Prostate cancer is a leading cause of death among American men, and it’s resistant to one of the most powerful chemotherapy medications — cisplatin. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have developed the first therapy of its kind that disrupts prostate cancer cells’ metabolism and releases cisplatin into the weakened cells, causing them to die. In mouse models, an orally administered version shrunk tumors substantially.
Cisplatin attacks testicular, breast, bladder, lung and ovarian cancer cells, damages their DNA and effectively destroys tumors. However, it’s not effective against prostate cancer for reasons that are unclear to scientists, and many advanced cases of the disease don’t respond to other therapies, such as androgen deprivation. Previously, researchers have shown in mouse models that as the disease advances, tumor cells shift from glycolysis toward fatty…
