The current treatment for advanced prostate cancer has a side effect so debilitating that patients often refuse the life-saving therapy: severe dry mouth that makes eating, swallowing and speaking nearly impossible.
Now, researchers at Case Western University have developed a treatment that targets prostate cancer cells as effectively as current therapies, but with dramatically reduced damage to salivary glands.
Like the current treatment, the new version still successfully targets PSMA (Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen), a protein found in high concentrations on prostate cancer cells. Radioligand therapy (RTL) attaches radioactive material to a targeting molecule that acts like a GPS system, guiding the radiation directly to cancer cells while avoiding healthy tissue.
However, the new treatment focuses on a molecule called PSMA-1-DOTA, which has more favorable binding characteristics. According to the paper, published in Molecular Imaging and Biology, DOTA grabs onto radioactive metals with a 4x stronger binding compared with current treatments. The treatment thus reduces salivary and tear gland damage, virtually eliminating the risk for dry mouth.
The research included testing on mouse models and in a human patient with metastatic prostate cancer at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. The patient study confirmed the lab findings.
“This breakthrough could fundamentally change prostate cancer care by transforming PSMA-targeted therapy from a last resort option to an earlier intervention,” said Zhenghong Lee, professor and co-leader of the Cancer Imaging Program at Case Western.
Lee and team are now preparing for clinical trials late next year on about 12 prostate patients to validate the promising results and establish the most effective dosing procedures.
Data from Case Western Reserve University