by Faiqa Masoodi
SRINAGAR: In a major breakthrough, a Kashmiri scientist along with a group of European scientists has discovered a new potential drug for the treatment of metastatic hypoxic cancers. The drug is currently in an advanced stage of further investigations post-animal trials.
Hailing from Muqami Shahwali in Kupwara’s Drugmulla belt, Dr Mudasir Nabi Peerzada led a team of eminent European scientists and co-workers to discover a new drug for the treatment of various metastatic hypoxic cancers.
Dr Peerzada who is currently working as a C-Level scientist at AIIMS New Delhi, has completed his postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Pathology. He was awarded a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of health research, Government of India.
The discovery is believed to help in silencing the HIF-1 factor-controlled human CAIX and CAXII activity in cancerous cells. The hCAIX and hCAXII are overexpressed in the renal, pancreatic, gut, oral, brain, lung, and ovarian cancers, therefore the drug could be significant in treating multiple cancers with greater efficacy.
Dr Mudasir said that he and his team made strenuous efforts for many years to make this path-breaking discovery. The drug has shown satisfactory results in various tumour models and is currently undergoing advanced investigations.
“This discovery took us years of tests and trials. We tested it on animals before going ahead,” Dr Peerzada said, adding that the drug is undergoing advanced clinical trials for further investigation.
The study was published in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters entitled Discovery of Novel Hydroxyimine-Tethered Benzenesulfonamides as Potential Human Carbonic Anhydrase IX/XII Inhibitors was published on May 8, 2023.
He said that the new findings are remarkable in curing hypoxic cancers and will be a boon for cancer-related research.
The other scientists who are part of this invention include Dr Alessandro Bonardi, Dr Niccolò Paoletti, Dr Daniela Vullo, Dr Paola Gratteri, Dr Claudiu T Supuran, and Dr Amir Azam
Dr Peerzada is working on the development of anti-cancer therapeutics discovery taking into account the ATP binding site of kinases, hCAIX, hCAXII activity, cycle arrest at the G2/M phase of mitosis, prevention of HER2 dimerisation to deregulate PI3K/AKT and MAPK cell signalling pathways.
