Chang Publishes Findings on Compound that Prevents Metastasis

A publication by Prof. Mayland Chang, collaborating with other researchers from Notre Dame and Wayne State University, announces the synthesis, anti-tumor invasive activity, and metabolism of a compound that can inhibit gelatinases, enzymes involved in the often-fatal metastasis of cancers. The article appears in the journal Chemical Biology & Drug Design.

A progenitor of this compound had shown promise when tested in mouse models of prostate cancer metastasis to bone, lymphoma metastasis to liver and breast cancer metastasis to lung. The new compound retains these anticancer attributes, yet it is more potent, more metabolically stable, and more water soluble. In specific assays the researchers documented that the compound indeed interferes with the ability of cancer cells to migrate from one site to the other. More than 90 percent of metastatic tumors are fatal, far higher than the mortality rate from original cancer tumors that can often be managed and treated by surgery, chemotherapy or irradiation. The compound has the potential to prevents metastasis, buying time for medical workers to treat and eradicate the original tumor. A product such as this has not been marketed to date.

Participants in the study, in addition to Chang were Mijoon Lee, Giuseppe Celenza, Bill Boggess, Jennifer Blase, Quicun Shi, Marta Toth, William R. Wolter, Mark Suckow, Dusan Hesek, Bruce Noll, and Shahriar Mobashery from the University of Notre Dame and M. Margarida Bernardo and Rafael Fridman from Wayne State University and the Karmanos Cancer Institute.