Drug blocks prostate cancer in mice

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 23 (UPI) -- An experimental drug has blocked the progression of prostate cancer in mice with an aggressive form of the disease, Ohio State University researchers said.

Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers developed the agent, OSU-HDAC42, which belongs to a new class of drugs called histone deacetylase inhibitors -- compounds designed to reactivate genes that normally protect against cancer but are turned off by the disease process.

The study, published in Cancer Research, found that of the 23 cancer-prone mice developing a precancerous condition given the drug, one showed signs of early stage cancer, but 12 still had only the precancerous condition and 10 had a benign enlargement.

During that time, 17 of 23 of the control animals developed advanced prostate cancer, two had early stage cancer, three had the precancerous condition and one had an enlargement.

"This study shows that an agent with a specific molecular target can dramatically inhibit prostate cancer development in an aggressive model of the disease," study co-author Dr. Steven Clinton of the Ohio State's James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute said. "We hope to see this agent in clinical trials soon and ultimately used for prostate-cancer prevention or therapy."