Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the
University of South Florida have developed a small molecule that inhibits
STAT3, a protein that causes cancer. This development could impact the
treatment of several tumor types, including breast, lung, prostate and others
that depend on STAT3 for survival.
The study appeared in the Jan. 15 online issue of Cancer
Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"STAT3 has been associated with poor prognosis and
resistance to chemotherapy in patients with cancer,” explained Said M. Sebti,
Ph.D., chair of the Drug Discovery Department at Moffitt. “Two STAT3 molecules
need to bind to each other, a process called dimerization, to cause malignancy.
We developed a small molecule called S3I-1757 to prevent dimerization by
disrupting STAT3-STAT3 binding. Once disrupted, STAT3’s ability to help cancer
cells survive, grow and invade is neutralized.”