For a lot of people Sonic Hedgehog is a video game. But for stem cell researcher Dr. Catriona Jamieson it is a signaling pathway in the body that offers a way to tackle and defeat some deadly blood cancers.

Dr. Jamieson – a researcher at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) – has a paper published online today in The Lancet Haematology that highlights the safety and dosing levels for a new drug to treat a variety of blood cancers. CIRM funding helped Dr. Jamieson develop this work.

The drug targets cancer stem cells, the kind of cell that is believed to be able to lie dormant and evade anti-cancer therapies before springing back into action, causing a recurrence of the cancer. The drug coaxes the cancer stem cells out of their hiding space in the bone marrow and gets them to move into the blood stream where they can be destroyed by chemotherapy.

In a news release Dr. Jamieson says the drug – known by the catchy name of PF-04449913 – uses the sonic Hedgehog signaling pathway, an important regulator of the way we develop, to attack the cancer:

“This drug gets that unwanted house guest to leave and never come back. It’s a significant step forward in treating people with refractory or resistant myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and myelofibrosis. It’s a bonus that the drug can be administered as easily as an aspirin, in a single, daily oral tablet.”

The goal of this first-in-human study was to test the drug for safety; so 47 adults with blood and marrow cancer were given daily doses of the drug for up to 28 days. Those who were able to tolerate the dosage, without experiencing any serious side effects, were then given a higher dose for the next 28 days. Those who experienced problems were taken off the therapy.

Of the 47 people who started the trial in 2010, 28 experienced side effects. However, only three of those were severe. The drug showed signs of clinical activity – meaning it seemed to have an impact on the disease – in 23 people, almost half of those enrolled in the study.

Because of that initial promise it is now being tested in five different Phase 2 clinical trials. Dr. Jamieson says three of those trials are at UCSD:

“Our hope is that this drug will enable more effective treatment to begin earlier and that with earlier intervention, we can alter the course of disease and remove the need for, or improve the chances of success with, bone marrow transplantation. It’s all about reducing the burden of disease by intervening early.”