'Smart bomb' jab to wipe out cancers
Scientists have come up with what they claim is a cancer-busting "smart bomb" which can destroy all solid tumours in a single jab.
A team at University of Bradford says the revolutionary drug, ICT2588, "detonates" and becomes active on reaching its target; it circulates in the bloodstream, destroying cancers which have spread, while leaving healthy tissue unharmed.
The jab is to be tested on patients in Britain, possibly as soon as 2013, the 'Daily Express' reported.
In tests on mice, half the animals appeared to be free of disease after one injection. Just one injection, lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancers in the rodents have been completely eradicated.
Prof Laurence Patterson, who is leading the team, said: "Sometimes the treatment is so effective that you actually remove the tumour's ability to grow. We were able to cure, in some studies, half the mice of their cancer. These mice no longer had any tumours growing in them, and they remained healthy."
The secret is the way the drug is activated by an enzyme which tumours use to invade surrounding tissue. Once activated, it destroys vital blood vessels which feed the cancer tumour, starving it to death.
Prof Patterson said: "What we've designed is, effectively, a smart bomb that can be targeted at any solid tumour to kill it without appearing to harm healthy tissue."
Scientists have come up with what they claim is a cancer-busting "smart bomb" which can destroy all solid tumours in a single jab.
A team at University of Bradford says the revolutionary drug, ICT2588, "detonates" and becomes active on reaching its target; it circulates in the bloodstream, destroying cancers which have spread, while leaving healthy tissue unharmed.
The jab is to be tested on patients in Britain, possibly as soon as 2013, the 'Daily Express' reported.
In tests on mice, half the animals appeared to be free of disease after one injection. Just one injection, lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancers in the rodents have been completely eradicated.
Prof Laurence Patterson, who is leading the team, said: "Sometimes the treatment is so effective that you actually remove the tumour's ability to grow. We were able to cure, in some studies, half the mice of their cancer. These mice no longer had any tumours growing in them, and they remained healthy."
The secret is the way the drug is activated by an enzyme which tumours use to invade surrounding tissue. Once activated, it destroys vital blood vessels which feed the cancer tumour, starving it to death.
Prof Patterson said: "What we've designed is, effectively, a smart bomb that can be targeted at any solid tumour to kill it without appearing to harm healthy tissue."
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