying the synergy between pazopanib and antimicrotubule agents in [anaplastic thyroid cancer] have heightened our awareness of the potential significance of aurora kinases as candidate therapeutic molecular targets in thyroid cancers, especially in [anaplastic thyroid cancer], where we found a high degree of aurora A overexpressed at the mRNA level (and correspondingly increased at the protein level),” they wrote.
The researchers suggest further study into the particular relevance of the inhibition of aurora and other cell cycle-critical kinases in anaplastic thyroid cancer, as well as future studies examining this combination therapy.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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