Scientists have successfully tested a new class of drugs in humans, that targets a rogue protein responsible for the proliferation of skin cancer, says a study.
The research involves the drug Dz13, a targeted molecular therapy, which was developed at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and has now been found to be safe in a clinical trial of patients with the common skin cancer, basal-cell carcinoma.
"This is the first report of a drug of this type to be used in humans," says UNSW Medicine's Professor Levon Khachigian, who has been developing the DNAzyme technology for 10 years.
"It's a smart drug, which targets a bad protein that controls tumour growth and spread," says Professor Khachigian, the Director of the UNSW Centre for Vascular Research.
The collaborative trial was conducted by researchers from UNSW, the University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, reports Science Daily. The findings have been published in the journal The Lancet.
