Scientists reveal new method that could treat patients with advanced prostate cancer

Scientists have found a new method that could treat patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Experts at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, found that a two-pronged method could help treat as many as 40 per cent of patients with late-stage disease.

Using drugs that are already being used to treat other cancers, or those in development, can slow tumour growth and trigger cancer cell death, experts found.

Scientists set out to find a combination of drugs which attack proteins in the body and which promote cancer cell survival.

The new combination was tested against cancer cells which had become resistant to hormone therapy, knowing that, among this patient group, outcomes are poor when they become resistant to treatment.

MCL1 is a protein that promotes cancer cell survival and protein AKT plays a key role in a mechanism that many cancer cells rely on to survive, grow and resist treatment.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that inhibiting MCL1 and AKT at the same time triggered prostate cancer cell death.

Scientists pointed out that in humans, drugs to target MCL1 have had limited success in the past, so they set out to indirectly target the protein by inhibiting another protein that regulates MCL1 levels, using the drug fadraciclib – a drug discovered by The ICR a few years ago which is currently in clinical trial for blood cancers.

The team inhibited AKT using either a drug called ipatasertib, which is being investigated as a potential treatment for a number of different cancers, or another called capivasertib – used to treat certain types of breast cancer.

In lab studies, they found that combining fadraciclib with either capivasertib or ipatasertib triggered prostate cancer cell death.

Specifically, they found that prostate cancer cells which had a certain type of tumour which affected 40 per cent of patients, known as PTEN-loss/PI3K-activated, responded best to the combinations.

Subsequent tests in mice with this tumour type revealed the combination significantly slowed cancer growth, according to the study, which was funded by The Wellcome Trust, Prostate Cancer Foundation, and Prostate Cancer UK.

They also found that the drug combination had killed cancer cells, in addition to slowing their growth.

Using either drug alone had no effect on tumour growth, they found.

Because the drugs being tested are in development or already in use for the treatment, researchers hope clinical trials of this combination can begin soon.

The researchers are now seeking funding to progress the drug combination into clinical trials for prostate cancer.

“For men with advanced prostate cancer, once hormone therapies stop working, the outcomes are bleak,” said Dr Adam Sharp, leader of the Translational Therapeutics Group at The Institute of Cancer Research, London.

“Researchers are constantly searching for new treatment options, but discovering and developing a new drug from scratch is a lengthy process.

“In this work, we screened a large number of drugs that are in development, or already being used to treat cancers.

“We identified a particularly promising pairing that could help patients with advanced prostate cancer, and our data suggests that up to 40 per cent of people with this disease could benefit.

“Excitingly, we found that the treatment doesn’t just slow tumour growth – it actually kills cancer cells. We’re cautiously optimistic that this approach may better prevent resistance to treatment from occurring.”

Professor Kristian Helin, chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, added: “Finding new ways to overcome treatment resistance is a key priority in cancer research.

“This study highlights how progress can come from re-assessing existing drugs in innovative ways.

“By identifying the most effective combinations – and, crucially, the patients most likely to benefit – we hope to halt cancer’s progression and give patients more time with their loved ones.”

Commenting on the study, Dr Matthew Hobbs, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Prostate cancer kills when it spreads and stops responding to current treatments.

“That’s why the mission to find new ways to target the disease is so urgent – it’s how we’ll save more men’s lives.

“This latest study – led by Dr Juan Vacas which we funded through a programme designed to accelerate the careers of the next generation of researcher leaders – is hugely exciting and could be the next in a series of breakthroughs that this team have delivered.

“If future research shows that this new treatment approach works in men, it could provide a much-needed new option for those whose cancer has stopped responding to existing therapies, giving real hope to men with advanced prostate cancer.”

According to the National Prostate Cancer Audit, which was released last week, some 58,218 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in England in 2024.

And around one in eight (12 per cent) of men with prostate cancer were not diagnosed until their disease had spread to other parts of the body, also known as metastatic prostate cancer.