Experimental Treatment for Rare Soft-Tissue Cancer Shows Promise in Mice

Study looked at method for blocking key growth protein in malignant nerve sheath tumors

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Shows promise for women with other drugs triple-negative breast cancer

In the nationwide survey of women with triple-negative breast cancer angiogenesis inhibitors led to rapid increase in number of carboplatin chemotherapy using drugs or with a standard chemotherapy drug Avastin off completely, the tumor shrank, adding investigators, reported at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2013. In the study, cancer and leukemia Group B hosted by new Faber Cancer Institute, Brown University, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, UNC Lineberger comprehensive cancer include author from the Center. New York University, Washington University in St. Louis, hope comprehensive cancer center and Mount Sinai Medical Center.

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Personalized for the most deadly type of brain tumor vaccine shows promise

History showed itself from the patients with treatment of patients with recurrent glioblastoma made an experimental vaccine (GBM) resection tumor survival rates improve, alone, received the standard care patients compared to this vaccine has been published in the journal of neuro-oncology, accompanied by an editorial to emphasize the importance of the trial phase 2 according to the analysis of the test. Phase 2 trials, Northwestern Feinberg School and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center enrolled 41 conducted by adult recurrent tumor cases 2007-2011, from the researchers.

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H. pylori vaccine shows promise in mouse studies

Dec. 19, 2013 — Researchers from Southern Medical University in Guangdong, Guangzhou, China, have developed an oral vaccine against Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria responsible for peptic ulcers and some forms of gastric cancer, and have successfully tested it in mice. The research is published ahead of print in the journal Clinical and Vaccine Immunology.

The investigators constructed a live recombinant bacterial vaccine, expressing the H. pylori antigen, adhesin Hp0410, in the food-grade bacterium, Lactobacillus acidophilus. They then used it to orally vaccinate the mice.

The vaccine elicited specific anti-Hp0410 IgG antibodies in serum, and showed "a significant increase" in the level of protection against gastric Helicobacter infection, according to the report. When assayed, following challenge with H. pylori, immunized mice had significantly lower bacterial loads than non-immunized mice.

H. pylori is a class 1 human carcinogen, according to the World Health Organization. It causes gastritis, peptic ulcers, stomach cancer, and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. Antibiotic therapy is complex, unsuccessful in some patients (particularly in developing countries) and relapse is common. A vaccine against H. pylori could circumvent these difficulties.

L. acidophilus, a bacterium which is common in yogurt cultures, has distinct advantages as an oral vaccine antigen delivery vehicle. It is safe and nontoxic. It resists the stomach's acidity and tolerates bile, all of which aids in enabling it to survive in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract for more than 72 hours. Additionally, it adheres to, and elicits an immune response from the GI tract mucosa.

The current first-line treatment option for H. pylori infection includes two antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor, but is ineffective in roughly 20 percent of patients.

"The high cost of treatment, noncompliance, and antibiotic resistance are the most important reasons," says first author Fan Hongying.

Roughly 15-30 percent of patients relapse quickly, she says, noting that after treatment, H. pylori may be resupplied to the stomach from a reservoir in the mouth. A vaccine would circumvent these problems.

"Our results collectively indicate that adhesin Hp0410 is a promising candidate vaccine antigen and recombinant Lactobacillus acidophilus expressing Hp0410 is likely to constitute an effective, low-cost live bacterial vaccine against H. pylori," says Hongying.

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Experimental Melanoma Vaccine Shows Promise in Study

THURSDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- Six of seven advanced melanoma patients had a positive response to an experimental vaccine, a finding that shows promise for personalized skin cancer treatment, researchers report.

The vaccine also slowed tumor progression in three of the patients, according to the investigators at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

This cutting-edge approach -- considered by many the future of cancer treatment -- uses a patient's own cells to enhance an immune response to the attacking cancer cells and slow their growth, the study authors explained.

"This is personalized immunotherapy," said senior researcher Dr. Gerald Linette, an associate professor of medicine and neurosurgery.

Melanoma is the deadliest of skin cancers. Each year in the United States more than 76,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed, and nearly 10,000 die from the disease, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

The immune system plays a part in melanoma, Linette said, and the researchers wanted to see if a molecule called interleukin 12p70 could mount an immune response against the cancer.

"The results show that, in fact, interleukin 12p70 was very important in controlling the disease," he said. "It promoted a response where T cells of the immune system act directly against the melanoma."

Some patients make a lot of interleukin 12p70, and those are the patients who did well. But some patients make very little or no interleukin 12p70, and those are the patients who did worse, Linette said. For those patients, another way of enhancing the response will have to be tried, he said.

The study, published online July 11 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, discusses use of the vaccine on seven patients with recently diagnosed stage IV cancer, meaning the cancer had spread to other areas of the body.

Dr. Michele Green, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said, "This is a great first step."

Techniques such as this will be standard some day, she believes. "We are at the infancy of this, but this is going to end up being the way we cure cancer," Green added.

