LJWorld.com

Westwood — When Deatta Lackey stared into the mirror after she began losing her hair - a result of her body responding to the chemotherapy battling her ovarian cancer - she wondered how her husband, Mike, would ever find her attractive.

"I remember my ears, sticking out of my head," she said.

Through choked-back tears, Lackey described her battle with ovarian cancer that led her to support the development of Nanotax, a new cancer treatment drug. Nanotax was developed through the Kansas University Cancer Center, Lawrence-based CritiTech and researchers on the Lawrence campus.

And on Thursday, the cancer center announced it would begin Phase I human testing of the drug, which is primarily directed toward ovarian and abdominal cancers. This is a major step that will allow researchers at the cancer center to begin testing on a group of 18 to 21 cancer patients.

University officials are lauding the new drug, which takes the commonly used drug Paclitaxel and breaks it into smaller "nanoparticles." That should make it easier for cancer patients' bodies to absorb Nanotax.

Dr. Roy Jensen, director of the KU Cancer Center, said because the current version of the drug is so insoluble, it has to be released into the body through a castor oil/ethanol mixture.

That mixture is often blamed for common and often-painful side effects.

According to the National Library of Medicine, these can include nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, change in taste, thinned or brittle hair, along with various aches and pains.

"It wasn't so much the drug as what was being used to dissolve it that did the damage," Jensen said. "It was a nasty thing."

The hope is that by further breaking up the drug, doctors will be able to either subdue, or completely eliminate the side effects.

Kansas University has shown particular interest in the drug because the new technology - which breaks the drug down into individual, water-soluble molecules, allowing it to be better absorbed by the body - is a KU discovery.

Nanotax is KU's first "bench to bedside" drug, meaning it was developed and will be fully tested by the university, or university-related entities. It also means the cancer center is one step closer to a National Cancer Institute designation.

Karen Kelley, associate director of clinical cancer research, said the first phase of testing will take 12 to 18 months. Depending on how well the new drug works, a second phase of testing with a larger group would follow shortly after.

Sam Campbell, president of CritiTech, told those gathered at a press conference at KU Medical Center's Westwood campus that he had high hopes for the drug's future.

If the drug receives final approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the university will receive a percentage of the profits. Erica Brown, cancer communications manager, said a set percentage had not yet been decided.

But for survivor Lackey, she said she would support any developments that would prevent others from suffering what she did as a result of her cancer and subsequent treatment.

"I knew my faith would get me through this trial," Lackey said.