Announcements

Synergistic Anticancer Effects Demonstrated at American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting

18th to 22nd April, 2009

Researchers at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) in collaboration with Beta Pharmaceutical Limited and its partner have demonstrated the synergistic anticancer effects resulting from low dose combination therapy of various traditional cancer therapeutic agents with gamma tocotrienols, a rare form of vitamin E.  Combined treatment not only resulted in a significantly enhanced therapeutic response, but may also eliminate the severe toxic side effects associated with high dose chemotherapy.

Three presentations were given by the ULM researchers at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held in Denver, Colorado between 18th  to 22nd April, 2009.  These presentations can be viewed under “Reports” in the Investor Centre section of this website.

In the first study, the anticancer effects of combined treatment of gamma tocotrienols with the selective coclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, celecoxib, were characterized.  Selective COX-2 inhibitors and gamma tocotrienols (a rare form of vitamin E) both display potent anticancer activity.  However, clinical use of selective COX-2 inhibitors has been limited by high dose gastrointestinal and cardiovascular toxicity.  Combined therapy resulted in enhanced therapeutic response, while avoiding the toxicity associated with high-dose COX-2 inhibitor monotherapy.

The second study demonstrated the enhanced antiproliferative effects of combined treatment of gamma tocotrienols with selective HER-2 inhibitors.  Clinical use of HER-2 receptor inhibitors such as erlotinib and gefitinib has shown limited success in the treatment of breast cancers because these agents target only a single member of HER receptor family and coexpression and heterodimer cooperation between HER receptors can overcome the inhibitory effects of these anticancer agents.  Results showed that gamma tocotrienol inhibits multiple HER receptors and improves therapeutic responsiveness.

The third study characterized the intracellular mechanism of action by which gamma tocotrienols kills mammary tumour cells.  Previous studies had shown that gamma tocotrienols induces apoptosis or programmed cell death in mammary tumour cells at doses that are nontoxic to normal mammary epithelial cells, but the exact mechanism mediating this response was unclear.  This study demonstrated that gamma tocotrienol acts through the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-mediated apoptotic signalling pathway and strongly suggests that gamma tocotrienols may have potential therapeutic benefit in treating breast cancers resistant to chemotherapy that acts via other apoptotic signalling pathways.

Beta Pharmaceutical Limited focuses on research and development of effective treatments for breast cancers.

Unmet needs in the breast cancer market include agents to increase overall survival for metastatic disease, more treatment options for hormone receptor negative and/or     HER-2-negative patients, wider treatment options for elderly patients and more tolerable and more conveniently administered therapy.

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