Miracle Treatment for Advanced Melanoma
Friday, November 10, 2006
UofL cancer researcher sees 'miracles' Treatment tackles advanced melanoma
By Deborah Yetterdyetter@courier-journal.comThe Courier-Journal
By Deborah Yetterdyetter@courier-journal.comThe Courier-Journal
Advanced melanoma -- a deadly form of skin cancer -- is almost always a death sentence for patients.
But researchers at the University of Louisville report dramatic progress with an experimental treatment that already is prolonging life for a handful of cancer patients.
"We literally are seeing miracles in the clinical trials," said Dr. Jason Chesney, who presented the findings of his research team yesterday at an international cancer conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
The treatment of seven patients in the clinical trials began last year, and 12 months later all of them are still alive -- although the average life expectancy for advanced melanoma is about eight months, Chesney, 37, said in an interview Friday before he left for the conference.
The trials at U of L's James Graham Brown Cancer Center are being expanded to 50 melanoma patients.
The goal is to prompt the body to fight the disease with a drug that boosts its immune response and helps it identify and attack the cancer. Teaching immune system
The initial results are exciting, Chesney said, because they suggest the body can be prompted to fight melanoma and other cancers.
"The immune system can be taught to kill cancer cells," he said.
Chesney was one of two U of L researchers invited to present papers at this week's meeting of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer. A U of L researcher seeking a cancer vaccine presented findings of a separate study Wednesday at the international conference.
Chesney's work represents a new approach in cancer research aimed at defeating the disease by creating an internal immune response to it, rather than trying to kill it with conventional, more toxic treatments of chemotherapy or radiation, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
Lichtenfeld said he finds Chesney's work encouraging and will be interested in the results as the study expands to more patients. The fact that the experimental drug appears to trigger an immune response to melanoma is especially interesting, he said.
"Melanoma is a disease that fails to elicit an immune response," Lichtenfeld said.
Melanoma, associated with excessive exposure to the sun and a family history of the disease, is an especially deadly form of cancer and doesn't respond well to conventional treatments once it spreads.
Though curable if caught immediately and removed, it can spread and cause tumors throughout the body that are much more difficult to treat.
Women at risk
About 8,000 people are expected to die from melanoma this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Although it accounts for only about 4 percent of skin cancers, it causes most of the deaths, the society reports on its Web site.
It's the No. 1 cancer killer in women ages 25 to 30, Chesney said. Though most cancers attack older people, "melanoma routinely kills people in their 30s," he said.
Chesney said he hopes to use his research to attack other cancers eventually, but for now is concentrating on melanoma.
He said the body's immune system has "blockers" he described as "off switches" that keep it from attacking healthy cells -- but also keep it from attacking some cancers, such as melanoma.
The body's immune system already has a difficult time fighting cancer cells because they are adept at creating defenses, he said.
"These tumor cells are pretty sneaky," he said. "They figure out how to avoid getting killed."
The experimental drug Chesney is using is a combination of a toxin and a drug that frees the immune system to fight cancer. The drug defeats the defenses of the tumor, attaches itself to a cancer cell and injects the toxin into the cell, killing it.
"We're trying to turn off the blocker and turn on the immune system," he said.
Chesney's research showed that five out of the seven patients in the trials experienced significant regression of tumors. One patient experienced complete regression of tumors in the liver, Chesney said, a highly unusual development in a patient with advanced melanoma.
The patients weren't available for comment because of federal rules that require confidentiality for research subjects.
Chesney couldn't say yet how soon the research might result in an approved cancer treatment. But he said he's optimistic it could result in a way to better limit the growth of melanoma and other cancers.
The trend in research is not to eradicate cancer but to make it a disease that can be managed and controlled, Chesney said.
"Our goal is to change cancer from an illness that kills people," he said. "It's more about getting control."
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.
UofL cancer researcher sees 'miracles' Treatment tackles advanced melanoma
By Deborah Yetterdyetter@courier-journal.comThe Courier-Journal
By Deborah Yetterdyetter@courier-journal.comThe Courier-Journal
Advanced melanoma -- a deadly form of skin cancer -- is almost always a death sentence for patients.
But researchers at the University of Louisville report dramatic progress with an experimental treatment that already is prolonging life for a handful of cancer patients.
"We literally are seeing miracles in the clinical trials," said Dr. Jason Chesney, who presented the findings of his research team yesterday at an international cancer conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
The treatment of seven patients in the clinical trials began last year, and 12 months later all of them are still alive -- although the average life expectancy for advanced melanoma is about eight months, Chesney, 37, said in an interview Friday before he left for the conference.
The trials at U of L's James Graham Brown Cancer Center are being expanded to 50 melanoma patients.
The goal is to prompt the body to fight the disease with a drug that boosts its immune response and helps it identify and attack the cancer. Teaching immune system
The initial results are exciting, Chesney said, because they suggest the body can be prompted to fight melanoma and other cancers.
"The immune system can be taught to kill cancer cells," he said.
Chesney was one of two U of L researchers invited to present papers at this week's meeting of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer. A U of L researcher seeking a cancer vaccine presented findings of a separate study Wednesday at the international conference.
Chesney's work represents a new approach in cancer research aimed at defeating the disease by creating an internal immune response to it, rather than trying to kill it with conventional, more toxic treatments of chemotherapy or radiation, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
Lichtenfeld said he finds Chesney's work encouraging and will be interested in the results as the study expands to more patients. The fact that the experimental drug appears to trigger an immune response to melanoma is especially interesting, he said.
"Melanoma is a disease that fails to elicit an immune response," Lichtenfeld said.
Melanoma, associated with excessive exposure to the sun and a family history of the disease, is an especially deadly form of cancer and doesn't respond well to conventional treatments once it spreads.
Though curable if caught immediately and removed, it can spread and cause tumors throughout the body that are much more difficult to treat.
Women at risk
About 8,000 people are expected to die from melanoma this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Although it accounts for only about 4 percent of skin cancers, it causes most of the deaths, the society reports on its Web site.
It's the No. 1 cancer killer in women ages 25 to 30, Chesney said. Though most cancers attack older people, "melanoma routinely kills people in their 30s," he said.
Chesney said he hopes to use his research to attack other cancers eventually, but for now is concentrating on melanoma.
He said the body's immune system has "blockers" he described as "off switches" that keep it from attacking healthy cells -- but also keep it from attacking some cancers, such as melanoma.
The body's immune system already has a difficult time fighting cancer cells because they are adept at creating defenses, he said.
"These tumor cells are pretty sneaky," he said. "They figure out how to avoid getting killed."
The experimental drug Chesney is using is a combination of a toxin and a drug that frees the immune system to fight cancer. The drug defeats the defenses of the tumor, attaches itself to a cancer cell and injects the toxin into the cell, killing it.
"We're trying to turn off the blocker and turn on the immune system," he said.
Chesney's research showed that five out of the seven patients in the trials experienced significant regression of tumors. One patient experienced complete regression of tumors in the liver, Chesney said, a highly unusual development in a patient with advanced melanoma.
The patients weren't available for comment because of federal rules that require confidentiality for research subjects.
Chesney couldn't say yet how soon the research might result in an approved cancer treatment. But he said he's optimistic it could result in a way to better limit the growth of melanoma and other cancers.
The trend in research is not to eradicate cancer but to make it a disease that can be managed and controlled, Chesney said.
"Our goal is to change cancer from an illness that kills people," he said. "It's more about getting control."
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.
posted by iluvboss @ 9:08 p.m.
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