Scientists at Hebrew University?s Lautenberg Research Center for General and Tumor Immunology have developed a method to make cancer cells dormant. The Center?s Chairman, Dr. Eitan Yefenof, and his colleagues have designed an antibody-toxin complex that targets cancer cells and makes them inactive, without adversely affecting normal cells. The current methods used in the fight against cancerous cells inevitably encounter the problem of ?collateral damage? to healthy cells, but the Hebrew University method, although tested thus far only on animal subjects, leaves non-cancerous cells healthy.
Mice, treated to grow human prostate cancer cells, did not develop cancer when treated with the antibody-toxin complex. The mice remained healthy as long as they continued treatment, as the complex seemed to make the cancerous cells inactive. The findings may lead the way to a non-destructive method to allow caner patients to enjoy healthy lives for long periods of time, by, essentially, putting cancer cells into hibernation.
Mice, treated to grow human prostate cancer cells, did not develop cancer when treated with the antibody-toxin complex. The mice remained healthy as long as they continued treatment, as the complex seemed to make the cancerous cells inactive. The findings may lead the way to a non-destructive method to allow caner patients to enjoy healthy lives for long periods of time, by, essentially, putting cancer cells into hibernation.