Umeå Antibody Halts Prostate Cancer Spread in Preclinical Study
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Umeå University researchers developed a fully human antibody that stopped both tumor growth and metastatic spread in an aggressive form of prostate cancer in preclinical studies.
- Professor Maréne Landström, who led the study at the Department of Medical Biosciences, said the antibody targets metastasis through a newly identified mechanism that researchers suggest may carry a lower risk of side effects.
- The findings were published in the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, and Landström emphasized that additional safety studies plus regulatory approval in Europe or the United States are still required before the drug can reach patients.
- The SciLifeLab Drug Discovery and Development Platform built the antibody used in the study, while the Umeå Biotech Incubator and funding from MetaCurUm Biotech AB supported development and testing.
- The research team plans to investigate whether the same treatment strategy could work against other solid tumors beyond prostate cancer.
- Funding came from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Prostate Cancer Federation, the Kempe Foundations, and several other Swedish foundations and university sources.
- Prostate cancer is among the most frequently diagnosed cancers in men, and the aggressive form typically spreads to lymph nodes and bones — the specific patient population the antibody was designed to address.
Why it matters: For men whose prostate cancer becomes aggressive and metastasizes to lymph nodes and bones — where treatment options narrow and prognosis worsens — a fully human antibody with a novel mechanism offers a potential new therapeutic pathway with possibly fewer side effects. But the treatment is years from patients, gated by further preclinical safety work and regulatory approval in Europe or the US.
