Stanford: Antibody offers hope against cancers

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/31/MNUI1NQEIR.DTL

In a potential breakthrough for cancer research, Stanford immunologists discovered they can shrink or even get rid of a wide range of human cancers by treating them with a single antibody.

The experiments were done on cancerous tumors transplanted into mice, but the researchers hope to move to human clinical trials within the next couple of years.

The researchers focused on blocking a protein, which they refer to as the "don't eat me" molecule because it sits on tumor cells signaling the body's immune system not to attack it. By introducing the antibody, the scientists were able to block the protective signal, otherwise known as CD47, allowing the immune system to go after the cancer cells.

Researchers say CD47 is the only target found so far on the surface of all cancer cells. That means the antibody offers hope as a weapon against a broad range of cancers - breast, ovarian, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate.

But Jacks noted that the research has been limited to mice, and disease in humans tends to be much more complex.