9/14/2005 Newton, PA Neal Bellucci PharmaLive (www.pharmalive.com) With a continued investment in innovative therapies in oncology, Merck KGaA has ongoing active development programs with additional novel therapies that may offer new hope to people with cancer. The company is best known for the first-in-class EGFR-targeted monoclonal antibody, Erbitux, comprising cetuximab, that works by blocking the epidermal growth factor receptor to inhibit tumor growth and spread. Merck KGaA focuses on four therapeutic technology platforms in oncology: EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibodies that may block tumor growth; immunocytokines that may provide local stimulation of the immune system; angiogenesis inhibitors that may starve tumors of the blood supply they need to grow and spread; and cancer vaccines that may stimulate a specific immune response against tumors. "These are exciting times in oncology," says Dr. Bernhard Ehmer, VP, oncology, Merck KGaA (merck.de). "With a better understanding of the growth and spread of tumors, we are able to develop treatments that target the cancer cells and give physicians and their patients additional options with which to fight cancer. "We are particularly excited by Erbitux not only in the treatment of colorectal cancer but also in its potential in head and neck cancer, and by BLP25 Liposome Vaccine, which is showing impressive results in the treatment of nonsmall cell lung cancer. Furthermore, our humanized EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibody matuzumab is showing potential in several types of cancer." Erbitux is a first-in-class and highly active IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor. As a monoclonal antibody, the mode [...]

9/14/2005 Steve Walters EarthTimes Health News (www.earthtimes.org) A new research indicates that vitamin C might have cancer-fighting properties, but at very high doses, possible only through injection into the bloodstream. The study, by researchers from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, studied the action of vitamin C as ascorbate on cultures of nine cancer and four normal cells. They found that ascorbate increased the production of hydrogen peroxide that in turn killed cancer cells while leaving normal cells safe. If found effective, the vitamin can revolutionize cancer treatment and eliminate damage to healthy cells that are also affected when a patient undergoes chemotherapy. The findings, however, don't hold true for high oral doses of vitamin C, as many previous studies have discounted any cancer-fighting benefits of the vitamin. “These findings give plausibility to intravenous ascorbic acid in cancer treatment, and have unexpected implications for treatment of infections where hydrogen peroxide may be beneficial,” the researchers said in a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Because intravenous ascorbate is easily available to people who seek it, a phase 1 safety trial in patients with advanced cancer is justified and underway,” the report added. Mark Levine, the lead author of the study, said that further tests, especially on animals and humans, are required to take these findings seriously. “If it were to work, even in a couple of cancers, that would be wonderful for patients. So the message is that there may be new hope [...]

9/14/2005 Burlington, VT Maranda Hitti, reviewed by Brunilda Nazaro, MD Cancer, Sept. 1, 2004; vol 101: pp 1058-1064 Vitamins and minerals may appear to be safe because they are sold as over-the-counter remedies. But a new study shows that vitamin supplements may affect chemotherapy -- for better or worse. Patients may think supplements are safe because they're "natural" products, but there is growing evidence that they can intensify or weaken the effects of chemotherapy drugs, say the researchers. With many supplements on the market, scientists don't yet know how each affects chemotherapy. But the pool of knowledge has now expanded with a new study from the University of Vermont in Burlington. Immune Effects In a small study of 49 women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, researcher Richard Branda, MD, of the University of Vermont's department of medicine and Vermont Cancer Center asked the women what supplements they took. The women were at various stages of their disease. Some were newly diagnosed; others had been battling breast cancer's advanced stages. Most women (71%) in the study took supplements, and the average number of supplements taken was three. But some took as many as 20 different supplements per day. The three that were most commonly used were multivitamins, vitamin E, and calcium. Supplementation with vitamins, especially vitamin E, has been recommended to decrease the toxicity of cancer drugs, according to the authors. Much of the toxicity associated with chemotherapy is related to a decrease in cells that help fight infection, leaving victims [...]

