MDNews - Cleveland-Akron-Canton

RECENT RESEARCH Study Finds Vaccine Extends Recurrent GBM Survival Rates In data presented at The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, cancer researchers found that the brain tumor vaccine HSPPC-96 for treating recurrent gliobastoma (GBM) has a favorable safety profi le and extends survival by two to three times more than the current median survival rate. Patients in the study, conducted at University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UHCMC), University of California, San Francisco and Columbia University, were found to have a median survival of 11 months compared to current three to fi ve month survival. “The vaccine is one of the few immune therapies designed specifi cally for patients who are not newly diagnosed, and these encouraging results make this a promising therapy for a more extensive Phase 3 trial,” says Andrew Sloan, MD, one of the authors of the study presented at ASCO and director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at UHCMC. HSPPC-96 isolates the heat shock protein, which is part of the immune system. The protein from the patient’s tumor is then reinjected into the skin with an adjuvant, or an agent added to a drug to increase its effect. All patients underwent surgery prior to vaccine therapy. However, since the vaccine is made from the patient’s own tumor, the surgery had to be performed at one of the participating sites. The vaccine therapy begins within 5 weeks after surgery and consists of four weekly injections, followed by bi-weekly injections for up to 52 weeks. “The vaccine is made from a patient’s own cells, so it takes into account what is unique about the patient’s particular tumor – it’s the ultimate in ‘personalized medicine’,” explains Dr. Sloan, who also is the Peter D. Cristal Chair in Neurosurgery and an Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Results Show Axitinib Is More Effective Than Sorafenib for Kidney Cancer At the 47th Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in June, researchers at Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Institute reported that cancer progression in patients with previously-treated advanced renal cell carcinoma – the most prevalent form of kidney cancer — was delayed by an average of two months when treated with axitinib versus sorafenib. This is the fi rst trial to compare these targeted therapies against each other in kidney cancer patients who have relapsed or been unresponsive to their treatments. All prior Phase III studies of the drugs compared their effectiveness against placebo or cytokines. “Before this study, we had limited proven options for previously- treated patients. Now, we can better understand how to build an effective sequence of treatments for patients with relapsed or refractory kidney cancer,” said Cleveland Clinic oncologist Brian Rini, MD, the principal investigator on the AXIS 1032 international trial and a paid consultant for Pfi zer Oncology, makers of axitinib. Axitinib is an investigational agent and has not been approved by regulatory agencies. AXIS 1032 is an international study involving 723 patients with clear-cell advanced kidney cancer. The study population was refl ective of the kidney cancer population. Certain subgroups of patients in the study showed even more response to axitinib. For example, in patients who were previously treated with cytokines, axitinib extended median progression-free survival to more than a year. Complete or partial response to treat- ment more than doubled in patients treated with axitinib compared to sorafenib, which is made by Bayer. Axitinib also proved to be generally well-tolerated among study participants. Researchers are now conducting a front-line trial of axitinib and sorafenib in a head-to-head study in both previously treated and previously untreated patients with advanced kidney cancer. Two-Thirds of Children in Palliative Care Programs Live Longer Than a Year Children with life-threatening illnesses receive hospital-based palliative care services for an average of more than a year, far longer than adults who require similar end-of-life support, according to a new study from the Pediatric Palliative Care Research Network and PolicyLab at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The majority of children were treated for genetic, congeni- tal, neuromuscular, breathing and stomach illnesses, much different from the adult palliative population often dominated by cancer. About 20 percent of the children in the study had cancer. The study, “Pediatric Palliative Care Patients: A Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study,” was published online on May 9th in the journal Pediatrics and is the fi rst cohort study to look at the characteristics and survival of children receiving end-of-life care. Researchers from six children’s hospitals in the U.S. and Canada, including Akron Children’s Hospital, studied 515 patients in 2008 with 12-month follow-up. Children with grave and chronic illnesses receive an average of nine drugs and the majority rely on life-supporting medical technology such as gastric feeding tubes, the study found. Two-thirds of children in the study survived past the 12-month follow-up. Patients who died within 30 days after joining were more likely to be infants and to have either cancer or heart conditions. The typical adult receives palliative care for between one to three months. See Page 27 MDNEWS.COM  JULY-AUGUST 2011  MD NEWS Cleveland-Akron-Canton | 19

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