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Oncology meeting marked by reports of drug advances

New medications, some still in clinical trials, target cancers, often in a most specific way.

By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. June 10, 2002.

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Research results presented at the 38th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists in Orlando, Fla., demonstrate that progress, both in treatment and prevention, is continually being made against some of the most lethal forms of cancer.

An oral cancer drug has shown success at targeting cancer cells in the lung while leaving normal cells largely unharmed.

Researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City treated patients in whom chemotherapy was no longer working with the drug Iressa. Tumors shrank by as much as half in 12% or more of the patients taking the medication.

Patient symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough, weight loss and mental clarity also improved in 43% of patients, usually by only the second week of treatment.

Another study presented at the conference revealed that a substance that helps restore lung cells' ability to absorb vitamin A may hold the potential for preventing lung cancer in former smokers.

For three months some of the 226 former smokers in the study received either a form of vitamin A called 9-cis retinoic acid, another form of retinoic acid plus vitamin E or a pill with no active ingredients.

Retinoic acid receptors increased significantly among those patients who were taking 9-cis-retinoic acid, according to the researchers.

Retinoic acid receptors absorb vitamin A, which is known to protect against lung cancer. Heavy smoking cuts the number of retinoic acid receptors. Researchers did warn, however, that excessive doses of Vitamin A can be toxic. [...]