Anticancer Drug from Frog Eggs

In in vitro studies, a new anticancer drug developed from the eggs of the leopard frog shows promise in treating various forms of childhood soft tissue and muscle cancer.

The studies reveal significant antitumor activity of the drug aginst neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and chemotherapy-resistant variants of the same cell lines. Called Onconase, the drug is one of a new class of ribonuclease drugs and is active even in cell lines where traditional chemotherapy has failed. Ribonuclease enzymes degrade RNA and interrupt protein synthesis, resulting in the inhibition of cell growth and the induction of apoptosis. Onconase also overcomes the problem of multiple drug resistance as well as other forms of drug resistance, such as that to cisplatin in human resistant ovarian carcinoma.

These results support earlier findings by the US National Cancer Institute that Onconase can overcome multiple drug resistance, says Alfacell Corp. (Bloomfield, NJ, USA). Alfacell has been collaborating on this application with Dr. Martin Michaelis at the Institute of Medicinal Virology at Johann Wolfgang University of Frankfurt (Germany).

"These findings have opened a new direction in the research and development of Onconase as a novel anticancer agent, particularly against chemotherapy-resistant tumors in the pediatric cancer population,” said Dr. Stan Mikulski, medical director of Alfacell.




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