Bradford researchers have developed a new cancer treatment – likened to a ‘smart bomb’ – which has the potential to find and destroy solid tumours.

The drug, developed at the University of Bradford, is inactive until triggered by the activity of an enzyme that is always found in a tumour.

It then releases a potent anti-cancer agent which destroys the tumour’s blood vessels, causing it to starve to death.

Because the enzyme is only active in tumours, the drug is unlikely to have any side effects on healthy tissue.

Five different types of cancer have been tested in the laboratory so far – breast, colon, lung, sarcoma and prostate – with no adverse effects observed.

In one study, half of the mice showed complete tumour remission after a single dose.

“What we’ve designed is, effectively, a ‘smart bomb’ that can be targeted directly at any solid tumour to kill it without appearing to harm healthy tissue,” said Professor Laurence Patterson, director of Bradford’s Institute for Cancer Therapeutics (ICT).

Read more on this story - and how T&A readers helped in the research - in Monday's T&A.