From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-568272-399326
ROCHESTER, Minn. (UPI) -- Two patients with inoperable prostate cancer
are cancer free, thanks in part to an experimental drug, U.S. doctors
say.
The Mayo Clinic physicians say this new approach caused the tumors to
shrink dramatically and allowed surgery. In both cases, the aggressive
tumors had grown well beyond the prostate into the abdominal areas.
The two patients were participating in a clinical trial of an
immunotherapeutic agent called MDX-010, or ipilimum, which was used in
combination with standardized hormone treatment and radiation therapy.
"The goal of the study was to see if we could modestly improve upon
current treatments for advanced prostate cancer," clinical trial
leader Dr. Eugene Kwon says in a statement. "The candidates for this
study were people who didn't have a lot of other options. However, we
were startled to see responses that far exceeded any of our
expectations."
After androgen ablation -- a hormone therapy that removes testosterone
and usually causes tumor shrinkage -- the patients received a single
dose of the new drug, an antibody that builds on the anti-tumor action
of the hormone and causes a much larger immune response.
"The tumors had shrunk dramatically," Dr. Michael Blute, who operated
on both men, said. "I had never seen anything like this before. I had
a hard time finding the cancer."