Health tip: PTPN11 Inhibitor Studied in Lung Cancer

PTPN11 Inhibitor Studied in Lung Cancer

An IDIBELL team is studying the efficiency of PTPN11 inhibitor in the treatment of NSCLC (Non-small cell lung cancer) lung cancer.

According to the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in a press release, this is the conclusion of an international study in which IDIBELL researchers Alberto Villanueva and Ernest Nadal have participated.

In conducting this study on the efficacy of the PTPN inhibitor11, researchers have used advanced in vivo models of lung cancer consisting of human tumors implanted in mice.

The article has been published in Nature Medicine and is directed by René Bernards, PhD at the Netherlands Cancer Institute.

This study demonstrates, according to IDIBELL, the effectiveness of a new treatment against NSCLC (non-small cell) lung cancer.

The finding is to inhibit PTPN11 with the drug SHP099. The study has been conducted in mice with human lung cancer tumors and mutation in the K-ras gene and has shown that the therapy is effective.

According to the Catalan research centre, SHP2 plays a liaison role between the tyrosine kinase receptors (epidermal growth factor receptors, EGFR) of the cell membrane and the RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK signalling pathway, which is very important in the development of tumours.

Researchers have shown, IDIBELL adds, that the combination of this new inhibitor with the effects of the MEK protein inhibitor enhances the induction of senescence in tumor cells.

 As the researchers underscore, this finding is an important breakthrough in developing a combination therapy that is effective for this group of patients.

This article has been published in parallel with 2 other papers that support it and that, together and from different experimental approaches, define the potentiality of this new drug in the treatment of other tumours with this same alteration of the K-ras oncogene, such as pancreatic and gastroesophageal cancers.