The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7493 p301
15 March 2008

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News summary

New anticancer treatment proposed

Scientists have designed a compound to protect a protein that normally helps suppress tumours but that is inactivated in almost all human cancers.

One reason for this inactivation is an interaction between this protein (called p53) and a particular oncoprotein. The experimental compound, MI-219, selectively blocks this interaction. Mice given MI-219 daily for 14 days had a 75 per cent reduction in tumour xenograph growth compared with controls (P=0.0011).

The authors suggest clinical investigation of MI-219 as a cancer treatment (PNAS Early Edition, 3 March 2008).