Scientists claim prostate cancer breakthrough

London - A treatment for prostate cancer could halt tumours’ growth by cutting off their blood supply, researchers say.

The drug, an injection, could be tested on patients within two years, the team believe.

They discovered a molecule that plays a key role in prostate cancer – and found a way to neutralise it. The treatment has been shown to stop tumour growth in mice, and they are confident it will also work in humans.

It could be a useful weapon against other types of tumours as well, the scientists from Bristol and Nottingham universities said.

The findings, published yesterday in the journal Oncogene, centre on a molecule called SRPK1, which allows a tumour to form new blood vessels.

The breakthrough came when scientists realised SRPK1 levels increased as prostate cancer grew more aggressive. Injecting mice with an SRPK1 inhibitor drug, Sphinx, three times a week halted tumour growth.

Tumours need the nutrients found in blood to grow. Blocking SRPK1 stops them making new blood vessels, cutting blood supply and preventing cancerous cells from multiplying.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease in men, affecting 42,000 a year. With very limited treatments, 20 per cent of patients die within five years of diagnosis. Cutting off a tumour’s blood supply has been shown to work in colorectal cancer – but scientists have until now struggled to mimic that success with prostate tumours.

Study author Dr Sebastian Oltean said: ‘This could form a completely new class of drugs. Tumours all need blood to survive and grow, to differing degrees. If this is shown to work in clinical trials it could be used to inhibit all kinds of cancers.’

Biotech firm Exonate, tied to the University of Nottingham, is looking at using SRPK1 inhibitors to treat other diseases in which abnormal blood vessels play a role.

They say some sight problems, such as age-related macular degeneration, could benefit.

Dr Matthew Hobbs, of the charity Prostate Cancer UK, which helped to fund the study, said: ‘Prostate cancer continues to kill over 10,000 men annually and there is an urgent need for new treatments. Each finding like this represents a crucial block in building up our understanding.’

A lack of treatments is exacerbated by the fact that the NHS is not using all those available, a report revealed yesterday. The National Prostate Cancer Audit found a ‘worryingly vast variation’ in access to advanced MRI and radiotherapy techniques.

Half of men with the disease do not receive all the support they should, the report said. - Daily Mail

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