Sunshine Biopharma, a development stage pharmaceutical company, has completed a detailed cytotoxicity study of its lead compound, Adva-27a, in MCF-7/MDR, a Multidrug Resistant Breast Cancer cell line.  Cytotoxicity studies measure the ability of a drug to destroy cancer cells in vitro.  The results showed that Adva-27a is 16 times more effective at killing Multidrug Resistant Breast Cancer cells than Etoposide, the current commonly used drug.  Data generated by the study revealed that Adva-27a is unaffected by the molecular machinery which are responsible for making cancer cells resistant to drugs.

Dr. Steve N. Slilaty, Sunshine’s president and CEO, said cancer cells become resistant to anti-tumor drugs by overproducing a protein called P-Glycoprotein. Encoded by the ABCB1 gene (also called the MDR1 gene), P-Glycoprotein is a trans-membrane enzyme that binds and transports drugs to the outside of cancer cells, making them resistant. P-Glycoprotein  pumps out most, if not all, antineoplastics including doxorubicin,  vinblastine, gemcitabine, etoposide, paclitaxel, etc.

The data showed P-Glycoprotein cannot bind and transport Adva-27a.  “Previously unavailable, Adva-27a offers a chemical structure that can be used as a basis for studying the mechanism of action of P-Glycoprotein as well as for the development of new drugs that can overcome the resistance caused by P-Glycoprotein and similar  enzymes,” Dr. Slilaty said.