Scientists have made a breakthrough in the search for new treatments for the cancer which kills nearly 1,000 men in Scotland every year.
Patients were given a “tame virus” which destroyed prostate cancer cells but spared healthy tissue.
The results were welcomed last night by survivors and experts in the north-east, who said they could lead to a completely new way of treating a cancer which affects more men north of the border than any other.
Sam McClinton, consultant urologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and founder of the Ucan charity, said it was a “promising” step which could offer new hope to patients – particularly those whose cancer was detected too late to respond to other therapies.
Aberdeenshire businessman Ian Smith, who last year had surgery for prostate cancer, said he welcomed any research which raises awareness of a disease that many people choose to ignore.
Canadian scientists tested the respiratory, enteric, orphan virus, or “reovirus”, on six volunteer patients with early-stage prostate cancer that had not spread.
Each had a single injection of the virus into their tumour, guided by ultrasound. Three weeks later the patients had their prostate glands removed as part of their normal treatment.
Tissue analysis showed the death of cancer cells in the tumours – and no sign of the virus replicating in non-cancerous areas of the prostate.
The virus is widespread, but those exposed to it suffer only mild flu-like respiratory symptoms or diarrhoea.
There is already some evidence of its effects against lymphoid, ovarian, breast, pancreatic and some brain cancers, but the new study is the first to test the virus on prostate cancer.
Study leader Dr Don Morris, from the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Alberta, said: “Our results are a stepping stone into future prostate cancer clinical trials.” Dr McClinton, a specialist in prostate cancer at the Ucan centre in Aberdeen, said the research was encouraging.
“The low number of people involved shows the research is still at a very early stage and much wider tests will have to be carried out over several years before we know how big a breakthrough this might be,” he said.
“But it is promising to hear of a potential new treatment that would give us an entirely new way of treating prostate cancer.
“At the moment the main treatments are with hormones or chemotherapy, which is not so effective in the later stages. It could be useful to have something that works when other options are not so likely to be successful.”
Dr McClinton said it was gratifying to hear of international research into prostate cancer, which has had a lower profile than other forms of cancers.
“There is still not a lot of work being done on prostate cancer, compared to other types of cancer, but it is slowly getting better, and this could be good news for patients and people working in this field,” he said.
Pizza takeaway manager Mr Smith, 50, said patients and families affected by prostate cancer would welcome the breakthrough.
“I’m all for any new treatments that give people like me more chance of recovering – and anything that keeps prostate cancer in the news and raises awareness of it,” he said.
The father-of-three, of Cunninghar Road, Newmachar, said he was lucky his prostate cancer was detected while the tumour was still relatively small, giving him a range of options for treatment.
He rejected radiotherapy or simply monitoring the tumour and had his operation last July, a month after being told he had the disease.
“I was only diagnosed when I made an appointment with the doctor for something else and mentioned that I’d been having to get up two or three times every night to go to the toilet,” he said.
“I thought it was because I was getting older, but it was prostate cancer. Now I’ve told all the guys I keep in touch with from college and a number have gone to be tested.”
Dr Helen Rippon, head of research management at the Prostate Cancer Charity, said: “Although this is early stage research, it is particularly intriguing as it has the potential to provide a new treatment for localised prostate cancer that may avoid the all-too-frequent side effects of radiotherapy or surgery.”
The Ucan centre in ward 44 at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, opened two years ago after a £500,000 Press and Journal fundraising campaign.
Dr McClinton and colleagues set up Ucan in 2005 to raise awareness of prostate, kidney, bladder and testicular cancer and improve support for patients.