BINGHAMTON, N.Y., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- After years of innovation and intensive research, a team of Binghamton University (BU) researchers working with Cell Preservation Services, Inc., Owego, NY has broken extraordinary new ground in the recognition of cryosurgery as a primary treatment option for prostate cancer. The American Urological Association recently issued a Best Practices Statement that recommends cryosurgery of the prostate as both a primary and salvage therapy for patients with prostate cancer.
The recommended use of cryosurgery as a primary treatment comes as BU team leader Dr. John G. Baust, also a Professor of Biological Sciences at BU and UNESCO Chair, received a rare honor for his world-wide leadership in cryomedicine and his work with the BU team. The international Society for Cryobiology, recently elected Baust to the prestigious position of Fellow of the Society. He is one of only ten to receive this recognition from the Society.
The key to perfecting the treatment came through an in-depth study that delved into to the molecular biology of prostate cancer and low temperature responses conducted by Dr. Robert Van Buskirk, Professor of Biological Sciences & Bioengineering. That's when Dr. William Hollister, a former BU graduate student now on the faculty of BCC, made a critical discovery, identifying a previously unrecognized form of cell death following freezing known as "apoptosis" in a population of dying cancer cells.
Another BU doctoral student, Dr. John M. Baust, a Cornell University graduate, former Harvard Medical School Fellow and current President of Cell Preservation Services, Inc. (CPSI, Owego, NY), meticulously analyzed the timing of the molecular events that led to a cells demise following freezing.
An important unknown needed to be addressed to assure broad-based acceptance within the medical community was to understand and explain why some forms of prostate cancer respond differently to treatment. Dr. Daniel Klossner, a recent BU graduate working with the team, provided a critical answer by discovering that the presence or absence of a specific protein known as the "androgen receptor" correlates with the relative "hardiness" of the prostate cancer. The protein is found in easy-to-kill cancers while "old cancers," which lack the protein, present greater curative challenges. This discovery helped lead to the adoption of a set of standard treatment parameters. These findings may contribute to a change in how hormonal therapy is used in prostate cancer patients as the application of anti-androgen therapy often results in the emergence of more difficult to treat prostate cancers. Anthony Robilotto, MS., a Cornell graduate and current BU graduate student, is building on this foundation and working to develop the scientific basis for yet the next improvements. Robilotto has developed tissue-engineered human "prostates" that contain different genetic variants of the cancer and attempts to "cure" the cancers with innovative combinations of low temperature and sensitizing agents.
The success of this project is now leading directly to its expansion into other problematic cancers. Dr. Kristi Snyder, a Cornell and BU graduate and current Director of Operations and Principal Scientist at CPSI, is moving this technology in new directions. She is collaborating with current BU graduate students to bring this life-saving technology into the breast, kidney and lung cancer patients.
Cell Preservation Services, Inc.
