Novel method of drug delivery to inhibit prostate cancer cells' growth developed

A doctoral candidate in pharmacy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a novel method of drug delivery to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells.

Danny Goldstein, a student who was recently conferred the Barenholz Prize for Creativity and Originality in Applied Research for his work, says that the well-known drug, paclitaxel, exhibits a wide spectrum of anti-tumour activity.

However, the therapeutic application of the drug in cancer therapy is limited due to its low water solubility, which makes it difficult to effectively deliver the drug to the points needed, he says.

These are the reasons why there arose a need for novel methods that would allow the delivery of effective concentrations of paclitaxel over extended time intervals while minimizing toxicity, adds the researcher.

Previous studies have already shown that the HER2 receptor is over-expressed in prostate cancer cells, and that an antibody called trastuzumab binds specifically to HER2. But no clinical data ever indicated that this antibody would provide any relief for prostate cancer patients.

Goldstein, a student of Prof. Simon Benita, has now shown that that attaching trastuzumab molecules to the surface of oil droplets in nano-emulsions makes possible the targeting of such droplets to cells over-expressing the HER2 receptor.

He coupled trastuzumab with emulsions containing the toxic agent paclitaxel-palmitate, and evaluated the efficiency of these emulsions in laboratory tests on cancerous prostate cells and on mice with induced prostate cancer.

He found that this emulsion compound did not cause a hypersensitive reaction upon injection, and yielded better results than known drug treatments while inhibiting tumour growth substantially.

Goldstein, however, cautions that the inhibiting activity of tumour metastases growth was not absolute, and that further research to combat metastatic prostate cancer was needed.

Prof. Benita hinted that clinical trials using the new method could begin in about two years.

source : news.yahoo.com