Common cold virus helps scientists locate, image prostate cancer as it spreads
July 14th, 2008 - 12:56 pm ICT by ANI ( Leave a comment )Washington, July 14 (ANI): Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have successfully used an engineered common cold virus to deliver a genetic payload to prostate cancer cells in mice, which enabled them to locate the diseased cells as they spread to the lymph nodes, the first place prostate cancer goes before invading other organs.
The researchers have revealed that they used Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to locate the pelvic lymph nodes, which are very difficult to find using conventional imaging tools such as CT scanning.
Senior author of the study Lily Wu, a researcher at UCLA’’s Jonsson Cancer Center, says that this discovery attains significance because it may enable oncologists to find the cancer’’s spread earlier, when it’’s more treatable, and before it invades distant organs.
She says that the next step for her team will be to link the non-invasive imaging advance with a treatment component, activating a toxic agent in the genetic payload to kill the spreading cancer cells.
Wu and her colleagues hope that they will someday be able to detect tiny prostate cancer metastases in patients and kill them immediately, watching the whole process on a PET scanner.
“It would represent a treatment advance in patients for whom outcome is not good. This would help improve the prognosis for these patients by letting us find and treat these metastases early. If we can catch the cancer before it invades other organs, we have a better chance to change the outcomes for these patients,” Nature magazine quoted Wu as saying.
The researchers are presently experimenting on mouse models in Wus lab, with a view to refining their image-guided therapy.
“I think this is very exciting for many reasons. We now know we can reach these prostate cancer metastases at an earlier stage than before, and we know we can deliver genes to those cancer cells that produce proteins that can be imaged by PET. Now we will find out how effective this genetic toxic payload is in preventing further spread of the cancer to other vital organs,” Wu said. (ANI)
- Novel imaging technique may cut lymphedema in breast cancer patients - Dec 12, 2010
- Prostate cancer cells more likely to spread with specific gene function loss - Feb 03, 2010
- New treatment shows promise in the fight against breast cancer - Mar 30, 2011
- Lymph node removal 'not always needed in early-stage breast cancer' - Feb 09, 2011
- How to manipulate 'TRAP' gene for treating cancer - Dec 30, 2009
- New imaging technique may reduce lymphedema in breast cancer patients - Dec 13, 2010
- Molecular predictor of metastatic prostate cancer identified - Feb 03, 2011
- Scientists identify molecules that help propel cancer metastasis - Apr 09, 2011
- Mechanism that turns healthy cells into prostate cancer cells discovered - Dec 03, 2010
- Intestinal stem cells offer clues to colon cancer origin and relapse - Mar 18, 2011
- PET-CT scans may help predict response to head, neck cancer treatment - Nov 17, 2009
- Radiation ineffective after mastectomy, says study - Mar 07, 2010
- Salmonella could be used to fight cancer - Mar 10, 2011
- Low fat, fish oil diet helps slow down cancer - Oct 26, 2011
- Tool for predicting local recurrence in lung cancer patients identified - Dec 07, 2010
Tags: better chance, california los angeles, common cold virus, diseased cells, distant organs, emission tomography, image guided therapy, imaging tools, jonsson cancer center, lily wu, metastases, mouse models, nature magazine, payload, pelvic lymph nodes, pet scanner, prostate cancer, prostate cancer cells, treatment component, university of california los angeles
