Fast tracking innovative cancer therapies

Drug repositioning – testing already approved drugs for new medical indications – is a strategy to fast track innovative cancer therapies into the clinic, according to Dr Eddy Pasquier who will present at the Australian Academy of Science’s Australia-France biomedical research symposium today.

Dr Eddy Pasquier from the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia, says that beta-blockers which are commonly used for managing hypertension, may also increase the efficacy of chemotherapy.

“A wide panel of human cancer cell lines were used to evaluate innovative combinations of beta-blockers with chemotherapeutic drugs,” he explains.

“We were able to show that beta-blockers increased the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to a number of chemo drugs. These results translated well into a mouse model of human breast cancer, suggesting that beta-blockers can be used in the clinic to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer.”

“We are now evaluating the potential benefits of beta-blockers in childhood cancer and have some very promising preliminary data,” Dr Pasquier adds.

Dr Pasquier is one of eight early to mid-career researchers who are presenting their work as part of a full program of specialists in biomedical research at the Showcasing excellence in biomedical research Australia-France symposium at the Shine Dome in Canberra.

Other speakers on day two include:

• Professor Alain Tedgui from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research: the role of adaptive immunity on atherosclerosis at 8.30am.
• Professor Ian Frazer from the Translational Research Institute Pty Ltd in Brisbane: the translation of basic knowledge into clinical practice at 11.20am.