 PSA
Rising Magazine
|
||
| LATEST COVER |February 1999 COVER | Back Issues | ||
 |
Upfront
February 11, 1999 WELCOME to PSA Rising, an independent site for men with prostate cancer and for their partners, families, and friends. We hope you'll find useful information and encouraging words here.  Anti-Angiogenesis Roller Coaster Last week The Wall Street Journal reported that Bristol-Myers Squibb has halted their efforts to make angiostatin. Discovered by Dr. Judah Folkman of Boston Children's Hospital, angiostatin (produced naturally in the body) inhibits angiogenesis. This is the process by which cancer cells grow their own blood vessels, which enables cancer to spread (or metastasize). After investing about three years and millions of dollars in angiostatin, Bristol reported some progress in making small batches of the drug, but the work was painfully slow. Last November, scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) reported similar difficulties in reproducing Dr. Folkman's results. The day after Bristol's pullout, though, NCI announced that they have been able to reproduce Dr. Folkman's results with endostatin in mice. In view of the importance of this news to patients with advanced prostate cancer, we are frontpaging the NCI announcement. Endostatin Update NCI Begins Planning for Phase I Clinical Trials of Human Endostatin, as Laboratory Research Continues February 11, 1999 / PSA Rising/ In November 1997, scientists in the laboratory of Judah Folkman, M.D. of Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, published the results of experiments indicating that the compounds endostatin and angiostatin are potent anti-cancer agents in mice. Given the promising outcome of these experiments, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has worked on confirming the results and preparing the compounds for studies in people. Initial studies of mouse endostatin in NCI laboratories showed only slight slowing of growth of lung tumors in mice  the same kinds of tumors and mice used in the Folkman group's experiments. To clarify why the results differed between the two groups, NCI staff recently visited the Folkman laboratory and performed experiments jointly with members of that group. The results were consistent with the previous Folkman experiments, showing striking inhibition of mouse lung tumors. The two groups will continue joint experiments at NCI's facilities, to verify that positive results can be obtained at NCI after careful storage and transfer of the endostatin made in Boston and with endostatin produced at NCI. It is likely that differences in storage, handling, and purification methods can result in different levels of activity. It is important to define as precisely as possible the reasons for variability in the mouse experiments, since how endostatin behaves in laboratory experiments may have implications for its use in the clinic. These efforts will continue for both the mouse and the human versions of endostatin, in collaboration with the Folkman group and with EntreMed, Inc., Rockville, MD. NCI's preliminary data on the tolerance of animals to endostatin suggest that it can be given safely. EntreMed has recently begun full-scale toxicology studies with human endostatin. In parallel with these activities, NCI has begun planning for the initial testing of human endostatin in people. On 2/5/99 NCI solicited proposals for two initial trials of human endostatin from clinical investigators with whom it sponsors early (phase I) clinical trials of new anti-cancer agents. The objective of these studies will be to define an appropriate dose and schedule of human endostatin for further clinical testing. These phase I studies will be accompanied by intensive pharmacological and laboratory monitoring, to learn as much as possible about endostatin's effects in people. The location of the sites for the phase I trials will be determined after careful review of the proposals received. The start dates for these trials are uncertain, since they depend on completion of preclinical toxicology studies and the ability to establish the stability and production of adequate quantities of Endostatin. These efforts are currently ongoing under the direction of EntreMed, which will also join the NCI in supporting the early clinical trials by providing the human endostatin and the pharmacological assays. Activities with Angiostatin have been proceeding under an agreement between EntreMed and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS). On 2/9/99 BMS announced its intention to discontinue direct involvement in efforts to bring Angiostatin to the clinic. Consistent with NCI's longstanding policy of collaborating with companies developing compounds with promise against cancer, NCI will confer with EntreMed about its plans for bringing Angiostatin to the clinic for initial testing. The process of angiogenesis and its role in tumor growth remain the focus of much research and clinical testing. More than a dozen agents aimed at controlling or treating cancer by inhibiting tumor blood vessels are being tested in clinical trials sponsored by drug companies and the NCI. People interested in information about these ongoing trials may contact NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER or search PDQ themselves via the Internet (see the Finding Clinical Trials section of this Website). Click Anti-Angiogenesis Information for more from NCI. See our links to NCI on CaPlinks. See WiredBird for press releases from Genzyme and EntreMed. |
|
|
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
PSA Rising February 14, 1999 |
Study Finds How Green Tea Kills
Cancer Cells
problems
with these pages? stories you want covered?