Inventors:
Geetha Shankar - Palo Alto CA, US
Frauke Bentzien - San Francisco CA, US
Peter Lamb - Oakland CA, US
David Matthews - San Francisco CA, US
Assignee:
EXELIXIS, INC. - South San Francisco CA
International Classification:
A61K 31/475
A61P 35/00
A61P 35/02
A61K 31/4192
Abstract:
This invention is based on the discovery that the administration of a sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor antagonist (S1P) and at least one chemotherapeutic agent selected from the the group of antimicrotubule agents provides an unexpectedly superior treatment for cancer. Antimicrobial agents such as the taxane compounds are known in the art, for example, paclitaxel (available as TAXOL from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, N.J.), docetaxel (available as TAXOTERE from Sanofi-aventis, Bridgewater, N.J.) and the like and other compounds that act as antimicrotubule agents, such as Vincristine (ONCOVIN, VINCASAR PFS, VCR), Vinblastin (VELBAN, VELSAR) and Vinorelbine, and similar compounds. The present invention also provides methods of modulating the growth of selected cell populations, such as cancer cells, by administering a therapeutically effective amount of at least one sphingosine-1-phosphate 1 (S1P1R) receptor antagonists, and at least one antimicrotubule agent.