An experimental drug called Telomir-1 has shown early positive results in animal models testing its effectiveness against triple-negative breast cancer, according to a press release published by the biotechnology company that owns the drug, Telomir Pharmaceuticals. This cancer can be very aggressive and regular chemotherapy does not always work.
To test the medicine, scientists placed human breast cancer cells in zebrafish because tumors grow fast in them and are easy to see. The scientists wanted to learn if Telomir-1 could slow tumor growth and stop cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body.
In one type of triple-negative breast cancer where chemotherapy did not work well, Telomir-1 greatly slowed the tumor growth and reduced how much the cancer spread. In another type of triple-negative breast cancer where the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel did work, Telomir-1 worked just as well by itself. When Telomir-1 was used together with paclitaxel, the tumors became even smaller than when either treatment was used alone.
Not all cancers reacted the same way. In one very hard-to-treat type of triple-negative breast cancer, neither Telomir-1 nor chemotherapy helped. This shows that triple-negative breast cancer does not act in just one way. Because of this, different tumors and cancers may need different treatments.
The study suggests that Telomir-1 may help about 40 to 60 percent of aggressive triple-negative breast cancer cases that do not respond well to chemotherapy.
Read more about breast cancer treatment and care
Scientists think Telomir-1 works by changing how cancer cells use certain metals, like iron and copper, which help tumors grow. Some cancers depend on these metals more than others.
“These results demonstrate biologically consistent anti-tumor and anti-cancer spread activity in aggressive triple-negative breast cancer animal models, including tumors with limited responsiveness to standard chemotherapy, while also providing clear insight into the patient populations most likely to benefit in future clinical trials,” said Erez Aminov, CEO of Telomir.
Telomir Pharmaceuticals plans to keep testing Telomir-1 and hopes to begin studies in people in the future.