EntreMed's tubulin inhibitors show anticancer efficacy

US clinical-stage pharmaceutical firm EntreMed says that data from preclinical studies of its developmental tubulin inhibitor, ENMD-1420, indicate that it brings about dose-dependant inhibition of tumor growth in lung and colorectal cancer models.

Tubulins are protein microtubules that play a key role in cell division. Drugs designed to target them, such as ENMD-1420 which inhibits tubulin polymerization, are intended to interupt abnormal cellular division and therefore the proliferation of cancerous cells.

The results, which were announced at the American Association of Cancer Research annual meeting in Los Angeles, come from two separate assessment of the agent, previously known as CC-5079, in preclinical models of metastatic lung cancer, as well as in colorectal carcinoma. The data showed that, at the maximum-tolerated dose, tumor growth was inhibited between 80% and 90%, with the Z-isomer version of the molecule eliciting the most potent response.