Researchers revealed that two chemical compounds, a hydroxamic acid-based inhibitor (SH5-07), and a benzoic acid-based inhibitor (SH4-54), were found to effectively prevent the development of brain cancer cells, as well as breast tumors.
Researchers hailed this as great news because this will help them further develop drugs against cancer.
"It is particularly encouraging for brain tumor patients, who do not currently have effective treatment options besides surgery," James Turkson, one of the researchers and a specialist at the University of Hawaii Cancer Centre, said.
"The targeted treatments are less toxic and, therefore, will give cancer patients a better quality of life when both compounds are developed as drugs," Turkson said.
In the U.S. alone, brain cancer claims the lives of more than 15,300 people every year. Breast cancer, meanwhile, it kills more American women than any cancer type, around 40,931 lives succumbing to this disease.
The study, published in the journal Cancer Research, evaluated the compounds that slow down Stat3, a protein responsible for the growth and development of different types of cancers, most notably brain and breast cancers.
Considering the mouse models of brain and breast cancer, the two compounds succeeded in preventing the development of a tumor, the researchers found out.
The two chemical compounds, devised at the UH Cancer Center, were found to have arrested the growth of brain and breast cancer cells because they blocked a certain function of the Stat3 protein.
The two compounds stop the protein from promoting cancer cells to grow, thus stopping the tumours from growing.
"Our results offer preclinical proof of concept for SH5-07 and SH4-54 as candidates for further development as cancer therapeutics," the study said.
Turkson, meanwhile, shows great interest in keeping his work in progress for the benefit of cancer patients. "We would like to advance these studies to turn the chemical compounds into new anti-cancer drugs to help patients potentially have better survival chances," he said.
