Prostate cancer hope as scientists develop new antibody

Published on Monday 28 December 2009 20:12

A MOLECULE has been discovered that offers the hope of saving men with currently incurable prostate cancer.

The monoclonal antibody selectively targets both early-stage and advanced tumours. As well as attacking the disease directly, it also helps the immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells.

In addition, tagging the molecule with a radioactive marker could enable doctors to track spreading prostate cancer, revealing precisely where in the body it is growing.

Tests in mice showed that the antibody, known as F77, wiped out 85 per cent of one type of highly aggressive prostate cancer. Tumours allowed to grow to a large size were also dramatically reduced in volume.

Each year around 35,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 10,000 die from the disease.

The five-year survival rate for patients with metastatic prostate cancer is only 34 per cent.

Although the new research is at a very early stage, it raises the prospect of an effective treatment for non-hormone-sensitive advanced prostate cancer for the first time.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the US scientists, led by Dr Mark Greene from the University of Pennsylvania, said the F77 antibody showed "promising potential for diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, especially for androgen-independent metastatic prostate cancer".

Dr Sarah Cant, head of policy and campaigns at the Prostate Cancer Charity, said:

"The study could possibly yield interesting developments, either as a new way of diagnosing prostate cancer, or as a new therapy that could be used to treat early and late stages of the disease, perhaps even when it has spread to the bone."

She added: "We need to remember that this is very early stage research that has only been carried out in cells grown in the laboratory and in mice. Any potential therapy would need to undergo more refinement, and large-scale clinical trials would be needed before it could be proven that this is safe and effective to treat prostate cancer in men.

"However, the development of any new, targeted treatments or diagnostics is to be welcomed. We will follow the development of this research with interest."