Currently, the prognosis is bleak for late-stage melanoma, Green noted. "If you have advanced melanoma, there is no treatment," she said.

The experimental vaccine is made from a patient's dendritic cells, which is a type of immune cell. The researchers modified the cells to increase production of interleukin 12p70, which stimulates a robust immune response to the cancer, Linette explained.

The research team was able to activate these dendritic cells before giving them back to the patient, he said.

The vaccine seems safer than earlier attempts, but it will be years before such an approach might be put into practice. For now, no clinical trials are planned, Linette said.

"Scientists have been testing vaccines in cancer patients for about 15 years, and the results have been rather discouraging," Linette added. "It's going to take at least five to 10 years more testing before scientists agree what's the best dendritic cell vaccine."

More information

For more information on melanoma, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

SOURCES: Gerald Linette, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, medicine and neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo.; Michele Green, M.D., dermatologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; July 11, 2013, Journal of Clinical Investigation, online

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Immune-Based Drug Shows Promise Against Advanced Melanoma

SATURDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly one-third of patients with advanced melanomas who received nivolumab, a new immune-based drug, experienced reductions in the size of their tumors, a preliminary study reveals.

Since these types of drugs have typically shrunk tumors in only 5 percent to 10 percent of patients in prior studies, the new results are a boost for immunotherapy generally, the researchers noted.

"I think nivolumab is a real breakthrough drug for patients with metastatic melanoma, and probably for other diseases, too," study author Dr. Mario Sznol, a professor of medical oncology at the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn., said in a news release.

"The high level of activity observed with this drug opens up a number of avenues for future research to understand and challenge the ways tumors evade the immune system. We're very excited that there is potential for even more activity in combination with other drugs," Sznol added.

One expert not connected to the study was also optimistic about the results.

"Nivolumab shows exciting promise for patients suffering from an otherwise fatal disease -- metastatic melanoma," said Dr. Michele Green, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "The fact that 30 percent of patients showed improvement from this immunotherapy drug is remarkable since these patients had some of the worse disease."

The study was funded by drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb and is scheduled for presentation Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago. Findings presented at medical meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

According to the researchers, nivolumab works by honing in on PD-1 cellular receptors located on immune system T-cells. These receptors are known to function as immune system "gatekeepers," and by working to open such gates the patient's immune system is triggered into cancer-fighting action.

The new study involved 107 patients, all of whom had been previously treated with multiple forms of standard therapies that failed to halt their disease.

Following treatment with one of five different doses of nivolumab, the team found that 31 percent of the patients went on to experience a minimum tumor shrinkage of 30 percent across the various doses.

Forty-three percent of the patients are estimated to have survived two years after treatment, the researchers said, and average survival for patients across all treatment doses is now projected to be nearly 17 months.

In an ASCO news release, melanoma expert Dr. Lynn Schuchter called the results "truly remarkable."

The findings "confirm that 'revving' up the immune system is a powerful approach in shrinking melanoma," said Schuchter, who is also a spokeswoman for ASCO. "Melanoma patients are living longer and better with these new treatments."

However, although the study participants were described as being "typical" patients with advanced melanoma, the investigation's findings are tempered by the fact that it was not a randomized clinical trial and did not compare the impact of nivolumab directly against the performance of other drugs.

"[But] while this was not a randomized clinical trial, it had a considerable number of patients and the durability of responses is a sign of very promising clinical activity," Sznol said in the news release.

A randomized phase III trial has begun, aimed at confirming these initial findings.

Another expert agreed that the drug shows the promise of immunotherapies in general.

"The results of this study are truly remarkable and demonstrate that immunotherapy truly can make the difference for many melanoma patients," said Dr. Yvonne Saenger, assistant professor of hematology/oncology and dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City.

Saenger, who was not connected to the new study, noted that "earlier immunotherapies, such as interleukin 2 and even Yervoy, can only help a small minority of patients," but nivolumab seems to do much better.

More information

There's more on melanoma at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

SOURCES: Michele Green, M.D., dermatologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Yvonne Saenger, M.D., assistant professor of hematology/oncology and dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City; June 1, 2013, news release, American Society of Clinical Oncology

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CA-125 change over time shows promise as screening tool for early detection of ovarian cancer

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Evaluating its change over time, CA-125, the protein long-recognized for predicting ovarian cancer recurrence, now shows promise as a screening tool for early-stage disease, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The updated findings are published in Cancer; preliminary data were first presented at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. If a larger study shows survival benefit, the simple blood test could offer a much-needed screening tool to detect ovarian cancer in its early stages – even in the most aggressive forms – in post-menopausal women at average risk for the disease.

Click here to read full press release.

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Among the research institutions NCI funds across the United States, it currently designates 68 as Cancer Centers. Largely based in research universities, these facilities are home to many of the NCI-supported scientists who conduct a wide range of intense, laboratory research into cancer’s origins and development. The Cancer Centers Program also focuses on trans-disciplinary research, including population science and clinical research. The centers’ research results are often at the forefront of studies in the cancer field.

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