A drug used to manage copper levels could improve the odds for children battling neuroblastoma, new research in animal models suggests.
The survival rate for children with a rare but deadly cancer could one day be improved by adding an existing drug - which is currently used to manage excess copper in the body - to their treatment.
The drug can be used to weaken tumours and strengthen the fighting capacity of immune cells, increasing the success rate of a cancer treatment for high-risk neuroblastoma from 10% to 50%, new research in mice led by UNSW Sydney shows.
The findings, published in Nature Communications on Thursday night, offer hope for those with neuroblastoma, which accounts for 15% of childhood cancer deaths.
Neuroblastoma is a cancer that develops from immature nerve cells, known as neuroblasts, found in several areas of the body, most commonly around the adrenal glands. It is most common in infants and children under five years of age.
Despite aggressive treatments, children diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma have a one-in-two chance of surviving the disease. This drops to one-in-10 for children who relapse.
For those children, their last chance was anti-GD2 antibody therapy, said lead researcher and senior report author Associate Professor Orazio Vittorio, from UNSW's School of Biomedical Sciences and the Children's Cancer Institute.
"It is one of the most important therapies developed, but it only works if there is a strong immune system," A/Prof. Vittorio said.
That's where the drug TETA (triethylenetetramine), marketed as Cuprior, comes in.
