StemSynergy Announces Breakthrough in Colorectal Cancer Drug Development

StemSynergy Therapeutics, Inc. announces advances in drug development for treatment of colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer diagnosed in the US. Mutations in a cell communication process called the “Wnt pathway” are responsible for over 90% of all colorectal cancers. A major hurdle in developing drugs that block the Wnt pathway has been that they exhibit significant gastrointestinal toxicity. In the June 27 issue of Science Signaling, a group of scientists working with StemSynergy showed that a novel class of WNT inhibitors, CK1alpha agonists, blocked colorectal cancer growth with minimal gastrointestinal toxicity. The investigators showed that colorectal cancer cells have low levels of the drug target, CK1alpha, which is a negative regulator of the WNT pathway.