Health

Experimental drug CS18 shows early promise against cancer treatment resistance

Researchers developed a compound to disrupt tumor survival pathways, according to ScienceDaily.

Updated Sep 23, 2026 · 06:26 UTC1 reports

The short version

Baylor College of Medicine researchers developed CS18, an experimental drug targeting the TopBP1 protein to disrupt cancer growth and survival pathways.[ScienceDaily]
In laboratory and animal tests, the drug decreased cancer-promoting activities, restored drug sensitivity in resistant lung cancer cells, and slowed tumor growth without major toxicity.[ScienceDaily]
The compound showed activity across diverse cancer cell types, including breast, ovarian, lung, and leukemia models.[ScienceDaily]
The findings remain preclinical, and further research is required to evaluate CS18 as a potential component of combination therapies.[ScienceDaily]

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine designed the experimental compound CS18 to target the TopBP1 protein.[ScienceDaily]
CS18 decreased MYC and mutant p53 activity, lowered DNA repair protein activity, and increased expression of growth-halting genes in laboratory tests.[ScienceDaily]
Combining CS18 with PARP inhibitors or osimertinib increased cancer cell death and restored drug sensitivity in resistant lung cancer cells.[ScienceDaily]
In animal models, CS18 slowed tumor growth without causing major weight loss or other apparent signs of toxicity.[ScienceDaily]

The research is based on early preclinical laboratory and animal models, and further development is necessary before clinical effectiveness or safety in humans can be established.[ScienceDaily]

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