Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Dramatic
outcomes in Prostate Cancer Study
Newswise — Two Mayo Clinic patients whose
prostate cancer had been
considered inoperable are now cancer free
thanks in part to an experimental drug
therapy that was used in combination with
standardized hormone treatment and radiation
therapy.
The men were participating in a clinical
trial of an immunotherapeutic agent called
MDX-010 or ipilimumab.
In these two cases, physicians say the
approach initiated the death of a majority
of cancer cells and caused the tumors to
shrink dramatically, allowing surgery. In
both cases, the aggressive tumors had grown
well beyond the prostate into the abdominal
areas.
“The goal of the study was to see if we
could modestly improve upon current
treatments for advanced prostate cancer,”
says
Eugene Kwon, M.D., Mayo Clinic
urologist and leader of the clinical trial.
“The candidates for this study were people
who didn’t have a lot of other options.
However, we were startled to see responses
that far exceeded any of our expectations.”
The patients first received a type of
hormone therapy called androgen ablation,
which removes testosterone and usually
causes some initial reduction in tumor size.
Researchers then introduced a single dose of
ipilimumab, an antibody, which builds on the
anti-tumor action of the hormone and causes
a much larger immune response, resulting in
massive death of the tumor cells.
Both men experienced consistent drops in
their
prostate specific antigen (PSA)
counts over the following weeks until both
were deemed eligible for surgery. Then,
during surgery, came a greater surprise.
“The tumors had shrunk dramatically,” says
Michael Blute, M.D., Mayo
urologist, co-investigator and surgeon, who
operated on both men.
“I had never seen anything like this before.
I had a hard time finding the cancer. At one
point the pathologist (who was working
during surgery) asked if we were sending him
samples from the same patient.”
One patient underwent radiation therapy
after surgery; both have resumed their
regular lives.
Further research is being planned to
understand more about the mechanisms of the
antibody and how best to use the approach in
practice.
The researchers, however, note the
significance of their findings.
“This is one of the holy grails of prostate
cancer research,” says Dr. Kwon. “We’ve been
looking for this for years.”
The research was supported by the
Department of Defense,
The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation,
the
Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and the
Mayo Clinic Center for Translational Science
Activities.
Medarex, Inc. provided the study
drug free of charge and supported safety
monitoring during the protocol.
... ..
...
...