Can Magnets Cure Prostate Cancer?

British scientists are pioneering a prostate cancer treatment that uses magnetic force to fight tumors.

The treatment is particularly promising for the most advanced prostate cancer, researchers say, for which there are few drugs. It also offers treatment beyond chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which destroy both cancerous and healthy cells and trigger debilitating side effects like nausea, fatigue, and hair loss. Magnetic treatment, by comparison, does not seem to harm healthy tissues.

While the work is in its early stages and was performed in a lab setting, scientists are applying it to mice next and possibly humans within five years. The research was conducted by scientists at the University of Sheffield and presented recently at the National Cancer Research Institute Cancer Conference in Liverpool.

“We know that when prostate cancer develops, a type of white blood cells called macrophages flock to the scene,” said lead researcher Dr. Jay Richardson. “Previous research has allowed us to harness these cells to deliver cancer-fighting therapies directly into the cancer cells. Now, with some magnetic assistance, we are able to refine this method so that the macrophages reach and deliver the therapy to prostate cancer cells only, leaving healthy cells unharmed.”

The blood cells were injected with magnetically charged nanoparticles which help the cells move faster as they target cancer cells. The more macrophages delivered into the malignant cells, the more cancer cells that were destroyed, researchers reported. The blood cells also were injected with a gene therapy, making them more deadly when they reached the cancer cells.

“Through utilizing new technology, the researchers have been able to design a new treatment that has the potential to deliver cancer-killing cells to the very heart of a prostate tumor,” said Owen Sharp, chief executive of the Prostate Cancer Charity in London.

“This study is particularly exciting, as it could lead to a new treatment for men living with an advanced form of the disease, where the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, who have very few treatment options open to them.”

In the United States, prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in men, behind lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. This year, 240,890 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 33,720 will die, the ACS predicts.