New Tumor-targeting Agent Images, Treats Wide Variety of Cancers

According to a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a new class of tumor-targeting agents can seek out and find dozens of solid tumors, even illuminating brain cancer stem cells that resist current treatments. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin (UW) Carbone Cancer Center report that this tumor-targeting, alkylphosphocholine (APC) molecule can deliver two types of “payloads” directly to cancer cells: a radioactive or fluorescent imaging label, or a radioactive medicine that binds and kills cancer cells. The APC targeting platform is a synthetic molecule that exploits a weakness common to cancers as diverse as breast, lung, brain and melanoma: These cancer cells lack the enzymes to metabolize phospholipid ethers. When given in an intravenous solution, APC goes throughout the body — even across the blood-brain barrier — and sticks to the membrane of cancer cells. The cancer cells take up the APC and the imaging or treatment medication riding on the molecular platform, and retain it for days to weeks, resulting in direct cancer cell imaging or treatment. “I was a skeptic; it’s almost too good to be true,” says co-lead author John S. Kuo, MD, PhD, FAANS, associate professor of neurosurgery and director of the comprehensive brain tumor program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. “It is a very broad cancer-targeting agent in terms of the many different cancers that tested positive. It’s also potentially superior to current imaging methods because the standard clinical MR or PET imaging may give false-positive results,” he says. To learn more about the study, click here.