MDNews - Mid Hudson

R ESEARCHERS FROM CASE Western Reserve University and Dartmouth Medical School tracked the effects of a small antioxidant molecule, CDDO-Me, on mice engineered to be susceptible to colon cancer. A Case for Chemoprevention The team examined the potential of CDDO-Me, a synthetic triterpenoid, as a chemopreventive agent — a substance that can stop cancer before it starts or interrupt or reverse the course of the condition. Because colitis-induced colon cancer has been extensively researched and its mecha- nisms are at least partially understood, this serious yet common disease was an ideal fi t for the research. The team found a direct correlation between the application of CDDO-Me as an oral supplement and the suppression of colon cancer in mice with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The molecule also counteracted the 15-PGDH enzyme defi ciency that makes some patients unresponsive to colon cancer treatment with COX-2 inhibitors, normally a highly effective therapy both for prevention and treatment of the disease. "It's very possible that exposure to a trit- erpenoid may either make [patients] more sensitive to COX-2 inhibitors or reduce the dose of COX-2 inhibitors they need to achieve clinical benefi t," says the study's lead author, John Letterio, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Director of the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. Looking Ahead The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 50,000 Americans will die from colon cancer in 2014. IBD is associated with a 10-times-greater risk of developing colon cancer. Triterpenoid therapy offers the potential to decrease the number of colitis-induced cases of colon cancer and improve treatment for existing patients. Research supports the use of triter- penoids in the treatment of many types of cancer, such as breast cancer, due to their anti-inf lammatory properties and multifunctional abilities that researchers are just beginning to fully understand. In preclinical trials, triterpenoids have also been shown to prevent and reverse neurolog ica l da mage a ssociated w it h multiple sclerosis. At this time, the use of triterpenoids as a clinical chemopreventive therapy is not approved. At Case Western Reserve, Dr. Letterio and his collaborators plan to continue their research into triterpenoid chemopreven- tion for colon cancer. They hope further research will help make the therapy a staple of cancer prevention. A su m ma r y of t he tea m's f ind ings appeared in the June 2014 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. ■ PROMISING RESEARCH MAY LEAD TO THERAPIES THAT HELP PREVENT COLITIS- INDUCED CASES OF COLON CANCER. Pack a Big Punch in Colon Cancer Prevention By Valerie Lauer "Death … from heart disease has plummeted in our lifetime, and it's not because of faster ambulances or better defi brillators. It's because we've developed drugs to lower cholesterol and to treat hypertension. The question is, can we develop similar strategies for the cancer problem and reduce the burden of the disease?" — John Letterio, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Director of the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital Small Molecules COV ER FE AT UR E 8 | Mid Hudson MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M

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