[ZT] Breakthrough Liver Cancer Treatment Found!

Breakthrough Liver Cancer Treatment Found
06.04.07, 12:00 AM ET

MONDAY, June 4 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have announced the first drug to make major inroads against liver cancer, one of the more voracious forms of the disease.
Nexavar, made by Bayer, gave patients with advanced liver cancer 44 percent more time to live, compared to patients who did not receive the drug, according to results presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, in Chicago.

Results of a major clinical trial with Nexavar (sorafenib) were, in fact, so successful that the trial was halted early, the researchers announced.

"This is the first systemic therapy to prolong survival in [liver cancer] patients," said Dr. Joseph Llovet, lead author of the study and director of research in liver cancer at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. "This is a new reference standard for systemic therapy of [liver cancer] patients after 30 years of research and more than 100 randomized controlled trials performed."

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, added, "This is going to change the standard of practice."

Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the world and often causes death within a year of diagnosis. About 40 percent of liver cancers (up to 80 percent in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Surgery is sometimes possible, and radiation and chemotherapy can also be options. But there is no systemic treatment, meaning a medication that enters the bloodstream.

"There is no established standard of care for liver cancer even though it is one of the leading causes of death," said Dr. A. William Blackstock, a Wake Forest University radiation oncology professor who moderated a Monday news conference to announce the study results.

Nexavar, which is taken in tablet form, is already approved in the United States for treating advanced kidney cancer. It is being studied for various other cancers; results of some of those studies are also being presented at ASCO annual meeting.

In this study, 602 patients with advanced liver cancer were randomly assigned to receive either 400 milligrams of Nexavar twice a day or a placebo for six months.

Patients receiving the drug lived a median of 10.7 months, compared with only 7.9 months for those on a placebo. Time to cancer progression was 5.5 months in the Nexavar group, versus only 2.8 months in the placebo group. The findings were so positive that the study was terminated early.

"We recommended ending the trial early because of survival advantages favoring the sorafenib group," said Llovet.

Side effects were similar in the two groups, the most common being diarrhea, skin reactions, fatigue and bleeding.

"Sorafenib was well tolerated with manageable side effects," Llovet said.

A second study presented Monday at the cancer meeting offered a bit of good news for colorectal cancer patients.

When chemotherapy was given both before and after surgery to remove liver metastases in colorectal cancer patients, the risk of the liver tumor recurring was reduced almost 30 percent.

"A few years ago, we had only palliation to offer these patients and survival lasted no longer than six months," said Dr. Bernard Nordlinger, lead author of the study and chairman of surgery and oncology at Ambroise Pare Hospital in Paris. "This treatment should be proposed as a new standard for these patients."

One million people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year; up to half will see their cancer spread to the liver. Liver tumors are removed when possible, but only 30 percent to 35 percent of patients who have liver metastases survive five years after surgery.

Adding the targeted therapy Erbitux (cetuximab) to chemotherapy reduced the risk of metastatic colorectal cancer spread by 15 percent. The drug is currently approved as a second-line or third-line therapy, not as the first option.

These new results indicate that Erbitux has promise as a first-line treatment, the researchers said.

More information

Visit the American Cancer Society for more on liver cancer.

所有跟帖： 

• 30年研究，延长不到三个月生命，就是"Breakthrough"? -出入自在- ♂ (87 bytes) () 06/04/2007 postreply 14:06:12

• Idiot! -Wakao- ♂ (0 bytes) () 06/04/2007 postreply 16:58:07

• 这证明控制细胞信号传递路线来对付癌细胞的思路是对的。这的确是突破。 -weston- ♀ (1496 bytes) () 06/04/2007 postreply 19:57:20

• 因为刚看了华阳复方，又看到这篇文章，所以有此想法 -出入自在- ♂ (314 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 08:33:37

• You got to be kidding. This is science,华阳复方is vadoo. -weston- ♀ (448 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 14:29:41

• typo: vadoo -> voodoo -weston- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 14:30:56

• Could you make some comments about this gov site? -出入自在- ♂ (50 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 14:42:46

• 补充：科学态度 -出入自在- ♂ (744 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 15:28:51

• 1) an analogy doesn't prove a thing. 2)when someone -weston- ♀ (307 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 19:51:00

• 真正骗人的是，他故意混淆视听 -出入自在- ♂ (1526 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 22:05:36

• 应为“真正骗人的是，他故意混淆视听” -出入自在- ♂ (0 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 22:07:39

• 不知道为何“方*舟*子”一词不显示 -出入自在- ♂ (21 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 22:11:47

• 美国食品与药品管理局=FDA 回复：真正骗人的是，他故意混淆视听 -celiacai- ♀ (207 bytes) () 06/07/2007 postreply 00:03:46

• 你是说没有FDA批准就可进行Phase III？ -出入自在- ♂ (360 bytes) () 06/07/2007 postreply 05:10:51

• 补充 -出入自在- ♂ (420 bytes) () 06/07/2007 postreply 12:04:28

• 你们两位根本保证不知道真情 -煤格- ♂ (495 bytes) () 06/04/2007 postreply 18:49:18

• good info. -weston- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/04/2007 postreply 22:48:06

• 肝移植并不适合advanced liver cancer -celiacai- ♀ (274 bytes) () 06/05/2007 postreply 00:05:39

• thx for the info. -weston- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/05/2007 postreply 14:54:52

• 两位的讨论颇有意义。 -出入自在- ♂ (0 bytes) () 06/06/2007 postreply 08:48:39

• 肝移植是杀一人救一人的事， -大脚丫- ♂ (166 bytes) () 06/20/2007 postreply 02:28:52