Researchers' discovery may increase options for prostate cancer therapy

Researchers George Weiner, Oskar Rokhlin, and Michael Cohen (left to right) with a bioreactor that allows cells to grow and make antibodies in large quantities. Photo by Helen Spielbauer.

There’s more than one way to "do something with it," that is, to translate lab discoveries into practical, effective, and beneficial changes to society. One is to publish research findings so that others will learn from them and build on them. Another is to take laboratory discoveries into the marketplace and form partnerships with private industry.

One University of Iowa discovery is getting the chance to see if it hits the mark thanks to an agreement with a San Diego-based pharmaceutical company. The University of Iowa Research Foundation (UIRF) has granted IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corporation an exclusive, worldwide license to use a UI discovery that may help to treat prostate cancer.

IDEC will use the UI-discovered antibody 5E10 with some of its own therapeutics to develop new immunotherapies for prostate cancer. 5E10 is a prostate-specific, surface-reactive monoclonal antibody. Translated to lay terms, 5E10 is an antibody that the researchers develop in their laboratory. The hope is that someday doctors will be able to use the antibody, for example, to help better deliver radiation doses directly to cancerous tissue. IDEC will use 5E10 with a radioisotope called Yttrium 90.

The 5E10 discovery was made by Michael Cohen, professor and head of pathology; Oskar Rokhlin, adjunct professor of pathology; and George Weiner, director of the UI Cancer Center and associate professor of internal medicine.

"The goal of any medical researcher is a discovery that he or she made will eventually be used to help patients," Cohen said. "We are all excited that IDEC will be able to use our work to improve treatment for prostate cancer patients."

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, with an estimated 31,900 deaths in 2000, according to the American Cancer Society. An estimated 180,400 new cases will be diagnosed in 2000.

"Production of an antibody such as 5E10 is just the first step in developing a possible new immunotherapy for cancer," Weiner said.

The 5E10 structure will need to be modified so it is more like a human antibody, Weiner explained. The modified antibody then needs to be tested in the laboratory. If it is still promising, clinical studies need to be done in patients with cancer to see if the antibody is safe and effective.

Researchers in the UI Cancer Center have been interested in antibody therapy to treat prostate cancer for a number of years. Because there were no ideal antibodies that reacted with cancer when the UI investigators began their work, the UI researchers decided to produce one of their own. Rokhlin designed a novel strategy to produce an antibody that would be most specific for prostate cancer.

The antibody investigation is just one of several prostate research projects occurring at the UI. Cohen and Rokhlin are also studying the cellular signals that control the growth and death of prostate cancer cells. David Lubaroff, professor of urology and microbiology, and Timothy Ratliff, professor of urology, are developing novel prostate cancer vaccines. Richard Williams, professor and head of urology, is performing a number of clinical studies exploring novel approaches to treat prostate cancer. And, Leslie Dennis, assistant professor of preventive medicine and environmental health, is evaluating why prostate cancer is more common in some populations of men.

The UI Research Foundation is managing the 5E10 licensing agreement with IDEC. Created in 1975, the UI Research Foundation is a freestanding, not-for-profit corporation. Its mission is to enable the use of intellectual property created at the UI. The UI Research Foundation currently has more than 120 active licenses.

"We are hopeful that IDEC can introduce a useful therapeutic," said Bruce Wheaton, executive director of the UI Research Foundation. "If that happens, the UI will benefit along with the patients."

Since its creation, the UI Research Foundation has helped the University to obtain more than 200 patents. The Research Foundation also maintains a roster of technologies available for license and works closely with potential industry partners, such as IDEC, to see that UI inventions have an opportunity to be commercialized for public benefit.

"Granting an exclusive commercial license is sometimes the only way that the public can ever benefit from a university invention," Wheaton said. "Some products, such as new drugs, require a substantial financial investment. Without exclusive rights, no profit-oriented firm could afford to make such an investment. If you tried to license, for example, a new drug to 15 different pharmaceutical companies none of them would invest any money in product development or the conduct of clinical trials, and the public would have nothing. In a situation like that, the effort to make the product everybody’s would make it nobody’s."

Article by Jennifer Cronin