New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine have begun the first clinical trial in the United States that uses a small molecule to treat men with progressive prostate cancer that has spread beyond the prostate and is no longer responding to hormonal therapy. The Phase 1 study has completed its second round of patient enrollment, with the first six patients having undergone dosing. The researchers will be discussing the trial on June 5 at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago. The researchers are using the small molecule Lutetium 177Lu-PSMA-617 to target prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein that is abundantly expressed in 85-90 percent of metastasized prostate cancers. The small molecule binds to PSMA and delivers precise radiation therapy intended to shrink the cancer -- even in cases in which cells have yet to form a visible tumor on a bone or CT scan. The trial primarily seeks to determine the highest dose level of the drug that can be given without significant side effects. PSMA-targeted therapy is thought to be one of the most promising approaches in treating metastasized prostate cancer. "This trial represents a new frontier in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer," said Dr. Scott Tagawa, medical director of the genitourinary oncology program at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and The Richard A. Stratton Associate Professor in Hematology and Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine. "While this type of therapy has shown promise, this is the first trial of its kind in the United States. So far, patients are doing well."Login Or Register To Read Full Story