Some cancers are extremely difficult to treat, and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is one of the most challenging,” said Elizabeth Tran, professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture. Often linked to smoking, SCLC makes up just 15% of all lung cancer cases but is responsible for around 250,000 deaths globally each year.

“What makes it especially tragic—and why we chose to focus on it—is that the average survival time after diagnosis is only about 10 months,” Tran explained. “Currently, there are virtually no effective chemotherapy options.”

Tran, along with co-principal investigator Bennett Elzey, a research associate professor of comparative pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine, recently published their findings in iScience. Their research indicates that Supinoxin may be more effective at targeting tumors when used in combination with another therapy. Their latest studies examined how Supinoxin impacts DDX5 protein activity in human cancer cell lines and an animal model.

“The goal is for Supinoxin to suppress tumor growth and keep the cancer from spreading, so we can then target the tumors with another treatment that will destroy them,” said Bennett Elzey.

Supinoxin, also known as RX5902, was first synthesized by a team of researchers in 2010 and is now commercially available. It has already demonstrated promise in treating aggressive forms of cancer, such as triple-negative breast cancer.

In small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), Supinoxin works by blocking the activity of the DDX5 protein. Previous studies from Tran’s lab, published in 2020, revealed that DDX5 plays a key role in driving the aggressive growth of SCLC. DDX5 is part of the RNA helicase family—enzymes that unwind RNA molecules to initiate various essential cellular processes.

Source: https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2025/04/breast-cancer-drug-supinoxin-shows-potential-for-small-cell-lung-cancer-in-new-tests.html