RH1 just completed phase I trials for breast cancer--useful in 3 childhood cas aswell

[Lani]

from the BBC:
'Promising drug' for child cancer

Childhood cancer survival rates are improving all the time
Laboratory tests suggest a new drug may prove effective in tackling three types of childhood cancer, a scientific conference has heard.
The drug RH1 was able to kill tumour cells from neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma, all of which can be resistant to current treatment.

In a pre-clinical study, University of Manchester scientists found the drug could boost cancer cell death by 50%.

They now want to hold a clinical trial involving children with cancer.

RH1 effectively encourages cancer cells to kill themselves.

All cells have an inbuilt suicide mechanism which becomes active when they become damaged or grow uncontrollably, but in cancer cells this mechanism either switches off or stops working properly.

From adult to child

The first stage of a clinical trial of RH1 in adult cancer patients has been completed, and has been found to be particularly effective in tumours with a certain sort of enzyme - DT-diaphorase - found in cancers of the lung, liver and breast.


In many cases, patients become resistant to their drugs and need new options
Dr Bruce Morland
CCLG

Dr Guy Makin, the study's lead researcher at Cancer Research UK's Paterson Institute, said it was "very exciting" to be able to work with a drug for children that had only just completed the first stage of adult trials.