Simple jab that could treat deadliest type of prostate cancer and spare men the side effects of chemotherapy being developed by scientists

November 9, 2016

Researchers from University College London say new injection is near
This would target the cancerous cells but spare the healthy cells nearby
Hope to start testing the jab on patients over the next five to ten years

Sophie Borland Health Editor For The Daily Mail

Published:
20:41 EST, 8 November 2016

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Updated:
01:12 EST, 9 November 2016

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A jab for the deadliest types of prostate cancer is being developed by British scientists.

Men are currently treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which causes debilitating side effects.

But researchers from University College London say they are close to developing a new injection.

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Men are currently treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which causes debilitating side effects

This would target the cancerous cells but spare the healthy cells nearby – thereby causing far fewer side effects.

They hope to develop the jab within the next three years and start testing it on patients over the next five to ten years.

The researchers are also working on a blood test to pinpoint which prostate cancers are aggressive and need treating.

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Most tumours are slow-growing and relatively harmless but it is very difficult to distinguish these from the most harmful.

As a result, many men undergo surgery and chemotherapy or radiotherapy just in case when it is probably unnecessary.

There are around 47,500 new cases of prostate cancer in the UK a year and over 11,000 deaths.

About 40 per cent of tumours are fast-growing and aggressive – and could benefit from the new jab.

But researchers say they are close to developing a new injection

The findings were presented yesterday at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) conference in Liverpool.

Dr Hayley Luxton, lead researcher from the Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics Laboratory at University College London, said the injection should be ready for testing in five to ten years’ time.

It will work by targeting a molecule known as NAALADL2 which is only found in the cells of aggressive prostate cancer tumours.

Healthy cells nearby would be spared and there would be far fewer side effects than chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Many men undergoing these treatments suffer a loss of sex drive, difficulties going to the toilet and tiredness.

Dr Luxton said they had been able to destroy aggressive prostate cancer cells in the lab with a treatment called saporin.

‘The next step is to further develop this for use in patients, which we hope can be done in a relatively short timeframe.’

Dr Chris Parker, Chair of the NCRI’s Prostate Cancer Clinical Studies Group, said: ‘When it comes to aggressiveness, prostate cancer can either be slow-growing or much faster to grow and spread. here is an urgent need to find better treatments for the more aggressive version of the disease.

The blood test would work by measuring levels of the same molecule NAALADL2 – which they are targeting with the jab.

This would target the cancerous cells but spare the healthy cells nearby. Pictured is University College London

As this molecule is only present in the aggressive tumours, the test would be able to distinguish which were harmless.

Another blood test for prostate cancer is being developed by researchers at Queen Mary University, London, who unveiled their findings last week.

Their technique is based on looking at tiny fragments of the tumour DNA circulating in the blood

Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK said: ‘One of the big challenges in dealing with prostate cancer is finding ways to successfully detect whether the cancer is aggressive or not.

‘We have to crack this if we are to reduce the number of men losing their lives to this cruel disease. This early research suggests an innovative method to not only detect harmful cancers but to also guide treatments to the aggressive cells where they are needed most.

‘However, we’re a very long way from seeing an approach like this being used in practice and a lot more research is needed.’