FOR men with advanced prostate cancer, the outlook is usually bleak. A drug
called doxorubicin can kill the tumour cells, but the doses needed are so high
they are likely to kill the patient too. Now researchers at Merck Research
Laboratories in Pennsylvania have found a way to target the drug at the
cancer.
The team took advantage of an enzyme called prostate-specific antigen (PSA),
which is only present at noticeable levels in the prostate—the small gland
in men that produces seminal fluid. PSA splits the gel-like proteins in semen,
making it runny enough to ejaculate. In men with…
