Kankersoorten Longkanker
d.d. 23/02 Bron: DOW

Amerikaanse onderzoekers claimen een vaccin GVAX , te hebben gevonden tegen niet-klein-cellige longkanker. Klinkt wel erg optimistisch als we bedenken dat van de 43 deelnemende patiënten, 10 met longkanker in stadium I / II en 33 in vergevorderd stadium III / IV, er slechts drie in totale remissie kwamen en in drie jaar geen nieuwe kanker ontwikkelden. Aan de andere kant patiënten met stadium III/IV longkanker reageren zelden goed op chemo, volgens de onderzoekers reageert slechts 3% goed op chemo. Bovendien bleken van deze drie patiënten met een totale remissie er twee uit de groep van vergevorderde longkanker te komen en bleken de andere patiënten met stadium III/IV allemaal minimaal vijf maanden tot twee jaar stabiele ziekte te hebben getoond. Een opmerkelijk verschil met de statistische gegevens die aangeven dat een patiënt met niet-klein-cellige longkanker slechts een gemiddelde overlevingsduur heeft van ca. 9 maanden. Opmerkelijk was wel dat de patiënten met longkanker stadium I/II niet noemenswaardig anders in effect reageerden met dit vaccin dan bij een standaard behandeling aldus de onderzoekers. Toestemming voor het vaccin GVAX van de FDA om dit als officieel medicijn te onderzoeken in fase III studies wordt niet binnen drie jaar verwacht overigens dus ook dit is nou niet bepaald hoopgevend. Hieronder een persbericht zoals dat afgelopen week werd vrijgegeven. 

-- DJ Researchers Claim Vaccine Can Stop Advanced Lung Cancer --


DALLAS (AP)--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.
Vaccine studies are a burgeoning area of cancer research. Unlike traditional
vaccines, which generally aim to prevent disease, some experimental cancer
vaccines are designed to treat or cure existing disease.
This 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 didn't spread for
almost five months to more than two years.
For patients in the early stage, the vaccine didn't 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% 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."