Local scientists successfully test brain tumor treatment material

SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Yonhap) -- Local scientists have successfully conducted
pre-clinical tests on a brain tumor-treatment material that may help doctors
fight deadly cancers.
The team led by Seol Dai-wu, a life science professor at Kyungwon University,
said tests using an adenovirus secretable trimeric TRAIL (Ad-stTRAIL) on "nude
mice" resulted in considerable reductions in the size of malignant tumors.
The Ad-stTRAIL was created by merging TRAIL (tumor necrosis factor-related
apoptosis-inducing ligand), which has proven effective in killing cancer, with
the common adenovirus. The mix attacks cancerous growths without destroying
healthy brain tissue, unlike existing treatments.
The mice had been specially engineered to develop intra-cranial human glioma, the
most common form of brain tumor. Roughly half of all brain tumor cases are of
this type, with most patients dying within a year of being diagnosed.
Seol and researchers from Dong-A Pharmaceutical Co. and the University of
Pittsburgh said mice injected with varying amounts of the Ad-stTRAIL material did
not show any typical side effects such as infection or weight loss.
"Since the pre-clinical animal tests have shown promise, Dong-A has asked the
Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) for permission to conduct clinical
tests on humans," the professor said.
Clinical tests take about three years to conduct. If no problems are found, a drug
may reach the market in five or six years.
The Ad-stTRAIL findings have been published in the latest edition of the on-line
PLoS One scientific journal.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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