Source: Stanford University School of Medicine
Date: March 26, 2012
Summary:
Human tumors transplanted into laboratory mice disappeared or shrank when scientists treated the animals with a single antibody, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The antibody works by masking a protein flag on cancer cells that protects them from macrophages and other cells in the immune system. The scientists achieved the findings with human breast, ovarian, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate cancer samples.
It is the first antibody treatment shown to be broadly effective against a variety of human solid tumors, and the dramatic response — including some overt cures in the laboratory animals — has the investigators eager to begin phase-1 and –2 human clinical trials within the next two years. The antibody treatment also significantly inhibited the ability of the tumors to metastasize throughout the animals’ bodies. The research was published online March 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
