SINGAPORE -- A novel compound that blocks the breakdown of retinoic acid, derived from vitamin A, is a surprisingly effective and “promiscuous” agent in treating animal models of human prostate cancer, say investigators from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).Daily injections of the agent VN/14-1 resulted in up to a 50 percent decrease in tumor volume in mice implanted with human prostate cancer cells, reported Aakanksha Khandelwal, Ph.D., today at the American Association for Cancer Research Centennial Conference on Translational Cancer Medicine. No further tumor growth was seen during the five-week study, Khandelwal reports.
