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Single Antibody Shrinks Variety of Human Tumors Transplanted into Mice, Study Shows

Human tumors transplanted into laboratory mice disappeared or shrank when scientists treated the animals with a single antibody, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The antibody works by masking a protein flag on cancer cells that protects them from macrophages and other cells in the immune system. The scientists achieved the findings with human breast, ovarian, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate cancer samples.

It is the first antibody treatment shown to be broadly effective against a variety of human solid tumors, and the dramatic response ― including some overt cures in the laboratory animals ― has the investigators eager to begin phase-1 and –2 human clinical trials within the next two years.

 “Blocking this ‘don’t-eat-me’ signal inhibits the growth in mice of nearly every human cancer we tested, with minimal toxicity,” said professor of pathology Irving Weissman, MD, who directs Stanford’s Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine at Stanford. “This shows conclusively that this protein, CD47, is a legitimate and promising target for human cancer therapy.”

The antibody treatment also significantly inhibited the ability of the tumors to metastasize throughout the animals’ bodies.

 “This is exciting work and will surely trigger a worldwide wave of research designed to convert this strategy into useful therapies,” said Robert Weinberg, PhD, a professor of biology at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Massachusetts who was not involved in the research.