Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and a common type of cancer. Activated B-cell-DLBCL (ABC-DLBCL), the most chemotherapy-resistant form of DLBCL, poses a great therapeutic challenge. An international team has developed a new drug that targets this aggressive form of lymphoma. The drug, MI-2, is a small-molecule agent that irreversibly inactivates MALT1, a key protein that is responsible for driving the growth and survival of ABC-DLBCL cells.
“In our study we show the drug MI-2 we developed inactivates any MALT1 protein it touches, and without any apparent toxicity in animal models,” said lead investigator, Ari Melnick, MD, Director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical and Physical Sciences, Weill Cornell Medical College and a hematologist/ oncologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Weill Cornell Medical Center.
In addition, the team is testing MI-2 with other drugs to avoid using toxic chemotherapy regimens. “No single drug can cure lymphoma. This is why we need to combine agents that can strike out the different cellular pathways that lymphoma cells use to survive,” Dr Melnick said. “We want to eliminate the use of toxic chemotherapy in the treatment of lymphoma patients, and these new study findings take us one step closer to our goal of creating effective combinational molecular targeted therapy regimens to reduce treatment toxicity and improve lymphoma patient outcomes.” Weill Cornell Medical Center, December 10, 2012
