Another Targeted Cancer Therapy
(From ScienceDaily). Given the tools and the knowledge of modern biotechnology, there are a great many potential targeted approaches that can defeat cancer. This one uses an otherwise harmless engineered chemical that becomes toxic in the presence of cancer. Researchers "had developed a protoxin, named PRX302, by modifying an inactive molecule, proaerolysin (PA). They engineered PRX302 to be activated by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) - a protein made in higher than normal levels by prostate cancer. Once activated, they hoped that it would target and kill prostate cancer cells specifically. ... This represents a different kind of 'targeted' therapy, in that it seeks to use a protein made by the cancer to destroy itself. ... Initial tests in the lab and in animals revealed that when the protoxin was injected into cancerous prostate tissue, it had a significant effect ... A phase I clinical trial is in progress now for men with locally recurrent prostate cancer after definitive radiation therapy."
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061110080709.htm