Cancer Diagnosis Inventors John A. Petros, M.D. Dennis C. Liotta, Ph.D. Applications Treatment and diagnosis of metastatic cancer, especially prostate cancer Summary Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American males, with an expected incidence of 200,000 cases in 1994. The projected deaths from prostate cancer are 38,000 in the same year. No curative therapy exists for advanced or metastatic prostate cancer and chemotherapy is ineffective.
Androgen ablation is palliative and non-curative.
The molecular characterization of the disease has progressed rapidly in the past few years and it appears that in the future, gene therapy will be the treatment of choice for advanced and metastatic disease. This construct provides a water-soluble system for delivering nucleic acid to cells having androgen receptors, particularly cancerous prostrate cells. The invention includes a compound comprised of a steroid moiety capable of binding an androgen receptor, covalently linked to a poly-cationic salt. A preferred steroid moiety is dihydrotestosterone. The construct targets biologically active DNA to the nucleus of cells having androgen receptors.