New Data Show Theratechnologies’ SORT1+ Technology is Effective in Many Treatment-Resistant Cancers - Seite 2

Optimizing the potential of known natural anticancer agents
Science has identified several compounds in nature that have cancer-fighting potential. However, these compounds are often unstable or need to be taken in quantities that are unrealistic.

Phytochemicals found in plants, such as curcumin, are proven to have antiproliferative, antiangiogenic and apoptotic properties against various cancers such as colorectal, ovarian and breast cancers.   However, when administered alone, these phytochemicals have low bioavailability and are rapidly degraded and poorly absorbed through the gastro-intestinal tract.   

The results of a preclinical study, where curcumin was conjugated with Theratechnologies’ proprietary peptide (peptide-curcumin conjugate) and delivered directly to cancer cells, show that TH1901 has 50 to 100 times greater anti-cancer activity than curcumin alone in ovarian, breast, melanoma and colorectal cancer models in vitro.   

“In several in vitro cancer models, TH1901 significantly increases the penetration of curcumin inside cancer cells thereby reducing inflammation and inhibiting tumor growth.  These results demonstrate the improved efficacy of only one of many natural compounds that could be studied using our SORT1+ technology and indicate how truly versatile this technology is,” concluded Dr. Marsolais. 

The poster “TH1901, a novel Curcumin-peptide conjugate for the treatment of Sortilin-positive (SORT1+) cancer” is now available online at aacr.org

Better efficacy and absence of neutropenia with TH1902 in triple-negative breast cancer
TNBC, which represents approximately 10 to 20% of breast cancers, does not express estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). It is more aggressive than other breast cancers and it has been observed that TNBC overexpresses SORT1 receptors.

In a poster presented at AACR, preclinical data demonstrate that in vitro TH1902 leads to significantly better efficacy at a lower dose when compared to docetaxel alone.  In the same study, TH1902 also shows similar efficacy to therapeutic doses of docetaxel when administered only at one-quarter of the indicated dose of docetaxel.  When administered alone, docetaxel showed no treatment effect at the one-quarter dose.