[Rich66]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...795100672.html

Researchers at the Rogosin Institute are taking tumor cells from mice, encapsulating them in beads made from a seaweed-derived sugar called agarose, and implanting them in the abdomen of cancer patients. There, cells in the beads secrete proteins researchers believe could signal a patient's cancer to stop growing, shrink or even die.

Cancer is often described as a process of uncontrolled growth, but even tumor cells reach a point where when they're surrounded by enough similar cells, growth regulators kick in and instruct them to stop proliferating. The new strategy is based in part on that premise.

In the human studies, the beads, about the size of a pea, are implanted in the abdominal cavity. The number is determined by body weight, but typically involves 550 and 750 beads per treatment. The hypothesis is that in the body, the inhibitory factors are secreted by the beads, picked up by the bloodstream and detected by tumor cells outside the bead. Researchers believe the treatment effect begins to wane after about four months; retreatment is possible.

Dr. Smith says research so far indicates more than 700 different proteins or small proteins called peptides are secreted by the beads, including 25 to 30 that are known to have anti-tumor effects.

Researchers hope data from the 30-patient early stage study will be presented later this year.

• JANUARY 25, 2011