|
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer
related deaths among American men. The likelihood of getting prostate
cancer increases with age. In the past and still widely used is
the method of identifying the cancer - looking at the levels of
PSA or prostate-specific antigen circulating in the blood. However,
this method is not entirely foolproof. A patient can potentially
have a condition known as benign prostatic hyperplasia that can
give false PSA readings. Once diagnosed with prostate cancer one
has to worry about the potential of metastasis of the cancer.
Dr. Guang-jer Wu, a researcher at Emory University,
has been working with prostate cancer. His past research has focused
on a special membrane protein – MUC18. He discovered that
there was a correlation between the malignant progression of prostate
cancer and the over-expression of MUC18. This suggests that MUC18
could be a mediator for metastasis; therefore, MUC18 could be used
as a diagnostic tool for the evaluation of prostate cancer’s
metastatic capabilities. His recent research focuses on identifying
how MUC18 along with its unknown ligand mediates metastasis.
Recently, there has been a breakthrough in following
prostate cancer metastasis. Dr. Lily Wu and other researchers at
UCLA found a way to make cancer cells glow by delivering the stuff
that makes fireflies glow into the cells via a virus. The researchers
made the virus very specific. The virus could identify the cancer
cells by the PSA proteins on the cell’s surface. This breakthrough
has enormous potential. Future direction of this discovery could
lead to gene-based therapy1.
For now, it seems as though prostate cancer has the upper hand.
But as more important research such as Dr. Guang-jer Wu’s
at Emory University and Dr. Lily Wu’s at UCLA, it won’t
be surprising to find prostate cancer shaking in its boots.
Reference:
1. Firefly Glow Used to Track Prostate Cancer Spread ( by Deena
Beasley) July 22, 2002
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020722/hl_nm/cancer_prostate_dc_1
|
