April 16, 2025
Provided Image/Main Line Health
The Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, above, is the site of a clinical trial that is testing the safety and effectiveness of a new treatment for advanced prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body has limited treatment options, but a biomedical research group affiliated with Main Line Health has begun investigating a new therapy for this late-stage cancer.
The Lankenau Institute of Medical Research is the first site in a clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of a new combination therapy for advanced, metastatic prostate cancer. The other goal of the study is to find the maximum tolerated dose of the therapy.
"If this treatment proves successful, it will open up the door for a new treatment approach for advanced cancers," George Prendergast, the institute's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The combination therapy, known as SYNC-T, requires a probe to be inserted into the tumor to freeze a section of it and release cell parts that stimulate the immune system. Then four types of immunologic agents are injected directly into the tumor. These drugs further heighten the body's ability to eradicate cancer cells at the tumor site and wherever else it may have spread, simultaneously blocking immune suppression.
In an earlier trial, 13 patients received the combination therapy. All tumors that appeared on imaging were eliminated in five of them. The other six patients partially responded to the treatment.
These initial results were better than other known or experimental treatments for advanced, metastatic prostate cancer, according to Main Line Health.
"By infusing the drugs directly into the tumor, we are hopeful that the relatively small doses will effectively target cancer cells with minimal side effects," Dr. Charles J. Link, an adjunct professor at the Lankenau Institute of Medical Research, said in a statement.
Link is also the co-founder and executive chairman of Syncromune, the company that developed the combination therapy.
The Lankenau Institute of Medical Research, located on the Wynnewood campus of Lankenau Medical Center, has more details about the trial on its website.
About 1 in 8 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives, according to the American Cancer Society. It is the second-leading cause of death among men, trailing lung cancer.
The disease is generally treatable when caught early. The American Cancer Society recommends men at average risk for prostate cancer have a discussion about screening beginning at age 50. For men at high risk, that conversation should begin at age 45. For those at the highest risk – more than one first-degree relative who had prostate cancer at an early age — it should begin at age 40.
