Posted by rob on January 26, 2006 under Uncategorized | 
Updated: 1/26/2006 6:30:25 AM
By: Jennifer Matthews, News 14 Carolina
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GISTs for short, affect up to 10,000 Americans each year. For the past few years, Gleevec has been known as the wonder drug for these patients, but it can stop working.
Now, researchers are looking to the next generation of drugs to save lives.
The game of life took a devastating turn for Rudolph Russo when he was diagnosed with the digestive tract cancer.
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Rudolph Russo says sutent has given him a chance to spend more time with is grandchildren. |
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“There are mornings when I say, ‘Damn it, that’s the end of this,’ then I’ll wake up and get back doing what I am supposed to be doing,” he said.
For a few years, the drug Gleevec kept Russo’s cancer in check. But like many patients, he became resistant.
“It was therefore really more painful when the resistance came on because people came back from the brink of death, and then to have the resistance build up and have the tumors come back was particularly painful,” George Demetri, an oncologist from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said.
Now, Russo takes the drug Sutent as part of a clinical trial. Demetri says unlike Gleevec, Sutent shuts down the growth of blood vessels that feed the cancer.
“The new drug is able to shut down not just one signal in the cells but multiple signals,” he said.
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Unlike Gleevec, Sutent shuts down the growth of blood vessels that feed the cancer. |
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In his study, patients who took the new drug lived almost twice as long as those who didn’t. Russo says it has given him precious time with his grandkids.
“This is a drug that is keeping me alive,? he said. ?If I did not do anything, I would be dead.?
He’s a fighter and Sutent has given him another chance to prove it.
Doctors believe Sutent can help fight other diseases like kidney and breast cancer.
Sutent is now in the process of getting approved by the FDA. The drug does pose side effects, like thinning of the skin, diarrhea and nausea.
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BACKGROUND:
About 21,860 new cases of stomach cancer were diagnosed in 2005, according to the American Cancer Society. About 11,550 people will die of this disease. Stomach cancer is more common in older populations. Two-thirds of the people found to have stomach cancer are older than age 65. Some of the risk factors for stomach cancer include being male, smoking, alcohol abuse and ethnicity. The rate of stomach cancer is higher in Hispanics and blacks than in non-Hispanic whites. The highest rates are seen in Asian/Pacific Islanders. Some doctors believe the bacteria Helicobacter pylori, a common cause of stomach ulcers, is a major contributor to stomach cancer. Also, the Epstein Barr virus, the virus that causes mono, has been found in some stomach cancers. Scientists believe most of the causes of stomach cancer are things that happen after birth. This cancer is not usually hereditary.
GASTROINTESTINAL STROMAL TUMORS:
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are a rare subset of stomach cancer. Researchers believe they form from cells in the wall of the stomach called interstitial cells of Cajal. These cancers can be found anywhere in the intestinal tract. About 5,000 people will be diagnosed with this type of stomach cancer each year.
TREATMENT:
Treatment for GIST includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The drug Gleevec, originally used to treat patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia, has also been useful in the treatment of this disease. Gleevec, or imatinib mesylate, blocks the tumor cells’ ability to grow and divide. However, Gleevec is not a long-term solution for cancers. The affects seem to wear off after about two years.
NEW TREATMENT:
Doctors at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston are testing the effectiveness of a new drug called SUTENT/SU11248 (sunitinib malate). The drug more than doubled survival and significantly reduced tumor growth and spread in a Phase III study. George Demetri, M.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, says the drug works by telling the body to turn off the growth of blood vessels to the tumor. “It actually shuts off those signals, so the body doesn’t feed those cancers,” says Dr. Demetri. Results from a study of more than 300 GIST patients resistant to or intolerant of the standard treatment of Gleevec, showed Sutent significantly prolonged the time to tumor progression. It took a little more than six months for tumors to start growing again with Sutent. It took just one and a half months for tumors to start growing again for patients in the control groups. Sutent also reduced the risk of death by about 50 percent compared to placebo. This new drug may be used to treat other cancers in the future. It has been tested on breast cancer and kidney cancer. As of December 2005, the FDA has not yet approved this drug for widespread use.
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Copyright © 2006 TWEAN d.b.a. News 14 Carolina
News 14 Carolina | 24 Hour Local News | TOP STORIES | Doctors look for the new wonder drug
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