Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive tumor types, characterized by chemotherapy-resistant and very “stiff” lesions – making it challenging to treat.
Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina recently developed a promising new agent, LXG6403, that could help overcome these issues (1).
The drug targets the driver of this aggressive tumorigenesis and progression, a protein known as lysyl oxidase (LOX). To test the efficiency and permeability of their drug/inhibitor combined MALDI-MS imaging with extracellular matrix (ECM)-targeted proteomics – enabling them to visualize the architecture and layout of proteins within the tumors and adapt their LOX inhibitor to achieve maximal performance.
“We collected the tumor tissue and analyzed the proteome with different mass spec approaches, and we could see that our inhibitor has a huge impact on the ECM, collagen, and other structural proteins,” explained corresponding author Ozgur Sahin in a press release (2).
The team is waiting to get the green light to move on with clinical trials of LXG6403 and are hopeful their drug could be useful for other LOX-driven diseases, such as pancreatic and kidney cancer.
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References
- M Cetin et al., “A highly potent bi-thiazole inhibitor of LOX rewires collagen architecture and enhances chemoresponse in triple-negative breast cancer,” Cell Chemical Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2024.06.012.