Researchers continue to develop innovative cancer treatments with the aim of reducing the spread of the disease and improving patients' chances of survival and quality of life.
In this context, a research team from Umeå University in Sweden, in collaboration with researchers from international institutions, has developed a new treatment that may succeed in curbing the growth of aggressive prostate cancer tumors and preventing their spread to other organs in the body.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men. While most tumors grow slowly and are not life-threatening, in some patients the disease can become aggressive and spread to the lymph nodes, bones, and other organs, making it more difficult to treat.
The researchers developed a new treatment based on a fully human antibody, composed solely of human proteins, making it a promising candidate for use as a drug. Preclinical studies have shown that this antibody was able to halt tumor growth and prevent its spread in models of aggressive prostate cancer.
The treatment features a new mechanism of action that targets the mechanisms that drive cancer cells to grow, invade, and spread, which may also contribute to reducing the risk of side effects compared to some available treatments.
Professor Marini Lundström, Professor of Pathology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Umeå University and lead author of the study, said: "We developed this therapy with the aim of preventing the spread of cancer, and we were able to identify the mechanisms that drive the growth of cancer cells and their ability to invade and spread, which represents an important step in developing a new treatment."
She added that the current results represent a promising stage in the drug's development, but stressed that the treatment still needs further safety studies, in addition to obtaining regulatory approvals in Europe or the United States before it can be used with patients.
She explained that the research project took several years and was the result of cooperation between a number of researchers and scientific institutions. Drug development experts at the SciLifeLab Drug Discovery and Development Platform played a key role in developing the antibody on which the study was based.
The research team indicated that the next phase will focus on testing the effectiveness of the treatment against other types of solid tumors, hoping to develop a new drug that will contribute to improving cancer treatment in the future.
