Monday January 15, 12:30 PM
London, Jan. 15 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Texas have found
that the spread of prostate cancer can be halted with a drug which
"strangles" tumour cells by cutting off their blood supply.
They tested the drug Glivec, which is normally used to treat leukaemia
on mice, and found it helpful in stopping prostate cancer from spreading
to the bone.
In the study, published in the Journal of National Cancer Institute,
mice were injected with multiple drug-resistant prostate cancer.
Thereafter, some of them were treated with a combination of the
chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (Taxol) and Glivec, while others were given
no treatment.
The researchers observed that bone tumours had grown in only four out of
the 18 animals receiving the drug treatment, but it grew in all the 19
control mice.
Paclitaxel is already a key treatment for prostate cancer, but it tends
to become ineffective as resistant tumour cells spread, which is why
doctors are seeking other drugs to use with it.
The researchers found that glivec blocked signals that allow cells to
multiply, by inactivating a receptor called PDGF-R on the blood vessel
cell surface.
"We didn't attack the tumour, we attacked the blood vessels. We target
and destroy the vasculature that provides oxygen and nutrients to tumour
cells," BBC quoted lead researcher Dr. Isaiah Fidler, director of the
Cancer Metastasis Research Centre, as saying.
"Here, we attack the soil. The seeds can be resistant. Kill the
endothelial cell, you kill the soil," Fidler added.
Boffins however believe that more research needs to be conducted to
understand the benefits that humans can derive from the drug.
"This research is at a relatively early stage in developing a possible
new treatment. The study was completed on mice, so it will be some while
before we know how well these studies transfer to men with prostate
cancer and data is available from extensive trials, for review," said
Chris Hiley, head of policy and research at The Prostate Cancer Charity.
"This further work is likely to take some years, but developing drugs to
destroy the blood supply to tumours is a promising approach and clearly
has had good results so far.
The researchers will need to discover how effective the new treatment is
and what the side effects might be before we can be more certain of its
significance in men," she added
Leukaemia drug may show promise 
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