ScienceDaily (Sep. 11, 2008) — After years of working toward this goal, scientists at the OU Cancer Institute have found a way to isolate cancer stem cells in tumors so they can target the cells and kill them, keeping cancer from returning.
A research team led by Courtney Houchen, M.D., and Shrikant Anant, Ph.D., discovered that a particular protein only appears in stem cells. Until now, researchers knew of proteins that appeared in both regular cancer cells and stem cells, but none that just identified a stem cell.
The group has already begun work to use the protein as a target for a new compound that once developed would kill the stem cells and kill the cancer. By targeting the stem cells, scientists and physicians also would be able to stop the cancer from returning.
Houchen and Anant are focusing on adult cancer stem cells because of the major role they play in the start of cancer, the growth of cancer, the spread of cancer and the return of cancer.
Current therapies generally do not target stem cells in tumors. This allows stem cells to wait until after chemotherapy or radiation treatments to begin dividing. Researchers believe these stem cells are often responsible for the return of cancer after treatment. The identification of the stem cell marker enables researchers to develop new therapeutics that can target these cells.
Adult stem cells work as essential building blocks in organs by replenishing dying cells and regenerating damaged tissues. Unlike embryonic stem cells, the use of adult stem cells in research and therapy is not controversial because the production of adult stem cells does not require the destruction of an embryo.
Researchers expect to have initial testing completed to begin the first phase of clinical trials within 5 years led by Russell Postier, M.D. The compound, if successful in human trials, is expected to be available to the public within 10 years.
A quarter of the funding for the cancer research comes from an $800,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health with remaining funds from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Oklahoma.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Dramatic new treatment
(From Mata Media)
The news about the groundbreaking treatment for prostate cancer has recieved extensive coverage in the international media. The man behind the new research is Maltese born Dr Johann De Bono. Thomas H. Maugh writes in the Los Angeles Times:
An experimental cancer drug shrank prostate tumors dramatically and more than doubled survival in 70% to 80% of patients with aggressive cancers, British researchers reported Tuesday. Although the study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology covered only 21 patients, the drug is now being tested in more than 250 men with what appears to be similar results, experts said.
"There is a general sense in the prostate cancer community that this agent is extremely promising and is very likely to have an important role in the management of prostate cancer patients," said Dr. Howard M. Sandler, a radiation oncologist at the University of Michigan who is a spokesman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology."It's pretty safe to say that we are going to have a lot more to offer patients when this drug gets approved," added Dr. Robert Reiter, a urologist at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center who was not involved in the research.
Experts expect the new drug, called abiraterone, to be widely available by 2011. It could find use among most of the 28,000 U.S. men diagnosed each year with the most aggressive and almost-always fatal type of prostate cancer.The trial was sponsored by Cougar Biotechnology Inc. of Los Angeles, which holds the patent rights to abiraterone.The drug is also being tested for breast cancer, but no results have been released yet. Key to the excitement is the drug's unusual way of working.
In the new study, Dr. Johann S. de Bono of the institute and his colleagues studied 21 men whose tumors were resistant to chemical castration. The men were given once-daily oral doses of abiraterone. "The drug is spectacularly effective," De Bono said. "The tumors shrink, the pain goes away. Some patients . . . have been on it for up to two years and eight months and are still doing well." Reiter noted that "these guys were at the end stage of disease, the worst stage of cancer, and 70% responded in a clinically meaningful way. That's pretty dramatic . . . and is likely to lead to a major change in therapy." Historically, he added, most such patients die within six months.
The news about the groundbreaking treatment for prostate cancer has recieved extensive coverage in the international media. The man behind the new research is Maltese born Dr Johann De Bono. Thomas H. Maugh writes in the Los Angeles Times:
An experimental cancer drug shrank prostate tumors dramatically and more than doubled survival in 70% to 80% of patients with aggressive cancers, British researchers reported Tuesday. Although the study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology covered only 21 patients, the drug is now being tested in more than 250 men with what appears to be similar results, experts said.
"There is a general sense in the prostate cancer community that this agent is extremely promising and is very likely to have an important role in the management of prostate cancer patients," said Dr. Howard M. Sandler, a radiation oncologist at the University of Michigan who is a spokesman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology."It's pretty safe to say that we are going to have a lot more to offer patients when this drug gets approved," added Dr. Robert Reiter, a urologist at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center who was not involved in the research.
Experts expect the new drug, called abiraterone, to be widely available by 2011. It could find use among most of the 28,000 U.S. men diagnosed each year with the most aggressive and almost-always fatal type of prostate cancer.The trial was sponsored by Cougar Biotechnology Inc. of Los Angeles, which holds the patent rights to abiraterone.The drug is also being tested for breast cancer, but no results have been released yet. Key to the excitement is the drug's unusual way of working.
In the new study, Dr. Johann S. de Bono of the institute and his colleagues studied 21 men whose tumors were resistant to chemical castration. The men were given once-daily oral doses of abiraterone. "The drug is spectacularly effective," De Bono said. "The tumors shrink, the pain goes away. Some patients . . . have been on it for up to two years and eight months and are still doing well." Reiter noted that "these guys were at the end stage of disease, the worst stage of cancer, and 70% responded in a clinically meaningful way. That's pretty dramatic . . . and is likely to lead to a major change in therapy." Historically, he added, most such patients die within six months.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Magenetic Nanoparticles To Combat Cancer
ScienceDaily (2008-07-22) -- Scientists have developed a potential new treatment against cancer that attaches magnetic nanoparticles to cancer cells, allowing them to be captured and carried out of the body. The treatment has been tested in the laboratory and will now be looked at in survival studies. ...
read full article
"Major breakthrough" in prostate cancer research
United kingdom researchers yesterday annouced what some call the most important breakthrough in prostate cancer treatment in 70 years.
Abiraterone, the new drug being tested, may offer hope for treatment of advanced prostate cancer tumors for up to 80% of men for who treatmnet options were limited.
One physician said while not offering a cure for prostate cancer, this may open the door to making PCa a "treatable disease".
Encouraging news!
Abiraterone, the new drug being tested, may offer hope for treatment of advanced prostate cancer tumors for up to 80% of men for who treatmnet options were limited.
One physician said while not offering a cure for prostate cancer, this may open the door to making PCa a "treatable disease".
Encouraging news!
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