Re: [MOL] Re: Donna REPLY/ NEW LUNG-CANCER DRUG COULD OFFER HOPE...

["Lillian" <firefly@islc.net>]

Here it is I found it!  Gosh girlfriend did I have to go digging through the
Archives for this.  We are such a chatty group!

ROFLMAO:  Means:  Rolling on floor laughing my ---off.  Have a great weekend
now, will be talking with you soon.  Your friend, lillian


 New Lung-Cancer Drug Treatment Could Offer Hope



May 23, 2000



USA TODAY

NEW ORLEANS -- A combination of chemotherapy drugs tested in Japan has
produced an increase in length of survival for people with small-cell lung
cancer, scientists reported Monday.

     The drugs, Camptosar plus cisplatin, are one of the first chemotherapy
combinations to show more than a minimal difference in survival for any
advanced cancer, experts said.

     ''For the first time, a physician can look a patient in the eye and
say, you have a better than a 50% chance of living longer than a year,''
said Alan Sandler, medical director of the Thoracic Oncology Program,
Indiana University School of Medicine.

     Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths and is expected to
kill 150,000 people in the USA this year. Small-cell lung cancer is the
deadliest variety. It accounts for 25% of lung cancer cases in the USA and
15% of cases in Japan. It's deadly because by the time it is diagnosed, it
has spread widely through the body.

     If the small-cell lung cancer is untreated, the life expectancy of a
patient is six to eight weeks from diagnosis. With standard chemotherapy of
cisplatin and etoposide, 38% can survive one year, and 6% can survive two
years.

     With the new combination, 58% of patients survived one year, and 18% of
patients survived two years, says Nagahiro Saijo, chairman of medical
oncology at the National Cancer Center in Tokyo. Results, which were
presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, were
considered so dramatic that the study was halted nearly a year ahead of
time, Saijo said.

     Sandler will head a nationwide study beginning in June at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville to confirm results of the Japanese study. The study
will involve 400 patients.

     The research was sponsored by Pharmacia & Upjohn of Peapack, N.J.,
which makes Camptosar.

     Most side effects, including severe drops in various blood-cell counts,
were lower with the new combination. Diarrhea was more severe.

     Researchers also reported an advance with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with a
drug that combines a radioactive isotope with an agent called a monoclonal
antibody, which is designed to target specific immune system cells affected
by the cancer.

     Mark Kaminski of the University of Michigan said the targeted therapy,
called Bexxar, produced complete remissions of 76% of patients studied. Most
notable, 58 of 76 patients had a molecular remission, which suggests a
disease might be cured. A molecular remission means there are no detectable
signs of cancer in the body. Clinical remission means symptoms disappear,
but cancer lurks in cells.

     The study was sponsored by Coulter Pharmaceutical of San Francisco.
Side effects included low blood counts and weakened immune systems.

     To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to
http://www.usatoday.com

© Copyright 2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.






NEW ORLEANS, LA -- May 26, 2000 -- A Phase-II trial has determined that
anti-angiogenesis treatment restricting the vascular epithelial growth
factor (VEGF) delays time to relapse in patients with metastatic lung
cancer, when used in conjunction with a standard chemotherapy regimen.

VEGF is a natural growth factor in the body. It is also released by tumor
cells to stimulate blood-vessel formation within and around the tumor. The
anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody targets VEGF to prevent angiogenesis at the
tumor site.

The trial, described in New Orleans, LA, at the 36th annual meeting of the
American Society of Clinical Oncology, was conducted at Vanderbilt
University. Researchers used anti-VEGF in combination with two chemotherapy
drugs, carboplatin and paclitaxel.

The 99 patients enrolled were randomized to receive chemotherapy only, or to
receive chemotherapy followed by the recombinant human monoclonal anti-VEGF
antibody. They were further stratified to received the chemotherapy with
anti-VEGF at low or at high doses. Mean age of these patients was 62 years.

Response rate for the 35 patients taking high-dose anti-VEGF and
chemotherapy was 40 percent; response rates among the 32 patients taking the
lower dose of anti-VEGF and chemotherapy was 21.9 percent; and for the 32
taking chemotherapy alone, 31.3 percent.

Metastatic lung cancer took almost twice as long to recur in patients taking
the maximum therapy. Time to relapse was 7.4 months for the patients taking
high-dose anti-VEGF and chemotherapy; 4.3 months for those taking the lower
dose of anti-VEGF and chemotherapy; and 4.2 months for those taking
chemotherapy alone.

"These are pretty profound differences," said Russell DeVore, MD, principal
author of the Vanderbilt study. He said the data suggest that
anti-angiogenesis therapy may improve outcomes compared with chemotherapy
alone.

Side effects of the treatment were severe, however. Six patients who
received anti-VEGF experienced hemoptysis, or sudden bleeding from their
lung tumors, which caused death in four of the six.

Dr. DeVore said all four patients who died had squamous-cell histology.
Squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung tends to occur in the larger airways,
and so future anti-VEGF studies might not enroll patients with this disease,
he said.





We invite you to take a look at our Album.
www.angelfire.com/sc/molangels/index.html

  ( Very informational, good tips, Molers pictures, art work and much
more....

----- Original Message -----
From: <R92025@AOL.COM>
To: <mol-cancer@lists.meds.com>
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2000 11:38 AM
Subject: Re: [MOL] Re: LILLIAN


> What's ROFLMAO?  I lost the information on a new drug for SCLC, I think it
> was from you about 4 or 5 days ago, giving patient's another 6% survival
> rating.  I think any time someone hears the "C" word and a part of their
body
> in the same sentence their brain is numbed.
>
> Thanks, Donna
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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