这是以发现DNA的‘第三人’Maurice Wilkins命名的小型会议，主题个人化治疗。 含四个session: Session 1: Targeted therapy in the clinic Session 2: Patient tumour individuality Session 3: Detecting disease monitoring treatment Session 4: Tumour interactions with their hosts 有人说，听完讲座后过段时间一般发言者所讲内容一般都忘了，留下印象的就是人的音容，外貌。用于这个symposium,有一部分正确。真听到有人非常优雅的英文发言（英语为母语的人又再比较），清晰，不急不缓，极富说服力，尤其A/Prof Cris Print 的 ‘Molecular signatures in cancers and how to use them’发言。 对皮肤癌比较关注，Dr Mike的 McCrystal The challenge of introducing a new targeted drug into melanoma care发言也很好。介绍了一些新的基因疗法，及新药挑战。 对哈佛医学院的A/Prof ‘Thomas Deisboeck Multiscale cancer modeling: applications for drug target discovery’期望值很大。但有些失望。宏大的结构，令人眩昏的字眼如 signaling pathway encoded with therapeutical target, 但有‘忽悠’之嫌。 会议在Glen Owen building举办。 建筑特色可见一斑： Alistair的图像讲座很不错的： 宏大的virtual tumour:
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100813/full/news.2010.408.html 前景广阔：每年可以达到数十亿的销量，目前丙肝用a干扰素和病毒唑（ribavirin）,治愈率只有50%，但是副作用强烈：忧郁、贫血、或者感冒症状。 大药企巨头 Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and drug behemoth Merck Enter Vertex's drug telaprevir and Merck's boceprevir 治疗原理：Both block HCV's protease enzyme so that it cannot carry out one of its key tasks. All of HCV's proteins are initially produced as one long polyprotein, which needs to be cleaved into its component proteins by the protease. Blocking the protease prevents the virus from producing functional proteins. 药物已经呈给FDA，可能2011年中会得到批准。 疗效： Boceprevir, combined with interferon- and ribavirin, cured the infections of about two-thirds of the patients who followed a 48-week course, Merck announced on 4 August. Some patients were able to finish the course even sooner, at 28 or 36 weeks. Telaprevir, also combined with the standard drugs, cured 72% of patients after just 24 weeks of treatment, Vertex said on 10 August. Patients who responded quickly to the drug, within 4 to 12 weeks, were the most likely to be cured by it. Another phase III trial of telaprevir, the results for which Vertex released in May, had already demonstrated the benefits of the 24-week course, but the latest study confirmed that it was just as effective as a 48-week regimen for most patients. 鸡尾酒疗法 Other companies are also developing protease inhibitors, as well as drugs that target other parts of the virus. The main targets apart from the protease are HCV's polymerase enzyme, which copies its RNA genome, and its NS5A protein, which is involved in replication and viral assembly but is not an enzyme. Drugs targeting these proteins are now in phase I and II trials. Experimental drugs targeting different parts of the virus should also stymie the development of drug-resistant strains of HCV. The approach would be similar to the one taken against HIV, for which patients take a cocktail of drugs. With vaccines that would prevent HCV infection still in early stages of development, the next-generation drugs will be vital for curing those who are affected. For now, the protease inhibitors being developed will be combined with interferon- and ribavirin. But Klenerman says that once we have more agents we will have room to design some interesting therapies. Pharmaceutical firms are already testing different combinations of drug candidates to see what works best for different patients. Ultimately, we should have a cocktail allowing viral eradication for every patient, says Zeuzem.
标签: 医药
