In the work published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, the treatment was able to slow tumour growth and block metastasis, the process by which cancer spreads to other parts of the body, in preclinical studies of aggressive prostate cancer.
“The new drug has been developed to prevent metastasis, and we are very pleased and proud that we have been able to identify the mechanisms that drive cancer cell growth, invasiveness, and metastatic spread,” said lead author of the study professor of Pathology at the Department of Medical Biosciences, Umeå University, Maréne Landström.
According to scientists, Prostate cancer is among the most frequently diagnosed cancers in men. Many tumours grow slowly and do not pose an immediate threat, but some become aggressive and spread beyond the prostate, most often to the lymph nodes and bones.
In their, Landström and his colleagues target that problem with the development of a fully human antibody. Fully human antibody means that the drug us made entirely from human proteins, making it more suitable as a medicine for people.
In preclinical experiments, the antibody stopped both tumor growth and metastatic spread in an aggressive form of prostate cancer. The treatment acts through a new mechanism of action, which means it attacks the disease through a biological route that differs from existing approaches.
Because of that, the researchers believe it may also reduce the risk of side effects. The results show that the antibody behaved as intended in the models tested, an important step in moving a possible cancer drug from concept toward future clinical use.
“This is a promising step forward, but several important stages remain before the treatment can benefit patients. We still need to conduct additional safety studies, and the treatment must be approved by regulatory authorities in Europe or the United States,” said Landström.
The long-term goal is to improve both prognosis and quality of life for men with advanced prostate cancer. According to Landström, the project has taken several years and depended on contributions from many people and organisations.
Drug development specialists at the SciLifeLab Drug Discovery and Development Platform played an important role by helping develop the antibody used in the study.
