Breast cancer: A monoclonal antibody can block the spread of bone metastases

An international team led byUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and from Inserm of Lyon has demonstrated that the inhibition of the alpha5 integrin protein, via the monoclonal antibody Volociximab, is able to block the onset of bone metastases

Rome, January 25, 2021 - Stop the development of bone metastases in breast cancer thanks to a monoclonal antibody. This is the result achieved by an innovative international multicenter study, just published in the scientific journal Oncogene, conducted by Dr. Francesco Pantano ofMedical Oncology Unit of the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital led by professors Giuseppe Tonini e Daniele Santini in collaboration with prof. Philippe Clezardin ofInserm of Lyon and thanks to the work of the research groups of theInstitut Curie of Paris and ofUniversity of Hamburg.

Thanks to a screenshoting carried out on the genome of breast cancer patients, the research team identified the protein integrin alpha5 as one of the factors most involved in bone metastasis processes. These processes can be responsible for the appearance of recurrence even years after the end of surgical and adjuvant treatments.

The discovery of the international group led byUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma paves the way for a new therapeutic perspective that affects an aspect of the metastasis process that has never been explored up to now. “This study shows us that in cancer research - concludes Pantano - it emerges more and more how each tumor acts according to specific strategies: our effort is to better understand the different biological mechanisms to offer patients increasingly targeted treatments".

The international team then studied the effective role of the alpha5 integrin in the metastasis process by blocking its action through the use of the monoclonal antibody Volociximab. The high efficacy of Volociximab in inhibiting the formation of bone metastases was first demonstrated in models vitro and then in vivo in the Translational Oncology laboratories ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and the Inserm of Lyon.

“The protein integrin alpha 5 - Explains Francesco Pantano - it is the "hook" with which the tumor cell binds to fibronectin, which is highly present in the bone microenvironment. This "coupling", the first event that leads to the development of metastases, is blocked by Volocixamab which interposes the two molecules and stops the tumor from spreading in the bone. The result is also very promising because the drug is safe, has already been tested and is non-toxic".

Volociximab it had been unsuccessfully studied in the past as an anti-angiogenic drug to inhibit phenomena related to tumor growth caused by alpha5 integrin such as the creation of new blood vessels (necessary for cancer cells to feed). Having a drug available that has already passed the first stages of clinical development would considerably reduce the human experimentation process, allowing for a real “Drug repurposing", i.e. the therapeutic repositioning of a drug on the basis of new scientific knowledge.

In 2020, breast cancer affected almost 55.000 people in Italy. Although mortality from breast cancer is steadily decreasing (-0,8 every year) and survival 5 years after diagnosis has reached 87 percent, according to Aiom data, around 2020 deaths from this disease are still estimated in 12.300 .

"Despite the successes of recent years in the fight against tumours, attributable above all to early diagnosis and adjuvant treatments, in advanced forms or in particularly aggressive cases of the disease, breast cancer remains curable, but not always curable – teacher Pantano - In this sense bone metastases can occur even years after the end of treatment because early surgery does not guarantee 100% absence of recurrence. Blocking the possibility of the disease spreading to the bone level would mean not only reducing pain or fractures that greatly worsen a person's well-being, but also improving life expectancy”.