Therapeutics: Kinesin spindle protein (KSP; Eg5; KIF11)
Patient sample, cell culture and mouse studies suggest KSP inhibitors could help treat glioblastoma. Levels of KSP were higher in tumor samples from glioblastoma patients than in brain tissue from epilepsy patients who did not have brain cancer, and in patients with stage III or IV glioblastoma, high tumor levels of KSP were associated with poor survival. In tumor-initiating cells from a patient-derived xenograft mouse model of glioblastoma, a tool compound that inhibits KSP decreased cell viability and migration compared with vehicle. In the xenograft model, the KSP inhibitor increased survival. Next steps could include testing whether glioblastoma can develop the resistance to KSP inhibition that has been observed in other cancers.
Array BioPharma Inc. has the KSP inhibitor filanesib in Phase II testing to treat multiple myeloma (MM)...