Researchers from the Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical Center develop cream to treat severe side effects of targeted treatment in cancer patients, leading to significant increase in their quality of life
Today’s cancer treatments are highly effective in prolonging patients’ lives, many of whom continue to live with their disease for long periods of time. Therefore, more attention has to be paid to their quality of life and emotional state throughout their treatment. A new study lead by Dr. Sharon Merims, Dermatology specialist and head of the dermato-oncology clinic, Hadassah Medical Center and Prof. Ofra Benny of the School of Pharmacy, Hebrew University Jerusalem was published in the Science Translational Medicine journal. The authors report on a new development that will relieve skin toxicity, improving patients’ quality of life during the challenging period of fighting the disease.
Current oncology treatments use on-target strategies that are meant to block a specific receptor on the tumor, leading to a delay in the cancer cells’ growth and a regression of the disease. Because this specific receptor is also found in the healthy skin cells, skin toxicity is a known side effect of targeted cancer treatment.
In certain cancers (for example colon cancer and head and neck cancer) the treatment protocol focuses on blocking a specific receptor for the EGFR pathway. This pathway is critical for the growth and function of those cancerous cells, but it is also important for preserving healthy skin cells. The result is that while the targeted therapy will be effective in treating the cancer, 90% of the patients will develop skin toxicity with severe facial rashes that on top of the morbidity and discomfort caused by the rash, can influence the patients’ emotional well-being and may even impact their willingness to continue treatment.
The rashes caused by skin toxicity vary in location and appearance, but one of the most prominent features are severe facial rashes that severely damage patients’ quality of life – not only from the aesthetic point of view but also emotionally. The location of the rashes on the face is like “coming out” with an announcement to the entire world that the person has cancer.
At present, no efficient treatment is available for these severe rashes. The new study, headed by Prof. Ofra Benny of the School of Pharmacy, Hebrew University Jerusalem and Dr. Sharon Merims, of the Hadassah Medical Center and Hadassah Oncology Research Institute, succeeded in finding a way to help patients and prevent the rashes. They developed a new cream whose active component is a drug that blocks the pathway of the cancer treatment drug to the EGFR receptor, thus preventing damage to the healthy skin cells but not impeding the cancer treatment. Prof. Benny noted that: “as a result of this new drug, we can continue treating the cancer on the one hand, but on the other hand, we can prevent the negative side effect of the rashes. Thus, the patients’ quality of life is maintained while they are being treated for the cancer.” Dr. Merims explained: “Patients with severe skin toxicity affecting their face suffer greatly and their emotional distress is unique in that side effects are visible to everyone, as opposed to toxicities that affects internal organs that are invisible. Current treatments to prevent or reduce toxicity and rash are not effective. In most cases, the patient's suffering is alleviated by reducing the dose of cancer treatment or stopping treatment altogether for a short time to help the skin recover and clear the rash. However, these actions may interfere with the treatment of the cancer.
The researchers faced another problem in that skin which is affected by toxicity is very difficult to penetrate making it a significant challenge to transmit drugs from the top layer of skin to the deep layers. To achieve this, the researchers relied on an earlier study that developed a special transmission mechanism using nano-molecules that deliver the drug to the hair follicles where most of the damage to the skin occurs. The novel approach they developed will enable to treat cancer while the damage to the skin is neutralized, thus preventing skin toxicity and the ensuing rashes.