Dr. Christina Glytsou, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, who discusses her recent study on blood cancer treatment. Dr. Glytsou explains that a promising treatment for blood cancer, called Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, can sometimes lose effectiveness due to cancer cells developing resistance to the drug.
The study conducted by Dr. Glytsou and her team found that combining BTK inhibitors with a drug that induces cell death called ABT-199 could restore the signaling ability of the BTK inhibitors, and increase their effectiveness in treating blood cancer. The combination was tested on cancer cells in vitro and on mouse models in vivo, and the results showed that the drug combination was able to overcome drug resistance and inhibit cancer growth.
Dr. Glytsou emphasizes the importance of finding ways to overcome drug resistance in cancer treatments, as it is a major obstacle in the fight against cancer. She notes that while the combination of BTK inhibitors and ABT-199 has shown promising results, more research is needed to optimize the dosing and determine the best way to administer the combination in patients.
Overall, the study by Dr. Glytsou and her team provides a potential solution to a common problem in blood cancer treatment, and opens up new avenues for research into drug combinations that could increase the effectiveness of cancer treatments.