From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Fri Feb 20 2004 - 07:30:51 PST
>Experimental Vaccine May Stop Lung Cancer
>
>5 hours ago
>
>By RENEE C. LEE, Associated Press Writer
>
>DALLAS - An experimental vaccine wiped out lung cancer in some patients and
>slowed its spread in others in a small but promising study, researchers
>say.
>
>Three patients injected with the vaccine, GVAX, had no recurrence of lung
>cancer for more than three years afterward, according to the study of 43
>people with the most common form of the disease, non-small cell lung
>cancer.
>
>The findings were published in Wednesday's Journal of the National Cancer
>Institute. The research was funded in part by CellGenesis, a pharmaceutical
>company that hopes to produce the vaccine.
>
>The vaccine, developed by researchers at Baylor University Medical Center
>in Dallas, is years away from reaching the market, if ever. The researchers
>hope to apply for Food and Drug Administration approval in three years.
>
>"The results are very promising for patients with non-small (cell) lung
>cancer, which is frequently resistant to chemotherapy," said Dr. John
>Nemunaitis, a Baylor oncologist who led the study.
>
>Non-small cell lung cancer is the nation's leading cause of cancer death,
>killing more than 150,000 people each year. The disease is related to
>smoking and is often difficult to treat. Treatment usually involves removal
>of the tumor, chemotherapy or both.
>
>The study is the first to show complete and long-lasting regression of lung
>cancer by stimulating the immune system to attack cancer cells, Nemunaitis
>said. A similar approach has shown promise against skin and renal cell
>cancer.
>
>In the study, each patient was injected in the arm and leg with a vaccine
>that included cells from his or her tumors. A gene called CM-CSF was placed
>into the cancer cells to change the surface of the cells to help the body
>identify them as cancerous. The body's immune cells soon began to
>recognize, attack and destroy the cancer cells in the lungs.
>
>Forty-three lung cancer patients _ 10 in the early stage and 33 in the
>advanced stage _ were injected with the vaccine every two weeks for three
>months. Researchers followed them for three years.
>
>The cancer disappeared in three of the advanced-stage patients. Two of
>those patients previously had chemotherapy, which failed. In the rest of
>the advanced-stage patients, the disease remained stable and did not spread
>for almost five months to more than two years.
>
>For patients in the early stage, the vaccine did not make much difference
>against the cancer.
>
>"The most exciting thing is in those who responded to the vaccine, it was
>complete," Nemunaitis said. "It's given us a lot of encouragement."
>
>For patients with advanced-stage lung cancer, chemotherapy works no more
>than 3 percent of the time, and survival is usually eight to nine months.
>Those whose cancer went into remission with the vaccine were alive at least
>three years later. And the vaccine has no side effects, Nemunaitis said.
>
>Dr. Anwar Khurshid, an oncologist at the Arlington Cancer Center, said the
>findings will "open a lot of avenues."
>
>"I think you'll cure some patients but not everyone. That's what has been
>proven in other cases," he said. "You need to vaccine earlier or combine
>with something else to cure more people."
>
_________________________________________________________________
Click, drag and drop. My MSN is the simple way to design your homepage.
http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200364ave/direct/01/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.6 : Fri Feb 20 2004 - 07:43:26 PST