科学家鉴别出恶性前列腺癌的新型药物靶点

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近日，在利物浦举办的英国国家癌症研究所癌症会议（NCRI）上，来自英国伦敦大学学院的研究人员发表了他们的最新研究成果，研究者们指出，他们在恶性前列腺癌细胞中发现了一种新型的标志物，该标志物或可被用来指导前列腺癌疗法的开发。

研究者们如今已经对这种名为NAALADL2的分子进行了测定来观察是否患者的前列腺癌会发生复发，而且这项最新研究还指出，NAALADL2分子或许还能够帮助指导前列腺癌的治疗。相比健康组织的细胞而言，研究者们在前列腺癌细胞上发现了多个NAALADL2分子，而且携带高水平该分子的前列腺癌患者术后癌症复发的风险要明显高出正常患者两倍。

在这项最新研究中，研究者在实验室中将药物皂草素吸附到抗体上来靶向作用NAALADL2分子，从而破坏前列腺癌细胞；研究者Hayley Luxton博士表示，利用包埋毒性负荷物质的抗体，我们就能够更清楚直观地发现前列腺癌细胞含有较多NAALADL2分子；下一步我们计划开发针对患者使用的新型疗法。

每年在英国大约有4.65万人被诊断为前列腺癌，又有大约1.1万人死于该疾病；本文研究或将帮助研究者对癌症进行有效区分，当提及恶性前列腺癌时，我们都知道其发展非常缓慢，而且容易扩散，目前研究者迫切需要开发出新型疗法来治疗恶性的前列腺癌。更有意思的是，这项研究中研究者所发现的标志物能够帮助指示前列腺癌肿瘤是否是恶性的，对于后期研究者们开发新型靶向性疗法或将提供新的思路和希望。.

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Marker for aggressive prostate cancer doubles up as a drug target

Researchers have discovered that a marker found on aggressive prostate cancer cells could also be used as a way to guide treatments to the cancer， according to new research presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool.

The molecule， called NAALADL2， is already measured to see if prostate cancer is likely to return， but the new study has shown that it can also help direct treatment to the cancer.

The team， based at UCL， had already found that prostate cancer cells have more of the NAALADL2 molecule on their surface compared to cells from healthy tissue. Prostate cancer patients whose tumour cells have high levels of this molecule are more than twice as likely to see their disease return following surgery.

In the new study， the researchers attached the drug saporin to an antibody targeted against NAALADL2 to destroy prostate cancer cells in the lab.

Dr Hayley Luxton， lead researcher from the Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics Laboratory at University College London， said： "Using antibodies mounted with a toxic payload， we can exploit the fact that aggressive prostate cancer cells have more NAALADL2.