What is Gold Treatment for Prostate Cancer?

Gold is considered to be a precious metal and may come to be prized quite highly among men with prostate cancer and their loved ones. A technology known as gold nanotechnology is helping doctors to treat prostate cancer more safely and effectively. The gold itself does not directly combat cancer. The metal does, however, serve as a guide to tell doctors exactly where the cancer is located so that treatment can be focused directly onto cancerous tissue.

The Gold

• The gold used to help treat prostate cancer is solid 24-carat gold that has been shaped into tiny rods. These rods are about the same size as a single grain of rice. Cancer cells are known to contain a large amount of a protein called Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR). Because of this, the gold rods are covered in cancer antibodies that bind with EGFR so that they can serve as markers showing exactly where the prostate cancer cells are. The rods are also grooved so that they can easily attach to prostate tissue if the cancer is successfully eradicated.

The Need

• The prostate is not stationary within the body but moves within the pelvis. This constant movement makes it difficult for doctors to target the prostate specifically using external radiation without causing any damage to the healthy surrounding tissue. Because of this, men undergoing treatment for prostate cancer often suffer unpleasant side effects including bladder discomfort and bleeding. Doctor's have previously attempted to target the prostate by implanting radioactive seeds directly into prostate tissue. However, this option, though effective, forces men undergoing treatment to avoid contact with small children and pregnant women.

The Process

• After the diagnosis of prostate cancer has been confirmed, an urologist can place three golden rods directly into the patient's prostate using a needle. The procedure is typically done on an outpatient basis as it is minimally invasive and takes only a few minutes. The golden rods bind to the cancer cells in the prostate. The gold causes light to diffuse, making the cancer cells glow on X-ray imaging. Images are then taken frequently -- sometimes even daily -- to track the movement of the prostate prior to each radiation treatment.

The Benefits

• Although using the gold rods to track the prostate requires many trips to the doctor's office, the procedure allows doctor's to target radiation therapy within 1 to 2 millimeters of the prostate rather than the 3 to 5 millimeter window provided by other external treatments. Unlike the radioactive rods used previously to target prostate tissue only, this treatment is able to target the prostate tissue specifically without creating a danger for small children and pregnant women who could be exposed to the patient. Because the prostate can be so accurately targeted, the use of golden rods as markers allows doctors to use higher, more effective doses of radiation without fear of harming healthy tissue. The rods do not cause any harm to the patient, so there is no need to retrieve the rods after treatment.

The Future

• Mostafa El-Sayed is a chemistry professor at Georgia Tech and half of the father and son team who pioneered research on the use of gold nanotechnology as an aid for treating prostate cancer. He hopes to one day be able to use small particles of gold to detect and treat cancers too small to be detected by other means. Mostafa cites the potential promise of gold nanotechnology as a low-cost treatment because such a small amount of gold is needed to achieve results. Ivan El-Sayed, the other half of the father-son team, specifically hopes that gold nanotechnology can help to treat and detect the oral cancers he works with as well as stomach, colon and skin cancers.