• Press Release

Scientists Discover Metabolic Pathway That Drives Tumor Growth in Aggressive Cancers

  • New York, NY
  • (March 02, 2017)

Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that a rheumatoid arthritis drug can block a metabolic pathway that occurs in tumors with a common cancer-causing gene mutation, offering a new possible therapy for aggressive cancers with few therapeutic options, according to a study to be published in Cancer Discovery.

Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, Ward-Coleman Chair in Cancer Research and Chair of the Department of Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, led a team that studied how a mutation of the PTEN gene rewires a metabolic pathway in tumors, channeling increased amounts of the amino acid glutamine into the pathway, speeding up DNA production, and causing uncontrolled growth of the tumor. The team discovered that leflunomide, an oral rheumatoid arthritis drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, blocks an enzyme in this pathway and damages the DNA created through the pathway, killing PTEN mutant cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched.

Parsons and his team transplanted human breast cancer cells into mice to test leflunomide’s efficacy. Leflunomide drastically reduced the breast cancer tumors in the mice.

“Finding successful targeted therapies for cancer is a challenging but important goal in the face of insufficient treatment options,” said Dr. Parsons, who discovered the PTEN gene. “Targeted therapies that are tumor-specific are much needed, and identifying changes based on specific tumor suppressor or oncogene alterations will facilitate this effort. Due to the high mutation rate of PTEN in cancer, the effects of PTEN could be at the heart of targeted therapy.”

This discovery has implications in aggressive cancers with the PTEN mutation and few treatment options such as triple negative breast cancer, prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, and glioblastoma, a brain cancer. Dr. Parsons hopes to create a clinical trial to further test leflunomide in patients with breast and colon cancer.

This research was funded by NCI R01CA082783, R01CA155117, and P01CA97403 (R.P.), and partially supported by NIH grants 5P01CA120964 and 5P30CA006516 (J.MA.), and R01 GM041890 and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (L.C.).

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.

As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.

Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.

Related Articles
New York skyscrapers
New York skyscraper seen from a park
Building exterior
New York skyscraper seen from a park
New York skyscrapers
Main lobby of Tisch Cancer Center