International research shows effective treatment for prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Since most patients with advanced prostate cancer use hormone therapy, they often develop hormone-resistant prostate cancer, which is difficult to cure and increases mortality. National Chung Cheng University has developed a gene therapy vector that can effectively treat prostate cancer.

Professor Zhang Deqing of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at National Chung Cheng University recently successfully used a protein that mimics the human polyoma virus shell as a gene therapy vector, inserted a “suicide gene”, targeted and attacked prostate cancer cells, and effectively inhibited tumor growth. This major research discovery was published in the top 15% of the world’s top journals in the field of gene therapy.

In addition to traditional surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, hormone therapy is also available for the treatment of prostate cancer. “Androgens cause the growth of prostate cancer, and hormone therapy is to cut off androgens.” Professor Zhang Deqing of the Department of Medicine at National Chung Cheng University said that when a patient’s condition progresses to the stage of hormone-resistant prostate cancer, it means that the cancer cells have mutated and become resistant to hormone therapy, so developing new treatment methods is an important research direction.

As a result of his 30 years of research on JC virus, one of the human polyoma viruses, Zhang Deqing created a protein similar to the JC virus shell in the environment of E. coli, called “JC-like virus shell”, as a vector for gene therapy. Zhang Deqing said that gene therapy often uses the specificity of viruses to tissues to deliver genes, but the vector entering the human body is like an ocean, “how to get the vector to a specific place is the more difficult part of gene therapy.”

Therefore, the research team of National Chung Cheng University put a “suicide gene” into the JC virus shell. Zhang Deqing said that prostate cancer has excessive prostate specific antigen (PSA), and PSA is used to produce suicide genes. When the JC virus shell reaches the prostate tumor, it will activate the suicide gene to attack the cancer cells. Since the suicide gene only works on prostate cancer cells, it will not harm other normal cells.

Currently, the research has found in animal experiments that it can effectively inhibit the growth of cancer cells. It can not only make up for the failure of hormone therapy, but also be used in the early treatment of prostate cancer. It has been published in the world-renowned international journal “Cancer Gene Therapy”. In addition, in terms of economic benefits, Zhang Deqing said that the JC virus shell can be produced in E. coli, which is easy to obtain and inexpensive. In addition, the JC virus shell does not contain the virus’s own genes and will not induce viral diseases. It is very safe to use in humans.