News & Events
News & Events
[Korea Cancer Prevention Day (March 21)] IPK`s new paradigm for treatment of liver cancer: “Reprogramming”
2022-03-21
Korea Cancer Prevention Day (March 21) Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK)'s
new paradigm for treatment of liver cancer: “Reprogramming”
new paradigm for treatment of liver cancer: “Reprogramming”
Korea's “Cancer Control Act” designates March 21 each year as Cancer Prevention Day. The purpose is so that the state and local governments will implement education and awareness programs to raise national interest in cancer management, such as cancer prevention and early detection.
Q. What are ways to reduce cancer risk?
A. The World Health Organization (WHO) presented specific ways to reduce cancer risk, emphasizing that more than one third of all cancer cases can be prevented through our efforts.
Revealing that 1 in 6 deaths in 2020 was due to cancer, WHO emphasized that 30-50% of all cancer cases are preventable through human efforts and that cancer prevention strategies are the most cost-effective in the long run.
As a guideline on ways to reduce cancer risk, WHO suggested the following: 1) No smoking, 2) use of sun protection, 3) indoor and outdoor air quality control 4) healthy diet, 5) physical activity, 6) breastfeeding, 7) limited alcohol intake, 8) child vaccination, and 9) regular participation in cancer screening programs.
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Q. What are ways to reduce cancer risk?
A. The World Health Organization (WHO) presented specific ways to reduce cancer risk, emphasizing that more than one third of all cancer cases can be prevented through our efforts.
Revealing that 1 in 6 deaths in 2020 was due to cancer, WHO emphasized that 30-50% of all cancer cases are preventable through human efforts and that cancer prevention strategies are the most cost-effective in the long run.
As a guideline on ways to reduce cancer risk, WHO suggested the following: 1) No smoking, 2) use of sun protection, 3) indoor and outdoor air quality control 4) healthy diet, 5) physical activity, 6) breastfeeding, 7) limited alcohol intake, 8) child vaccination, and 9) regular participation in cancer screening programs.
Source: WHO website
Q. What about cancer research at Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK)?
A. IPK is working to develop the treatment for liver cancer utilizing a “3D multicellular liver cancer spheroid” model that is designed to mimic the conditions inside the human body.
Researchers at IPK’s Advanced Biomedical Research Lab (ABRL) developed a “3D multicellular liver cancer spheroid” research model that mimics the conditions inside the human body, consisting of cancerous hepatocytes, surrounding blood vessels, immune cells, fibroblasts, signaling molecules, and extracellular matrix.
In many cases of research to develop new drugs, drug candidates that show high efficacy in early-stage cell experiments do not show efficacy in follow-up studies such as clinical trials. Thus, right from the initial stage of research, the team at ABRL applies an innovative model that allows the study of the tumor and the surrounding microenvironment, which interacts closely within the human body, thus promoting the discovery of excellent candidates that can show therapeutic efficacy in later clinical trials.
Q. What is IPK’s new paradigm for treatment of liver cancer?
A. IPK’s strategy is to combine the treatment of liver fibrosis with anticancer drugs. By “reprogramming” the hardened tissue to a normal state through treatment of liver fibrosis, it is possible to increase the absorption of anticancer drugs, thereby enhancing therapeutic effects.
The main drug that has been used in standard treatment of liver cancer is sorafenib, which is a targeted anticancer agent. Although it has been widely used for the past 15 years, development of a new therapeutic agent was urgently necessary due to limitations such as high cost, skin-related side effects, and drug resistance.
The latest strategy for overcoming such challenges is combination therapy where anticancer drugs are used in combination with other therapeutic agents. Recently in both Korea and abroad, there were reports of excellent outcomes of combination therapy using Avastin, a targeted anticancer drug, and Tecentriq, an immune checkpoint inhibitor.
Meanwhile, the IPK’s ABRL presented a new paradigm of combining liver fibrosis treatment with treatment using anticancer agent, rather than combination therapy with two types of anticancer agents.
In general, liver cancer is accompanied by liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver metabolic diseases, and when inflammation occurs in the liver, tissue fibrosis accelerates and inhibits the absorption of anticancer drugs. Accordingly, ABRL developed an innovative strategy, “reprogramming,” for enhancing the therapeutic effect of anticancer drugs by reversing fibrosis, in which anticancer drugs can be well absorbed.
First, the team integrated 3D multicellular liver cancer spheroid model into image-based high throughput screening to analyze the therapeutic efficacy of numerous compounds and natural products (including derived substances). As a result, they were able to identify a drug candidate with high therapeutic efficacy against fibrosis.
Next, the team tested for combined use of the identified drug candidate and the anticancer drug sorafenib, and observed that apoptosis increased. This supports that anti-fibrotic drugs may promote anticancer drug absorption into tissues, thereby improving the activity of anticancer drugs.
Currently, the team is preparing for the technology transfer of the derived liver fibrosis drug candidate to a Korean biomedical company with abundant clinical experience, by which IPK will accelerate clinical research and commercialization.
Moreover, by applying this paradigm to various solid cancers such as lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, IPK plans to continuously devise innovative strategies to overcome the limitations of existing anticancer drugs.
>> Go to IPK's Story for 2021 Korea Cancer Prevention Day