More study is needed before the combination can be tested in patients, but Narayan believes that TMZ can be combined with the small molecule in a single dose in pill or capsule form.

The research demonstrates that it is possible to sensitize colon cancer cells to TMZ more broadly than is now possible - a benefit of particular importance to patients with cancers that are as varied as colon cancer, said Sankar Mitra, Ph.D., a professor in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, who did not participate in the study.

"This could be the start of other small molecule inhibitors," he said.

Mitra also noted that the researchers selected their therapeutic molecules through sophisticated analysis of the structure of tens of thousands of potential small molecules from the National Cancer Institute database. The computer-based process, which can suggest likely cancer therapeutics within hours, replaces analysis that would normally have taken weeks or months.

"There have been a multitude of studies suggesting that inhibition of DNA polymerase beta would enhance chemotherapeutic response," said Robert W. Sobol, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pharmacology and chemical biology, and human genetics, at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. "However, potential inhibitors have been challenging to identify and most have proven to be non-specific and/or non-selective. The compound identified by Dr. Narayan appears to be the first in what I expect to be a growing list of DNA polymerase beta inhibitors that have clinical potential."

Source: University of Florida