United States: An expert report suggested that a drug, which is generally used to treat breast cancer, Ribociclib, could help in slowing down the spawning of an aggressive type of childhood brain cancer.
More about the finding
The Fox News reports stated Ribociclib, marketed under the brand name Kisqali, is a CDK4/6 inhibitor, which is a kind of medicine that specifically targets certain enzymes, including the protein CDK6, in order to prevent cancer cells from spawning.
The study, whose findings were published in the journal Cancer Cell, showed that a ten-year-old patient who had been going through a second relapse, with no further treatment option available, experienced seventeen months of “progression-free survival” after taking ribociclib.
Moreover, the patient also had a diffuse hemispheric glioma (DHG), which often developed in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes of the brain.
According to the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, “These very early results are remarkable given the typically poor prognosis for children diagnosed with these aggressive brain tumors,” as Fox News reported.
What more have the experts stated?
As per the expert’s report, such kind of tumors spread within three and a half months of recurrence. Moreover, as the reports, it’s been four months since the female patient had gotten her diagnosis done.
According to Dr. Gregory Nalesnik, a pediatric oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, “Ribociclib was chosen based on the genetic profile of the patient’s tumor, which demonstrated relevant markers,” as Fox News reported.
Additionally, the senior author Mariella Filbin, M.D., PhD, co-director of the Brain Tumor Center of Excellence at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center said, “We are finally starting to see more targeted therapies come out for different forms of brain cancer.”
“Our patients really need these new treatment options,” she added.