New monoclonal antibody shown to fight tumors in animal model.(Brief Article)

2002 MAY 23 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center have demonstrated that a recently developed monoclonal antibody, TRA-8, when used in conjunction with chemotherapy, is effective in treating human breast cancer tumors established in animal models. Researchers hope to begin human clinical trials in the next 12 months. Details of the study were presented at the recent American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

TRA-8 is a monoclonal antibody that functions by binding to a specific site on the surface of a cancer cell, called death receptor 5 (DR5), triggering a cascade of enzymes that result in tumor cell death, while sparing nearby healthy normal tissue cells.

The study was carried out in a mouse model of human breast cancer. "The animals that received combination treatment with TRA-8 antibody and chemotherapy not only had antitumor effects, but many had complete remissions without evidence of tumor. This response was less in animals treated with TRA-8 alone and regression did not occur with chemotherapy alone," said lead author Donald Buchsbaum, PhD, professor and director of the UAB division of radiation biology and senior scientist with the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Complete regression occurred in 71% of animals receiving TRA-8 plus adriamycin and 38% for animals receiving TRA-8 and taxol.

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