Researchers at Norris Cotton Cancer Center have found an antibody that may be used in future treatments for recurrent small-cell lung cancer, which currently has no effective therapy. The mouse monoclonal antibody they have developed, MAG-1, targets the ProAVP surface marker. When given alone, it significantly slows the growth of tumor xenografts of human recurrent small-cell lung cancer in mice. The study, "Growth Impairment of Small-Cell Cancer by Targeting Pro-Vasopressin with MAG-1 Antibody," was recently published online in Frontiers in Oncology.
"We are developing methods of antibody-targeted treatment for recurrent small-cell lung cancer," said lead author William G. North, PhD, professor of Physiology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and a member of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. "Targeting with a humanized MAG-1 can likely be effective, especially when given in combination with chemotherapy, for treating a deadly disease for which there is no effective therapy."
North says his group has already generated a human chimeric form of MAG-1 that is equally effective as mouse MAG-1, and they are now generating a humanized form for use in patients.
This work was supported as a sub-contract from Woomera Therapeutics Inc., a Dartmouth start-up biotechnology company.
About Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Norris Cotton Cancer Center combines advanced cancer research at Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine with patient-centered cancer care provided at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock regional locations in Manchester, Nashua, and Keene, NH, and St. Johnsbury, VT, and at 12 partner hospitals throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. It is one of 41 centers nationwide to earn the National Cancer Institute's "Comprehensive Cancer Center" designation. Learn more about Norris Cotton Cancer Center research, programs, and clinical trials online at cancer.dartmouth.edu.
Journal
Frontiers in Oncology