New Screening Tool Could Rapidly Reveal Better Cancer-Drug Combinations

Dec. 9, 2024

Matrix shows cancer cell response rates to combinations of prenisolone and venetoclax. (NCATS)

Scientists at NCATS and the National Cancer Institute have designed a screening method that could help predict in the lab how combinations of three or more cancer drugs will work in people. Many patients respond to cancer treatments in different ways. The translational science tool could help doctors better tailor treatments to patients.

The NIH research team used this new platform — called multi-component, time-course (MCTC) screening — to study four cancer drugs: venetoclax, ibrutinib, prednisone and lenalidomide. Scientists looked at how the drugs work together to kill lymphoma, a type of cancer that starts in the lymphatic system. Those four drugs were used in the recent VIPOR clinical trial to treat relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). DLBCL is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The MCTC study appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The MCTC data showed that the ways drug combinations worked together are key to quickly killing lymphoma cells. The data also showed that different lymphoma cell models commonly responded to all four drugs. However, those responses often occurred with different combinations of only two or three of the drugs.

The research team’s findings could have real-world impact. Their most effective drug combinations worked at concentrations and exposures that could be safely reached in people. The MCTC screening results also might help doctors tailor drug combinations to a person’s specific type of B-cell lymphoma.