Advantages

Many anti-cancer drugs and those in development tend to target only one of the critical mechanisms that come into play to support tumour growth and survival. For example, the breakthrough drug Avastin acts by inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor which is required for angiogenesis. However, some of the most successful drugs, such as Gleevec and Sutent, target a set of kinases, and it is this “multi-kinase” inhibitor property that leads to their efficacy. In targeting SK1, a new kind of multi-function drug will emerge; one that is a broad-spectrum inhibitor of cancer growth AND one that also inhibits angiogenesis.

 

Inhibition of SK1 has also been shown to sensitize resistant cancer cells to the effects of other chemotherapeutics. Thus, while SK1 inhibitors are likely to be potent anti-cancer agents in their own right, they are also likely to find important uses in conjunction with existing anti-cancer drugs to enhance their efficacy.