‘Achilles heel’ of prostate cancer cells discovered

BRITISH scientists have

an ‘Achilles’ heel’ in prostate cancer which could lead to better treatments.

The disease claims almost 11,000 lives a year in the UK, with most deaths occurring after it spreads around the body.

The latest study gets to the root of this spread, and could mean better outcomes for the 42,000 men a year diagnosed with the illness.

Scientists funded by Cancer Research UK studied samples taken from tumours in the prostate and around the body in ten affected men.

Reading the DNA revealed details of how the cancer metastasises, or spreads, allowing them to build a ‘ family tree’ of how the disease changes over time.

It seems that most of the cells in a tumour stay where they are. However, a small number have the ability to travel through the body, creating new tumours as they go.

These cells are the ‘root’ of the cancer and for a treatment to work, they should be destroyed.

In future, doctors may be able to find these key cells in individual patients. They could then be given drugs to wipe them out, with each patient’s treatment tailored to the genetic flaw at the root of their cancer. This should kill the new tumours and prevent more from forming, greatly improving odds of survival.

Cambridge University researcher Professor David Neal said some suitable drugs already exist, and that new ones are being developed all the time. However, he cautioned that it will be three to five years before the latest knowledge can be routinely put to use in the NHS.

Lead study author Professor Ros Eeles, from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, said: ‘We gained a much broader view of prostate cancer by studying both the original cancer and the cells that had spread to other parts of the body.

‘We found that all of the cells that had broken free shared a common ancestor cell in the prostate.

‘The common faults we found in each man could potentially offer new targets for treatment.’

Co-author Dr Ultan McDermott, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire, described the finding as a ‘potential Achilles’ heel’.

Professor Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘This research lets us look right into the molecular core of cancer.’

‘Offer new targets for treatment’