Radiation is one of the most effective ways to kill a tumor. But these therapies are indiscriminate, and they can damage healthy tissues.
Now, UC San Francisco scientists have developed a way to deliver radiation just to cancerous cells. The therapy combines a drug to mark the cancer cells for destruction and a radioactive antibody to kill them.
It wiped out bladder and lung tumors in mice without causing lethargy or weight loss – the typical side effects of radiation therapy.
“This is a one-two punch,” said Charly Craik, PhD, a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF and co-senior author of the study, which appears Dec. 10 in Cancer Research. “We could potentially kill the tumors before they can develop resistance.”
A cancer drug becomes a molecular flag for cancer
The project began 10 years ago when UCSF’s Kevan Shokat, PhD, discovered how to attack KRAS, a notorious cancer-causing protein. When mutated, KRAS spurs out-of-control cell growth. Such mutations lead to up to a third of all cancer.