Block the recycling that keeps dormant cells alive
Sleeping cancer cells survive by recycling their own contents. An old malaria drug blocks that recycling and is being tested in people with no visible cancer but detectable residual cells.
Dormant disseminated cells depend on autophagy for survival, and hydroxychloroquine plus mTOR inhibition has been tested in bone-marrow-positive breast cancer survivors in the CLEVER-type design at Johns Hopkins. The concept is attractive because it treats survivors while disease burden is at its minimum, but hydroxychloroquine is a weak, non-specific autophagy inhibitor; a potent selective ULK1 or ATG7 inhibitor would be the real test.
- Dormant cells and minimal residual disease · After a 'successful' treatment, cells can sleep for years then relapse. We can barely detect them and cannot target them.
- No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs · Old, cheap drugs with anti-cancer signals never get the trials they need because no one profits from the result.
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not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaBlunt the inflammation that wakes sleeping cancer cells
Shares Late recurrence, Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), MRD / molecular residual disease testing.
- IdeaIntercepting late recurrence with ctDNA surveillance and oral SERDs
Shares Late recurrence, Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), MRD / molecular residual disease testing.
- IdeaKeep dormant cells asleep instead of trying to kill them
Shares Late recurrence, Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), MRD / molecular residual disease testing.
- IdeaFlush dormant cells out of bone marrow, then kill them
Shares Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), MRD / molecular residual disease testing, Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).
- IdeaTake the blood test, and give the drug, at the right time of day
Shares Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), MRD / molecular residual disease testing, Liquid biopsy (ctDNA).
- IdeaKeep them asleep: dormancy maintenance as adjuvant therapy
Shares Late recurrence, Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), MRD / molecular residual disease testing.
- IdeaUse residual disease tests to decide who needs ten years of hormone therapy
Shares Late recurrence, Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD), MRD / molecular residual disease testing.
- IdeaStrip the platelet coat off travelling tumour cells in ctDNA-positive patients
Shares No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs, Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, MRD / molecular residual disease testing, Liquid biopsy (ctDNA).