Thousands of men with prostate cancer could live longer thanks to a breakthrough by British experts.
Scientists have developed a new form of immunotherapy to delay resistance to hormone treatment and help the body’s immune system attack the tumor.
For many people diagnosed with prostate cancer, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is an effective first-line treatment. While initially effective, some patients’ tumors may develop resistance to it.
Thousands of men with prostate cancer could live longer thanks to a breakthrough by British experts (file image)
Immunotherapy has had great success in other types of cancer, but this has not been translated to prostate cancer.
Now, researchers at the University of Sheffield have published findings in the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer showing that a new form of treatment using nanoparticles could help men live longer.
The team found that a type of white blood cell called a macrophage accumulates in tumors during TAD treatment.
Scientists have developed a new form of immunotherapy to delay resistance to hormone treatment and help the body’s immune system attack the tumor (file image)
They then developed a way to use nanoparticles to target the delivery of a drug that boosts immunity levels in these cells. When released inside tumors, it stimulates other immune cells, called T cells, to kill the cancer cells. When done with ADT, tumor resistance is delayed.
Professor Claire Lewis, who led the study, said she was “excited” by the impact of the therapy and hoped to get clinical trials underway “as soon as possible”.
Around 52,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year. The Daily Mail has been campaigning for better diagnosis and treatment of the disease for more than two decades.