| Drug Combination Slows Progression Of Treatment Resistant Bone ...
Combining a newly formulated drug with one that is already a standard treatment slows the progression of multiple myeloma, an advanced cancer of the bone marrow cells, according to a clinical trial led by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine researcher.
The phase III trial included 646 patients from 18 countries with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, a condition in which cancerous cells continue to multiply despite treatment. Patients in the trial were randomly assigned to receive the drug bortezomib (Velcade), standard therapy for relapsed multiple myeloma, or a combination of Velcade and Doxil, a chemotherapy drug (doxorubicin) delivered via liposomes, or microscopic fat bubbles.
An interim analysis of study participants who received the combination treatment showed a better response in the combination group than in participants who received standard treatment.
Natural Protein Stops Deadly Human Brain Cancer In Mice
Scientists from Johns Hopkins and from the University of Milan have effectively proven that they can inhibit lethal human brain cancers in mice using a protein that selectively induces positive changes in the activity of cells that behave like cancer stem cells. The report is published in Nature.
The most common type of brain cancer-glioblastoma-is marked by the presence of these stem-cell-like brain cells, which, instead of triggering the replacement of damaged cells, form cancer tissue. Stem cells, unlike all other cells in the body, are capable of forming almost any kind of cell when the right "signals" trigger their development.
For their treatment experiment, the researchers relied on a class of proteins, bone morphogenic proteins, that cause neural stem-cell-like clusters to lose their stem cell properties, which in turn stops their ability to divide.
Drug Combo Aids Multiple Myeloma Patients
TUESDAY, Dec. 12 (HealthDay News) -- A combination of two drugs -- bortezomib and lenalidomide -- designed to treat the bone marrow cancer multiple myeloma may be more effective together than when the drugs are used individually, a U.S. study concludes. The phase I clinical trial, led by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, included 38 patients whose cancer had recurred after previous treatment and continued to progress despite other therapies. The patients were divided into groups that received successively higher doses of bortezomib (brand name Velcade) and lenalidomide (brand name Revlimid). Some of the patients also received a standard myeloma medication called dexamethasone, which adds to the effects of both bortezomib and lenalidomide.
Long-term cancer risk follows stem cell transplant recipients
Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients face a significant long-term risk for developing a second cancer, particularly if they were older at the time of transplant or received stem cells from a female donor, according to a new study. Published in the January 1, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study reveals that within 10 years of an allogeneic HSCT, the relative risk of a second, solid cancer is almost twice that of the general population.
In addition, cancer risk almost quadruples for patients who were over 40 years old at the time of transplant or for patients who received stem cells from a female donor.
Myeloablative, allogeneic HSCT is an effective standard therapy for specific life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome, for which blood cell lineages (which originate principally in the bone marrow and circulate in the blood) are abnormal.
GTx Says Ostarine Meets Phase II Endpoints
Biopharmeceutical company GTx Inc. said Friday its ostarine treatment met its primary and secondary endpoints in a mid-stage trial. In a study conducted on 120 elderly men and women in the U.K. and Germany, subjects treated with ostarine measured against a placebo showed both significant muscle growth and functional performance, according to the company. Ostarine, a first-in-class drug, is a selective androgen receptor modulator, or SARM. In preclinical trials, ostarine distinguished itself from current osteoporosis drugs which only treat bone loss by also increasing muscle. The use of similar drugs has been limited over concerns of side-effects, but according to GTx, ostarine use resulted in no seriously adverse effects. As a result of the mid-stage study, the company has selected cancer cachexia, or muscle wasting connected to many cancers, as the initial acute indication for ostarine development, with an additional mid-stage trial for cachexia treatment scheduled for the summer of 2007.
Immunicon Corporation to Present at 2006 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Immunicon Corporation (NASDAQ-GM: IMMC) will present three posters at the 29th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the premier breast cancer educational and scientific event, December 13-17 at the Georgia Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas. The posters will address Immunicon's cellular analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in patients with metastatic breast cancer; CTCs in patients following adjuvant therapy; and the assessment of tumor cells in blood and bone marrow and gene signatures in primary breast cancer. Presentations will include: Circulating tumor cells in post-adjuvant breast cancer patients. (Abstract # 1011) Almokadem S, Leitzel K, Harvey HA, Bannon E, Ali SM, Miller C, Terstappen LWWM, Doyle GV, Lipton A.
Immunicon Corporation to Present at 2006 San Antonio Breast Cancer ...
Immunicon Corporation (NASDAQ-GM: IMMC) will present three posters at the 29th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the premier breast cancer educational and scientific event, December 13-17 at the Georgia Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas. The posters will address Immunicon's cellular analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in patients with metastatic breast cancer; CTCs in patients following adjuvant therapy; and the assessment of tumor cells in blood and bone marrow and gene signatures in primary breast cancer. Presentations will include: Following the conference, the Immunicon presentations will be posted on Immunicon's Web site at http://www.immunicon.com. The CellSearch(TM) Circulating Tumor Cell Kit to capture, count and characterize CTCs from a blood test, was developed by Immunicon and is marketed by Veridex, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company.
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