Professor Adrienne Flanagan
University College London
Awarded: £28,000
Recent research led by Professor Adrienne Flanagan has identified a potential new treatment approach for chordoma, which is a rare and challenging type of bone cancer.
Key findings
- Professor Adrienne Flangan’s team tested over 1,000 different drugs on chordoma cancer cells
- 27 of those drugs were effective at targeting chordoma cells. These drugs killed cancer cells without harming normal cells too much.
- 21 out of these 27 drugs (78%) were EGFR inhibitors, which block a protein called EGFR that’s involved in cancer cell growth
- These EGFR inhibitors showed they were effective at treating chordoma cells in laboratory studies
- This research led to a phase 2 clinical trial of a drug called afatinib, already used to treat a type of lung cancer. This trial found that some chordoma patients benefit from afatinib, and more research in underway to predict which patients are likely to benefit.
What is EGFR?
EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor) is a protein found on the surface of many cells, including cancer cells. It plays a crucial role in cell growth and division.
In normal cells, EGFR receives signals that tell cells when to grow and divide and helps control normal cell growth.
Many chordoma tumours have high levels of EGFR. EGFR is often overactive, causing uncontrolled cell growth. This contributes to tumour growth and spread.
EGFR inhibitors are drugs that block EGFR’s action. They can potentially slow or stop chordoma growth.
What the researchers did
Professor Adrienne Flanagan’s team conducted a large-scale study to find potential new treatments for chordoma. They tested over 1,000 different drugs on chordoma cells in the laboratory.
Through careful screening, they identified 27 drugs that could effectively target chordoma cells without significantly harming normal cells. They found that most of these effective drugs (21 out of 27) were EGFR inhibitors.
The team then tested EGFR inhibitors on different types of chordoma cells grown in the laboratory. They identified sapitinib as the most promising drug, followed by gefitinib and erlotinib.
What this means for patients
This research suggests that drugs targeting EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor) could be effective in treating chordoma.
The findings are particularly exciting because they align with previous observations of EGFR expression in most chordoma samples.
Some of these drugs are already approved for use in other diseases, which could potentially speed up their availability for chordoma patients.
This research led to a phase 2 clinical trial of a drug called afatinib, already used to treat a type of lung cancer. This trial found that some chordoma patients benefit from afatinib, and more research in underway to predict which patients are likely to benefit. Results and details of the trial [NCT03083678] are available here.
Next steps
While these results are promising, it’s important to note that more research is needed to confirm the effectiveness in patients. Not all chordoma cells responded to EGFR inhibition, suggesting some tumours may be resistant.
Future studies will explore why some chordomas respond to these drugs while others don’t, and investigate ways to predict which patients will benefit from the treatment.
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