9/14/2005 St. Louis, MO press release PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) Introgen Therapeutics Inc. and its collaborators presented new data from its INGN 007 program in oncolytic viruses for the treatment of cancer this past weekend at the American Society of Gene Therapy 8th Annual Meeting. Three abstracts were presented by Introgen collaborator William S.M. Wold, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and founder and chief executive officer of VirRx, describing the activity of Introgen's portfolio of oncolytic viruses, as well as preclinical pharmacology and safety data with INGN 007 its leading oncolytic viral product candidate. Results show that INGN 007 has a favorable safety profile and significantly inhibits primary tumor growth as well as metastatic disease. The oncolytic virus data were presented in abstracts #1021, #1022 and #1023. "We have been impressed with the efficacy of INGN 007 that significantly inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in these studies. Importantly, the safety of INGN 007 was similar to that of other adenoviral products that are derived from a naturally occurring and benign virus to which many people have been exposed," said Louis A. Zumstein, Ph.D., Introgen's associate vice president of Research. Dr. Zumstein continued, "The preclinical models also tolerated a very high dose of INGN 007, suggesting a good margin of safety with this product. Taken together, these data provide a strong rationale for advancing INGN 007 and our other oncolytic viruses into the clinic and support their potential utility as [...]

9/13/2005 Cambridge, MA press release PRNewswire (www.prnewswire.com) OmniGuide, Inc. announced today the successful completion of the first three head and neck surgeries in patients using the OmniGuide Fiber, a revolutionary hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber for delivery of CO2 laser energy. The procedures were performed by Dr. Randal Weber, the Chairman of the Department of Head & Neck Surgery and by Dr. Chris Holsinger, Attending Surgeon at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. OmniGuide Fibers enhance existing surgical procedures and enable new minimally invasive treatments that cannot be performed with existing medical tools. The fiber, enabling flexible delivery of a CO2 laser, was used to remove a vocal cord pre-cancerous lesion, to ablate vocal cord carcinoma in- situ (stage 0 cancer), and to perform a base of tongue biopsy on a cancer patient. The laryngeal cases required very delicate ablation and removal of a thin mucosal layer while the biopsy case required quick cutting through thick tissue. In all cases the fiber was used through a rigid laryngoscope and manipulated by use of a malleable hand-piece. Dr. Weber said: "We were very pleased with the performance of the fibers and the superb tissue interaction, which allowed very efficient, safe, and precise application. We anticipate that the OmniGuide Fiber will serve as a very useful tool in our specialty in both laryngeal and oral cavity cases, and we will publish the results on these first cases as soon as [...]

9/9/2005 Atlanta, GA Russell A. Jackson Nanobiotech News Vol. 3, No. 26, July 13, 2005 Researchers in Germany are set to launch in 2007 a cancer treatment using targeted nanoparticles, heat and electromagnetism. The therapy, its developers say, is painless and side effect free. The MFH 300F therapy system, developed by Berlin’s MagForce Nanotechnologies GmbH, “generates an extremely homogeneous magnetic field, which changes its polarity 100,000 times a second,” explains Andreas Jordan, CEO. “The MagForce iron oxide-containing nanoparticles follow those changes in magnetization. Due to the high field homogeneity, all the particles take the same amount of energy out of the magnetic field, thus generating the same amount of heat. That’s crucial to obtaining a lasting therapeutic effect on the overall tumor volume.” MagForce, through its Center of Biomedical Nanotechnology, uses that heat for cancer therapy at high temperatures or to increase the efficacy of drugs and radiation at lower temperatures. The therapy system -- dubbed MFH300F -- is safe for the patient and medical personnel, he adds. To date, researchers have observed some 300 treatments on 50 or so patients with “no pain and no burns or other severe side effects.” MFH stands for “magnetic fluid hyperthermia.” The MagForce nanoparticles consist of an iron oxide core of 15 nm with at least one shell made of proprietary organic-anorganic compounds. The coating is adaptable to different tumor types, and the shell structure leads to uptake of the particles into tumor cells but not into normal cells of the same type [...]

