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According to researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q, malaria drug could improve the effectiveness of a new class of cancer therapies- glutaminase inhibitors, if used in combination.
The research analyzed the metabolic processes of cancer cells to show that the approved quinine-based malaria drug Chloroquine could boost the effectiveness of the new glutaminase inhibiting drugs, which are currently being developed by global pharmaceutical companies.
Glutaminase inhibitors target a chemical process called glutaminolysis, in which the amino acid glutamine is broken down, releasing energy that cancer cells use to grow. Glutaminase inhibitors seek to disrupt this process, thereby depriving cancer cells of their energy source and slowing or stopping their growth.
However, certain cancer cells can activate alternative ways to generate energy and thereby escape the drug’s action. Researchers exposed cancer cells grown in the laboratory to different doses of an anti-cancer drug and measure the changes in almost all of the small molecules that are present in the cells, using metabolomics.
In this first application of approach to glutaminase inhibitors, the researchers focused on two specific energy pathways that cancer cells use: lipid catabolism, which is the breakdown of fats, and autophagy, in which cells derive energy by degrading parts of their own structure.
They discovered that both of these energy pathways were accelerated when the glutaminolysis pathway was suppressed with drugs, which allowed the cancer cells to survive. The anti-malaria drug Chloroquine disrupts some of these energy-producing mechanisms, giving Chloroquine in combination with the glutaminase inhibiting drugs could lead to an improved suppression of tumor cells.
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