Target-seeking cancer treatment works

Treatment with target-seeking antibodies reduces growth in certain tumor cells and does so in a different way than with ordinary radiation therapy. This is shown by David Eriksson in a new dissertation at Umeå University in Sweden.

Tumor diseases can be treated with surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. A new type of treatment that makes use of the antibodies with radioactive substances attached has attracted more and more interest. When the antibodies are injected they have the capacity to wander around in the blood circulation and actively attract tumors to them. In other words, they are target-seeking antibodies. They can even find tumors that have not grown large enough to be detected by other methods. When the antibody binds to the tumor, the radioactive substance can deliver local radiation for a long time.

The dissertation shows that this type of cancer treatment, “radioimmune therapy,” can provide substantial inhibition of tumor cell growth. However, the operative mechanism is not the same as in ordinary radiation treatment. In this case the low-dose radiation is emitted over a long period and activates parts of the cell’s defense system, which makes cells temporarily stop dividing in order to repair any damage from the radiation. If this doesn’t succeed, then the cells will try to multiply with damaged genes, which results in “cell division disasters” and ultimate activation of the “suicide programs” that make the tumor cells die of their own accord. These new methods of treatment are seen as having great potential and have already been put to use for certain tumor diseases.