Tolerable Improvements — Dr. Sridhar Mani has been awarded a $1.5 million grant over five years from the National Cancer Institute to improve tolerability of the anti-cancer drug CPT-11 (Irinotecan), whose effectiveness is reduced by its dose-limiting side effect, diarrhea. Building on previous work with collaborators at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, identifying promising compounds that have inhibited the effects of gut bacteria-derived metabolites implicated in CPT-11-induced diarrhea, Dr. Mani and his team plan to use in vivo assays and humanized animal models of CPT-11 pharmacokinetics to characterize the effects of these inhibitory compounds on the anti-tumor activity and tolerability of CPT-11. This work represents a key effort to fine-tune the approach to treating cancer with the proven therapeutic agent, CPT-11. Dr. Mani is professor of medicine and of genetics,and is the Miriam Mandel Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research.
Posted on: Tuesday, May 15, 2012