9/9/2005 Houston, TX staff CancerWise (www.cancerwise.com) Goal is to Predict, Prevent Return of Stage I, II Disease Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and worldwide, but a rising tide of research focused on increasing survival and preventing recurrence hopes to change that sobering statistic. Armed with a five-year grant from the Department of Defense, M. D. Anderson is conducting a clinical trial to increase screening of lung cancer and head and neck cancer survivors, and to test adjuvant therapies that may keep cancer from coming back. Long-time smokers with skin or lung cancer targeted The two-part clinical trial is known as VITAL: Vanguard Investigations of Therapeutic Approaches to Lung Cancer. It focuses on current or former smokers who have completed treatment for Stage I or II non-small cell lung cancer or head and neck squamous cell cancer. Trial participants must have: Stage I/II lung or head and neck cancer A smoking history of at least 20 years Completed either of the following: Surgery or radiation no less than six months earlier Chemotherapy (adjuvant) no less than three months earlier “We want to focus on this population of patients because they are at risk of developing recurrences and new primary cancers largely based on their high-risk profile including smoking history,” says the trial’s co-principal investigator Edward Kim, M.D., an assistant professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology. Survival statistics emphasize the need for the trial Even if patients [...]

9/9/2005 SS Ingram et al J Am Geriatr Soc, September 1, 2005; 53(9): 1504-9 Objectives: To describe the long-term effects of oral health problems on quality of life (QoL), functional status, pain, and general health in older male cancer patients. Design: Secondary analysis of a prospective observational study. Setting: Community dwelling cancer patients served by a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital. Participants: One hundred fifty male cancer patients responded to the question "Do you have tooth or mouth problems making it hard to eat?" The relationship between patients answering "yes" and the following parameters was assessed: demographics, comorbid conditions, habits, activities of daily living, pain, anxiety, depression, social support, spirituality, QoL, and overall health ratings. Measurements: Chi-square contingency tables for dichotomous variables, Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel for ordered categorical variables, and t tests for associations with continuous variables. Results: The median age of respondents was 67. Those reporting tooth or mouth problems had had their cancer diagnosed on average 2.9 years before, and 83.3% were found clinically to be cancer free. Patients with these problems had significantly lower global (P=.003) and subscale scores on QoL analysis and higher levels of anxiety (P<.001) and depression (P=.01) than those without tooth or mouth problems; they also had significantly more pain (P<.001) and lower physical functioning (P<.001) and were more impaired in activities of daily living (P<.001). Those with tooth or mouth problems were more likely to describe their overall health as fair or poor (P=.01). Having cancer located in the head and neck region related [...]

9/9/2005 Kwok seng Loh et al Head Neck, August 31, 2005 Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the detection rate of lung metastasis or a synchronous lung primary tumor in patients with newly diagnosed head and neck mucosal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and to determine factors that are associated with positive findings. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of 102 patients with head and neck mucosal SCC diagnosed in a tertiary cancer center. Chest x-rays and a CT scan of the thorax were performed. An indeterminate nodule on CT scan was followed with either a repeat scan to assess progression or a CT-guided needle biopsy. Metastasis or synchronous lung primary tumor were determined by CT scan. The findings were correlated with age, sex, duration of symptoms, site of primary tumor, grade of tumor, T classification, and N classification. Results: A CT scan of the thorax showed abnormalities or suspicious nodules in 20 patients (19.6%). With either follow-up scans or CT-guided biopsy, 10 patients were eventually proven to have pulmonary metastasis and one a synchronous lung primary tumor. Of those eleven patients (10.8%), seven had normal chest x-ray. Eight (72.7%) of 11 patients with a positive CT scan had N2 or N3 disease in contrast to 32 (35.2%) of 91 patients with a normal CT scan (p = .02). Seven patients (63.6%) with a positive CT scan had T4 disease, whereas 34 (37.4%) with a normal CT scan had T4 disease (p = .08). Primary tumors arising [...]