Two investigational agents, Aurora A kinase inhibitor (alisertib) and HSV1716, a virus derived from HSV-1 and attenuated by the deletion of RL1, have shown some antitumor efficacy in early clinical trials as monotherapies. A new study published last week in Oncotarget, however, demonstrates that the combined usage of the agents results in significantly increased antitumor efficacy in models of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) and neuroblastoma."We chose to investigate this combination in MPNST and neuroblastoma because these are two difficult-to-treat sarcomas that have shown susceptibility to these agents individually," explains Timothy Cripe, MD, PhD, division chief of Hematology/Oncology & BMT at Nationwide Children's Hospital and senior author on the study. "MPNST is a rare pediatric cancer, but for patients with neurofibromatosis 1, a genetic cancer predisposition disorder, it is the leading cause of death. More importantly, MPNST is resistant to chemotherapy."
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