‘Promising’ new drug for treatment of aggressive prostate cancer

Scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research have said that a new drug may benefit patients with aggressive prostate cancer that has stopped responding to treatment.

The Hsp90 inhibitors, when tested on mice, were found to remove the defences of cancer cells against hormone treatments, which the research team said is promising news for the treatment of drug-resistant cancers.

Prostate cancer, the most common cancer amongst men in the UK, will affect around one in eight men at some point in their lives, mainly affecting men over the age of 50.

Some prostate cancers can be treated successfully with hormone treatments, targeting receptors which are linked to the growth of male hormones.

However, some prostate cancers cannot be treated that way, as they create an abnormal receptor not linked to the growth of hormones and cannot respond to standard hormone treatment.

Chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research and study author Professor Paul Workman, said the development of the drug was an exciting discovery.

“We call Hsp90 inhibitors ‘network drugs’ because they tackle several of the signals that are hijacked in cancer all at once, across a network rather than just a single signalling pathway.

“These drugs can hit cancer harder than those targeting only one protein, and look promising for preventing or overcoming drug resistance.”

The next step is to test the drugs on patients in clinical trials.

The Institute’s Professor Johann de Bono, professor of experimental cancer medicine, said “These drugs are already in clinical trials for several types of cancer, and I am excited that our work suggests they could also benefit men with prostate cancer who have otherwise run out of treatment options.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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