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NEW hope is on the horizon for the growing number of Australians with the deadly asbestos-caused cancer, mesothelioma.

Caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibres, mesothelioma has been incurable and almost always leads to death.

However, a promising new compound appears to kill the cells of both mesothelioma and another notoriously difficult to treat cancer, melanoma.

Together the lung and skin cancers claim hundreds of Australian lives every year, and federal government health experts predict about 10,000 more mesothelioma cases will be identified in Australia by 2020.

Professor Michael Millward and his team at Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital hope their research will lead to a new drug that will beat those cancers and others.

They have recently begun human trials of the compound, derived from the herbal medicine known as Devil's Weed.

"Currently, there are two patients and two more are starting shortly," Prof Millward said.

"We will be looking to treat about 18 to 25 patients between now and the second quarter of next year."

Animal and laboratory tests have shown extremely heartening results.

"We're talking about a reduction in tumour size in animals and outright killing of cells in the laboratory," Prof Millward said.

Most existing chemotherapy drugs trigger a self destruct mechanism in cancer cells, but mesothelioma and melanoma cells are largely immune to this kind of therapy.

The new compound works by unlocking a receptor on the cancer cell, invading the cell, then killing it - much like planting an explosive inside the cell.

However, Prof Millward warned cancer patients should not get too excited about the possible new treatment.

"After this phase we will then evaluate all the results and look at if the drug is safe and whether it may be beneficial, and if that's the case we will then go to trials for specific cancers," he said.

"If the next set confirms this is a promising treatment, then it will take several more years of large trials to know if it's going to be a marketable treatment for cancer."

In other cancer news, human trials are expected to start soon for a new drug that was found in animal studies to kill late-stage human prostate cancer cells.

Melbourne-based drug development company Cytopia said its new molecule halted the normal growth cycle of prostate cancer cells, eventually leading to cell death.

The company hoped to start testing the therapy on humans by mid-2004.