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By Betsy Lievense, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent
ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Previous studies have shown chemotherapy and radiation can sometimes do more harm than good for cancer patients as treatments have been linked to tumor spread. Now, researchers at Vanderbilt University are working hard to develop neutralizing antibodies that could stop treatment-induced tumors in their tracks.
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In order to determine the relationship between anti-cancer treatments and tumor spread, researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., studied the effects of radiation and a chemotherapeutic drug called doxorubicin on mice. Study authors report both of these treatments led to two-fold increases in transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta levels as well as an increase in cancer cell proliferation and lung metastases. In subsequent trials, researchers administered a TGF-beta-neutralizing antibody into mice prior to radiation. They found irradiated mice treated with TGF-beta antibodies had fewer tumors after therapy than their antibody-free counterparts, which means TGF-beta could play a key role in tumor spread.
"In my opinion, the overwhelming evidence is in established tumors, tumors we can see in an X-ray, TGF-beta is, in general, a tumor promoter," Carlos Arteaga, M.D., a professor of medicine and cancer biology and the director of the breast cancer program at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tenn., told Ivanhoe. "Before a cell turns into a cancer cell, TGF-beta is probably a heck of a tumor suppressor, but we're talking about patients with established tumors or cancers. TGF beta and other growth factors may act as a survival factor to [pre-established] tumor cells and inadvertently protect them."
Dr. Arteaga said TGF-beta inhibitors could represent a promising solution to tumor metastases, but more clinical research is necessary to determine the toxicity, dosage and potential combinations of TGF-beta antibodies. "TGF-beta inhibitors are currently in a very early phase of development, not in therapeutic studies," he said. Dr. Arteaga also said he hopes the results of this study will lead to alternative treatment options for cancer patients.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Carlos Arteaga, M.D.; The Journal of Clinical Investigation, published online April 5, 2007
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