New cell line helps prostate cancer study

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec 1, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Researchers say they have developed a new line of prostate cancer cells that they hope will provide a better model to study the disease.

A study in mice using the new cancer-cell line has already identified a possible therapy to reduce skeletal pain that accompanies prostate cancer. Scientists found a substance called anti-nerve growth factor appeared to be even more effective than morphine in controlling pain in mice.

Tom Rosol, a study co-author and professor of veterinary medicine at Ohio State University, said the new cell line will enable scientists to observe more directly how prostate cancer affects the body. Rosol's laboratory developed the cell line.

The results of the research, led by Patrick Mantyh of the University of Minnesota, appeared in a recent issue of the journal Cancer Research.

URL: www.upi.com