Innovation Boosts Treatment for Prostate Cancer

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, "Health Scan: Innovation boosts treatment for prostate cancer" (9 January 2005, Jerusalem Post)

Leading text: "When prostate cancer - one of the leading causes of cancer death among men - spreads, it usually goes to the bone, where it is particularly difficult to treat. Metastasis to the bone is implicated in seven out of 10 prostate cancer deaths. Now scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot have developed a new approach for directing treatment to prostate cancer in the bones. Immunology department head Prof. Zelig Eshhar has shown how a treatment that works on cancer in the prostate can be redirected to the bones. The treatment, developed in Eshhar's lab a number of years ago, is based on cells engineered to combine two different weapons used by the immune system to fight invaders: Antibodies are best at recognizing foreign or altered molecules such as antigens on the outer walls of bacteria, viruses or cancer cells; and T-cells are better at killing unwanted cells, but not as adept at identification, especially of tricky cancer cells that may already have developed methods of evading detection by the immune system. By attaching an antibody-based structure designed to recognize specific cancer cells directly to a T-cell receptor, Eshhar produced custom-modified cells, dubbed T-bodies, which are proficient at both finding and killing cancer cells..." [FullText (Free registration required)]

Original publication: Pinthus JH, Waks T, Malina V, Kaufman-Francis K, Harmelin A, Aizenberg I, Kanety H, Ramon J, Eshhar Z. Adoptive immunotherapy of prostate cancer bone lesions using redirected effector lymphocytes. J Clin Invest. Dec 2004 114(12): 1774-81 [PubMed].

Related research at The Weizmann Institute: [Prof. Yoram Salomon Lab, Dept. Biological Regulation (.PDF)]

Related earlier publication: Koudinova NV, Pinthus JH, Brandis A, Brenner O, Bendel P, Ramon J, Eshhar Z, Scherz A, Salomon Y. Photodynamic therapy with Pd-Bacteriopheophorbide (TOOKAD): successful in vivo treatment of human prostatic small cell carcinoma xenografts. Int J Cancer. 10 May 2003 104(6): 782-9 [PubMed].

Israel Chief Scientist Won't Claim Refund from Serono

Hadas Manor, "Chief Scientist won't claim refund from Serono. Eli Opper: A lawsuit would damage Israel's reputation. Source: Serono obtained permits for exporting know-how (12 January 2005, Globes Online)

Leading text: "The decision emerging at the Office of the Chief Scientist is that the State of Israel will not claim refunds from Swiss company Serono (NYSE:SRA; SWX:SEO) even though it closed its activity in Israel and failed to abide by its obligations, sources inform "Globes". Serono will not be required to repay research and development grants it received until 1993 to develop the drug Rebif, even though it transferred part of the production of the drug to its plants in Switzerland, and recently closed down production in Israel altogether. The possibility of claiming refunds from Serono was examined because of the fact that it transferred know-how and production out of Israel without bringing to Israel alternative production, and because it exported know-how apparently developed with the aid of Chief Scientists grants, in contravention of the Encouragement of Industrial Research and Development Law (1984), representing a prima facie criminal offence..." [FullText]