A groundbreaking treatment developed by Israeli researchers at Ben Gurion University has demonstrated promise in treating colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks as the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality for both men and women. A major concern with this type of cancer is that it often spreads to the liver. In fact, 7 out of 10 people with colorectal cancer will experience liver metastases. When this happens, treating it becomes more complicated.
Surgery is the top choice for trying to remove CRC tumors, but it’s not always enough. While chemotherapy is a common option, it can cause side effects and might not work over time as the cancer can become drug-resistant.
“The available personalized treatments may prolong survival and improve quality of life for many patients with metastatic disease, although a cure is rare and recurrence is expected,” said Ben-Gurion Professor Ayelet David.
“Our unique polymer demonstrates promising preclinical results for treating advanced cancer that has spread to other places in the body and usually cannot be cured or controlled with other therapies.”
Single-dose therapy given to mice has led to some remarkable results. Half of the mice that received the polymer therapy experienced complete remission and lived twice as long as the mice treated with traditional chemotherapy drugs. The drug’s success in animal trials has already caught the attention of the biomedical sector. Israeli pharmaceutical company Vaxil Biotherapeutics has acquired the rights to this novel treatment and is now reportedly moving forward to begin trials in humans.
