Dasatinib may be effective against several cancers

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the journal Molecular Carcinogenesis, dasatinib (Sprycel) may be effective for the treatment of breast, skin, and various other cancers. Researchers found that dasatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets the Bcr-Abl oncogene, was effective in vitro at inhibiting Fyn, a protein similar to Bcr-Abl.

Fyn is known for being involved cell-cell adhesion and cell migration and is found in brain, breast, head-and-neck, pancreatic, and skin cancers.

Mitchell Dennings, PhD, and his colleagues applied dasatinib to cancer cells in vitro and observed the cells clumping together as well a halt in cell migration. The team found similar results when using breast cancer cells. When administered to mice with skin cancer, dasatinib decreased the quantity and size of their tumors.

Clinical trials are currently underway to study dasatinib's effects in patients with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma, endometrial cancer, gastrointestinal stromal cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, melanoma, multiple myeloma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer.

Dasatinib was initially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2006 and is indicated for the treatment of patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It is administered orally once daily.