“Two-pronged” DNA repair attack could kill drug-resistant cancers

A new study has suggested that launching a "two-pronged" attack on cancer’s ability to safeguard its DNA could offer an effective new way of treating the disease.

The scientists involved have found that small molecules that stop cancer cells from copying their DNA can boost the effectiveness of CHK1 inhibitors, which are designed to stop cells from patching up their genomes.

The team revealed that when another set of genes involved in accurately copying genetic material are also blocked, it leads to catastrophic levels of DNA damage and "replicative stress" – causing cancer cells to die.

The aim is that a combination strategy that attacks DNA repair by inhibiting CHK1 and blocking accurate DNA replication at the same time could be effective against lung, bowel and other cancers – including ones that are resistant to current treatments.

The new study "establishes the basis for a potentially exciting new approach to treatment involving a two-pronged attack on cancer. We found that doubling up on drugs that target the systems for repairing DNA could be effective even against cancers that do not respond to single-drug treatment.

"Our findings also provide us with a way of picking out which patients are most likely to benefit from existing CHK1 inhibitors like SRA737 – a highly innovative drug discovered at the ICR and currently in clinical development.

"At the ICR, we believe that combinations of targeted drugs will be critical as we aim to overcome the major challenge of cancer evolution and drug resistance – just as they have been in other diseases such as HIV."

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and the University of Kent have treated lung and bowel cancer cells in the lab with a new experimental drug called SRA737, which blocks CHK1, and screened thousands of genes for targets that could be inhibited to increase cancer cell killing.

The team has said that the next step will be to discover suitable B-family DNA polymerase drug candidates, so the benefit of combination treatment with CHK1 inhibitors like SRA737 can be investigated in animals.

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