Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
    • Podcast
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
    • Podcast
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » New Drug Halts the Spread of Human Prostate Cancer Cells
Uncategorized

New Drug Halts the Spread of Human Prostate Cancer Cells

By Marla PaulApr 3, 2012
Share
Facebook Twitter Email

A new drug developed by Northwestern Medicine® scientists prevented human prostate cancer cells from spreading to other tissues without any toxic effects to normal cells or tissues. The drug turns off the “go” switch in the cancer cells and immobilizes them.

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in North American males. Death is mainly caused by metastasis, prostate cancer cells moving out of prostate tissue and spreading to other organs.

“This is an extremely promising new therapeutic that locks down aggressive prostate cancer cells so they don’t move,” said Raymond Bergan, MD, director of experimental therapeutics for the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. “The spread of prostate cancer is what kills men. Cancer cells have a switch that tells them to keep moving all the time. This drug turns it off.”

The drug works by binding to and disabling proteins in the cancer cell that instruct it to move, said Bergan, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The research was presented April 3 at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2012 in Chicago by Li Xu, MD, PhD, a research assistant professor of medicine at the medical school. She helped develop the drug, along with Karl Scheidt, PhD, an associate professor of chemistry at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

In the study, Northwestern researchers transplanted aggressive human prostate cancer cells into mice prostate tissue and fed the mice with the new drug for five weeks. The drug inhibited movement of the cells and prevented them from metastasizing to the lung, one of the tissues to which prostate cancer spreads in men.

Xu said she conducted extensive toxicity studies, including on normal human cells, and found that the drug, called KBU2046, is nontoxic and does not cause any harmful effects. 

“We envision that this drug, if shown to be effective in clinical trials, could be used to treat men diagnosed with prostate cancer, so they wouldn’t need more aggressive procedures,” Bergan said. “Or, the drug could augment the effectiveness of surgery and radiation.”

Bergan hopes to test the drug in a clinical trial.

Research
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Epigenetic Biomarkers Predict CVD Risk

Jun 28, 2022

Hospitals Bound to Patient Safety Rules that Aren’t all Backed by Evidence

Jun 24, 2022

Identifying Protein Interactions that Promote Cancer Growth

Jun 24, 2022

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Epigenetic Biomarkers Predict CVD Risk

Jun 28, 2022

Student Spearheads Ukraine Aid Efforts

Jun 27, 2022

Hospitals Bound to Patient Safety Rules that Aren’t all Backed by Evidence

Jun 24, 2022

Identifying Protein Interactions that Promote Cancer Growth

Jun 24, 2022

Combination Treatment May Improve Quality of Life in Kidney Cancer

Jun 23, 2022
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
20220617_NM_0434
20220617_NM_0858
20220617_NM_0643
20220617_NM_0835
20220617_NM_0544
20220617_NM_0450
20220617_NM_0790
20220617_NM_0811
20220617_NM_0851
20220617_NM_0696
20220617_NM_0779
20220617_NM_0838

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2022 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.