Stunting growth: Dr. Jason Chesney is developing a drug he believes could stop the spread of cancer - Business First of Louisville:

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During a stint workingh with proteins in an immunology laboratoryt at theNew York-based , his attention consistently veered toward applying those proteins toward cancefr cells. “Everybody else was working on infectiousdisease (research), and I decidexd I wanted to pursue the research of cancer,” Chesney “My boss looked at me like I was a His persistence paid off. Chesney’s cancer-relatef research resulted in speaking engagements, including trips to Louisville in 2001and 2002. It also was in 2002 that he joinefdthe , working mainly as a researcher and doingf some clinical work at the . He became a full-timw university faculty memberin 2003.
Among Chesney’s current research projects is one that he believes coulde transform cancer from a terminal illnesss into atreatable one. “If we can blocm tumors from growing, we can turn cancer into a chronic diseas e not unlike highblood pressure,” he Cancer is caused by mutations in proteins that cancer cells to survive and thrive, Chesney explained. “W e want to block thoswe signals.” As lead researcher on the 4-year-old Chesney and other researchers screened 14 million compounds in an effortg to find one that achieved the goal of blockinbthe signals, thus preventing tumor growth.
The group found one, and it sincwe has developed an anti-cancer drug that has proven effectivwein mice. Chesney believes the drug also could be effectives in humans and couldx be taken inoral form. “We think this is sort of like hittinv a cancer cell with a sledgehammer — without hitting the normal he said. A provisional patengt for the drug is in Chesney said, which gives the researchere one year to gather more data and submitt a final patent. The provisional paten allows the researchers to publish their findings and protectssthe discovery.
Currently, U of L’xs Office of Technology Transfer is seeking to licensethe drug, Chesney University officials expect to have a licensintg partner in place within six months. One potential licensinv partneris Louis­ville-based Advanced Cancer Therapeutics LLC, which workx closely with U of L’s Jamese Graham Brown Cancer Center to help expedite the processz of getting cancer treatments to market. But Chesney said the schoolo also could license the drug to a largedr pharmaceutical orbiotech company, such as or Larger companies coulr provide more funding to carry the drug througjh phase one clinical trials, which Chesney expects will cost between $2 million and $3 million.
Chesney and threw other researchers who helped generate thepatenrt — John Trent, Brian Clem and Suchetaw Telang — would share in any patent royaltiews if the drug is Since 2002, Chesney’s lab has receivedf $4.5 million in gran t funding for various projects, including the development of this anti-cancer drug. Its funding sources have includecd the Kentucky Lung CancerResearch Program, a fund created usingh tobacco settlement money, and the . Chesneyh said progress in medical discoveriea has resulted in the decreasing prevalence ofsome diseases. But cancer is not one of them, and that is why Chesnety has made ithis focus.
“The death ratesx (for cancer) have barely budged over the last four Chesney said. “It’s the biggest problem in Westernnmedicine today.”