Is the anti-cancer miracle drug that kills all solid tumors coming? AOH | Research | Anti cancer
In recent days, a drug called AOH1996, which is known as the "drug that can kill all solid tumors," has attracted attention and even been dubbed the "anti-cancer miracle drug.".
On August 1st local time, the US cancer treatment and research agency Hope City released a press release stating that its scientists have developed an oral small molecule targeted chemotherapy drug AOH1996, which can kill all solid tumors in preclinical studies.
The paper on the above research results was published online on the same day in Cell Chemical Biology, and AOH1996 was rumored to be an "anti-cancer miracle drug" that can kill all solid tumors.
On August 3rd, Professor Ma Jun from Harbin Institute of Hematology and Oncology stated in an interview with Pengpai News that from a clinical perspective, a good tumor drug depends on its effectiveness and safety. Currently, the research results of AOH1996 come from the preclinical stage. Although it brings new hope for tumor treatment, it still needs to be confirmed through many stages of phase II and III clinical trials. Currently, there is no "miracle cure" for cancer treatment.
Who is the city of hope? What medicine is AOH1996?
According to the official website, Hope City, founded in 1913, has developed into one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, and is also one of the leading research centers for diabetes and other life-threatening diseases.
AOH1996 is a chemotherapy drug that targets proliferating cell nuclear antigen and is currently under research. The name of this drug comes from a child named Anna Olivia Healy, who was born in 1996 and was diagnosed with a rare childhood tumor neuroblastoma. She passed away at the age of 9.
Hope City cited Linda Malkas, one of the authors of the paper and a professor of Molecular Diagnosis and Experimental Therapy at Hope City, in the press release. PCNA is like a major aviation terminal hub containing multiple boarding gates, and data shows that PCNA has unique mutations in cancer cells. This fact enables researchers to design a drug that only targets PCNA in cancer cells.
In the past, PCNA was seen as an "incurable" target, and Linda Malkas and her team spent 20 years conducting related research. In preclinical studies in Hope City, researchers tested AOH1996 in over 70 cancer cell lines and several groups of normal control cells, and found that AOH1996 can selectively kill cancer cells by disrupting the normal cell reproductive cycle. While inducing cancer cell apoptosis, the drug did not interrupt the reproductive cycle of healthy stem cells. Linda Malkas described this anti-cancer drug as like a blizzard, only shutting down flights carrying cancer cells.
In addition, experiments have shown that AOH1996 makes cancer cells more susceptible to chemical agents that cause DNA or chromosome damage, such as chemotherapy drug cisplatin, suggesting that AOH1996 may become a useful tool for combination therapy and the development of new chemotherapy drugs.
Hope City said that AOH1996 has achieved results in preclinical research on the treatment of seven types of cells, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, brain cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, skin cancer, and lung cancer. I hope that the city has exclusively authorized this drug to a biotechnology company called RLL, LLC. It is worth noting that Malkas is the founder of this biotechnology company and holds financial equity.
Against the backdrop of the positive results mentioned above, it is hoped that the city has now launched Phase 1 clinical trials. According to information released by ClinicalTrials. gov, the trial began in August 2022, with the main clinical endpoint being the determination of the maximum tolerable dose and dose limiting toxicity of AOH1996. The target patient population is solid tumor patients who have not responded to treatment, with an estimated enrollment of 8. The expected completion date of the study is March 30, 2024.
What is the value of AOH1996?
"It seems like a fantasy to cure all cancers with just one drug or one method. There is no miracle cure!" Ma Jun said in an interview with The Paper that any anti-cancer drug starts with pan tumor research and can only be used for single tumor clinical trials in the second and third phases. It will take a long time for AOH1996 to be truly applied in clinical practice, and the outside world needs to view it scientifically and rigorously.
Ma Jun pointed out that the preclinical research in Hope City has conducted experiments on more than 70 tumor cells and proven to have certain effects, but there are hundreds or even more types of tumors alone. In addition, the current research results are from preclinical studies and require definitive clinical trials such as phase II and III to confirm. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that the drug can kill all cancer cells.
Ma Jun further introduced that preclinical studies and phase I studies mainly focus on drug dosage and safety. Relevant studies can be published in basic journals, but it does not mean that successful treatment of tumors can be achieved. CAR-T therapy was also known as the "anti-cancer miracle drug", but China accounted for half of the 2800 clinical studies worldwide, and only one domestically approved drug was ultimately used in clinical practice, with a very low number of patent drugs.
"There are not thousands of such papers every year, but there are hundreds of them." Li Zhizhong, a domestic cancer science major, said in an article on his personal official account "Pineapple Factor" that there is no problem with the research and paper itself, but it has been seriously exaggerated and hyped. It is just a normal tumor research project in ordinary laboratories, and there is still a distance from curing the disease to saving people.
Li Zhizhong mentioned that he used to conduct preclinical research on anti-cancer drugs, mainly using various models in the laboratory to search for and test new anti-cancer drugs. The two self deprecating words I often say are: I killed countless cancer cells in the laboratory, but did not shrink a patient's tumor; I have cured countless mice in the laboratory, but not a single patient. This is the gap between preclinical research and treating diseases and saving lives.
An article released on August 3 by CXO giant WuXi AppTec official account also pointed out that the comprehensive solid tumor treatment effect shown by AOH1996 is still in the preclinical stage of cell research, and only a few cancer species are tested in animal experiments, and whether its effect of inhibiting tumor growth can be replicated in humans is still unknown. Even if a drug enters Phase 1 clinical trials, there is still a 90% chance that it will end up failing. However, as the Phase 1 trial of the drug unfolds, it will gradually become clear whether it can ultimately be applied in clinical practice, and we will wait and see with an objective and rational attitude.
Although it is not a miracle anti-cancer drug, the research related to AOH1996 is not without value. The reporter from Pengpai News noticed that some advanced cancer patients and their families believe that this preclinical study still provides psychological comfort and new hope for treatment. Ma Jun also believes that people's attention to this type of "miracle medicine" is understandable.
Ma Jun told reporters that he hopes that researchers in the city have been persistently targeting PCNA for more than 20 years, and now it has been preliminarily proven that this target can be used as a medicine. Further progress is worth looking forward to. In the past 20 years, tumor therapy has developed rapidly, especially targeted therapy and precision therapy. PCNA targeted drugs may represent a breakthrough in tumor treatment from single tumor species to pan tumor species, which is indeed a breakthrough.
Ma Jun said that with the progress of science in the future, he believes that tumors will one day be conquered. It is a good thing for the public to pay attention to science and innovative drugs, but it requires guidance from professionals and a correct perspective.
