An innovative treatment to prostate cancer

Cliff+Berkman%2C+professor+of+chemistry%2C+presents+his+findings+on+targeting+and+treating+cancer+in+the+Honors+Hall+lounge%2C+Monday%2C+Oct.+21.

Cliff Berkman, professor of chemistry, presents his findings on targeting and treating cancer in the Honors Hall lounge, Monday, Oct. 21.

By James Clark Evergreen reporter

In the second lecture of the WSU Honors College Distinguished Lecture Series, WSU Professor of Chemistry Cliff Berkman said he developed a new approach to detecting and treating prostate cancer.

With this new strategy, they are able to specifically target cancer cells and destroy them from the inside out, Berkman said. This research is of utmost importance, he said, because prostate cancer is the second leading cancer in males across the United States and first in the U.K., with thousands of new cases this year.

Berkman’s lecture was the second in a series of three lectures given by distinguished WSU professors, said WSU Honors College Dean M. Grant Norton. These lectures serve professors and members of the Honors College by not only exposing the professor’s research, but developing possible connections between undergraduates and these professors, Norton said.

He said the newly developed strategy to fight prostate cancer starts with using an enzyme produced by the cancer cells, called Protein Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA). The human body does not produce PSMA, so it only exists on the cancer cells, he said. Berkman said this enzyme becomes useful when hit with an enzyme inhibitor, which is a chemical substance that tracks down and bonds to the enzyme PSMA.

The enzyme inhibitor is infused with a fluorescent substance which causes the PSMA to essentially light up, exposing the location of the cancer cells and the tumor in the patient’s body, he said. Also, when this enzyme inhibitor bonds to the PSMA, it eventually permeates the entire cancer cell, said Berkman.

“To kill the cell, we have to get inside of the cell,” he said.

After locating the cancer cells, the next step is to specifically attack them with radioactive materials, Berkman said. To do this, the enzyme inhibitor would chemically attach to the radioactive substance and be delivered to the cancer cells, he said. The issue with this is that the radioactive material is much bigger than the enzyme inhibitor, which could make delivery to the cancer cell difficult, he said.

“My partner told me you can’t drag a dump truck with a bicycle,” Berkman said. “I told him to just try it. It worked!”

Since the radioactive material is only delivered to and attached to the cancer cells, it does not damage anything else in the body, unlike chemotherapy, Berkman said.

To further explain this process, he compared it to a ship from an old T.V. show he used to watch called “Thunderbirds,” the Thunderbird 2. He said the Thunderbird 2 was a modular ship used by the protagonists to deliver different payloads to solve various natural disasters. This is much like the enzyme inhibitor, he said.

“In Thunderbirds, they attached a module to the Thunderbird 2 and used it to save the ocean. This enzyme inhibitor is similar, in that you can attach whatever you need to it to get the job done,” Berkman said.

He said along with “Thunderbirds,” Legos were a big inspiration for his research.

“Don’t forget what inspires you, because it helps you solve problems as an adult,” Berkman said.

The next step is to commence with clinical trials of his new prostate cancer treatment strategy, which could begin if his grant request is approved, Berkman said.

While his team’s research has been largely successful recently, there were plenty of failures in the past, he said.

“We spent a long time staring at the blank whiteboard,” Berkman said. “But in the end, we learned from our mistakes. Failure is critical to your success.”