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The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, has launched first in Africa cancer drug clinical trials to ascertain the effectiveness of a new treatment.

The treatment seeks to block activity of a gene mutation responsible for cancer in affected patients.

According to the hospital’s Cancer Centre and the Clinical Research Unit Director Prof Mansoor Saleh, the KRAS gene is activated when parts of the human body grow and become functionally active.

“The KRAS gene is what we call a housekeeping gene, present in all cells of the body and is responsible for growth and survival of normal cells. In normal conditions, the KRAS gene gets activated when parts of the human body grow and become functionally active. Sometimes, however, KRAS activation becomes uncontrolled resulting in uncontrolled growth, which then leads, in some cases, to cancer,” explained Prof Saleh.

He said that in about 30 per cent of cancer tumours, the KRAS gene mutates and goes into an uncontrolled activation state making it a cancer causing gene or anoncogene. The study follows the approval of a similar drug to treat lung cancer by the USA’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2021.

“The KRAS G12C Oncogene is a mutated KRAS gene, which is reportedly responsible for the development of lung cancer, colon cancers and some other human cancers,” he added.

Cell division

Prof Saleh said scientists recently developed inhibitor molecules that block the activation of the KRAS G12C oncogene.

“The Cancer Center at the Aga Khan University Hospital recently embarked on a clinical trial to test the anti-tumor property of GDC 6036, an experimental treatment that blocks the activation of the KRAS G12C oncogene in human tumours.

The pill developed by Roche Pharmaceuticals is intended to block the function of KRAS G12C and thereby stop the uncontrolled cell growth and division of the cancer in those patients,” he explained.

Prof Saleh said Aga Khan University Hospital is the only site in Africa studying the effect of this gene blocker on tumors other than lung cancer that also shares this KRAS G12C mutation.

“When detected early, surgery, conventional chemotherapies and radiation therapy can be successful and curative. However, when conventional therapy fails, the outcome is often bleak. This gene blocking therapy is the first such precision oncology treatment on a patient with metastatic colon cancer, whose tumour carries the KRAS G12C mutation,” he said.

The first patient in Africa on this trial is a Ugandan.

The hospital’s CEO Rashid Khalani said the trial is in line with their commitment to increase participation of Africa in global cancer treatment trials.

“As a University hospital, we have a mandate to contribute to the development of effective and relevant treatments. We are therefore delighted to be participating in this trial that we believe is going to develop therapies that are relevant to the African population,” said Khalani.

Cancer is the third leading cause of deaths in Kenya, with the World Health Organisation estimating that there are over 40,000 new cases and over 28,000 cancer-related deaths every year. 

Novel treatments

“To deal with the cancer menace, we must increase the research on the disease, invest more in public awareness and more importantly train more specialists to take care of the increasing number of cancer patients. That is why last year we launched a new fellowship in Medical Oncology, as part of our efforts to increase the number of cancer specialists in the region,” said Khalani. 

Aga Khan University Hospital established its Clinical Research Unit in 2020 to spearhead clinical trials in the region and form the cornerstone of cancer research in East and Central Africa.

“Research has found there are genetic differences between the African population and the rest of the world. This means we have to study novel treatments on our population for they may respond differently or have more or less toxicity than patients from the West. This is exactly the reason why we at Aga Khan University have made the conduct of clinical trials and the establishment of the clinical research unit our mandate,” said Prof Saleh.