BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Intersection in marrow

How Gaucher's disease drugs could help multiple myeloma

May 21, 2015 7:00 AM UTC

An unlikely connection between Gaucher's disease and multiple myeloma has been uncovered by a U.K. group that found a common node in the pathways responsible for the bone disease symptoms that accompany both diseases. Suppression of myeloma-related bone erosion by the Gaucher's drug Zavesca miglustat suggests inhibiting sphingolipid synthesis could address the bone pathology in the cancer, and add a new angle to complement the growing list of myeloma therapies in development.

Zavesca is an inhibitor of GCS - an enzyme critical to glycosphingolipid synthesis - and is marketed by the UCB Group and Actelion Ltd. to treat Gaucher's disease and glycosphingolipid storage disorders. ...