MDNews - Cleveland-Akron-Canton

LOCAL CANCER RESEARCH Summa Health System, Mayo Clinic and IC-MedTech Collaborate to Study Apatone for Polycystic Liver and Kidney Disease Researchers from the Mayo Clinic and representatives from IC-MedTech have signed a collaborative research agreement with Summa Health System to study the usage of Apatone, a proprietary combina- tion of Vitamin-C and Vitamin-K3 . The Mayo Clinic entered into the collabora- tion with Summa Health System and IC-MedTech in order to conduct research and development for the prevention and/or treatment of polycystic liver and kidney disease. Originally developed to supplement cancer treatment, the fi rst clinical trial of Apatone began in 2005 to evaluate the drug in prostate cancer patients. The conclusion of the trial demonstrated promising results by showing delays in the biochemical progression in end- stage prostate cancer patients, which demonstrated the safety and effi cacy of orally administered Apatone. Currently, Apatone is being studied in laboratory research as well as clinical trials for a variety of diseases that have infl amma- tion as a signifi cant component. As originally developed for cancer, Apatone works to selectively lower the level of compounds in tumor cells that protect against chemotherapy, thus weakening the cancer cells and making them more susceptible to treatment. Earlier this year, researchers in Summa Health System's Walter A. Hoyt, Jr. Musculoskeletal Laboratory opened a clinical trial to study Apatone-B for patients with a chronically painful joint as a result of a cellular response to a prosthetic implant. Apatone-B is a lower concentrated combination of Vitamin-C and Vitamin-K3 that work together to target infl ammation as a means of fi ghting disease and regulating abnormal cell activity. Any cell that produces the proteins associated with infl ammation is targeted by the drug, while healthy tissue is spared. In regards to the latest Apatone research, James Jamison, Ph.D, director of The Apatone Development Center at Summa Health System, explained, "Cell proliferation and cell cycle deregulation are considered to be the major con- tributors to polycystic kidney disease and polycystic liver disease. Pharmacological targeting of the cell cycle machinery by Apatone is expected to decrease cell hyper-proliferation and reduce hepatic and renal cyst formation." Apatone was licensed in 2004 to IC-MedTech, a privately held California corporation. UHCMC Researchers Find New Prostate Cancer Screening Test Is Promising A new prostate screening test developed by AnalizaDx, Inc., a Cleveland-based biotech company, and studied by researchers at the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center along with colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic, the Veterans Administration Boston Healthcare and the National Cancer Institute, may prove to be a promising new tool in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The study which was published in the September issue of Urology found that this new screening test, the PSA/ SIA assay, may be more sensitive in detecting prostate cancer than traditional screening methods. "This test provides a new way to look at prostate cancer diagnosis utilizing a novel biological assay which differenti- ates PSA molecular structures arising from cancer versus non-cancerous glands," says Mark Stovsky, MD, Principal Investigator and lead author of the study, urologist at UH Case Medical Center and Associate Professor of Urology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Working with AnalizaDx, Inc., researchers studied a urine-based test that works differently than most prostate screening methods by using a novel assay to separate PSA protein structures as being linked to either a 'cancer' or 'non-cancer' pathologic diagnosis based on ultrasound guided biopsy. Instead of attempting to fi nd a single genetic biomarker which predicts the presence of cancer, the PSA/SIA assay is based on the assumption that there may be myriad different ultra-structural changes in the PSA protein which defi ne the cancer phenotype. The authors theorize that the extremely high sensitivity of the test is the result of the ability of the PSA/SIA biological fi lter to categorize the myriad ultra-structural changes in the PSA protein as being made by either cancer versus non-cancer glands. The PSA/SIA assay was also found to have relatively high specificity (low false positive) results compared to the traditional serum PSA test. The initial study, which followed 222 men, found that the new screening method had 100% sensitivity (no false negative results) and 80.3% specifi city (low false positive results). The study data was collected at three clinical sites — UH Case Medical Center, VA Boston and Cleveland Clinic, and was analyzed at the National Cancer Institute. The technology will be tested in further clinical research studies to determine its accuracy in serum as well as its ability to predict cancer grade/ aggressiveness and the response to curative intent therapies. n NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2011 MDNEWS.COM MD NEWS Cleveland-Akron-Canton | 41

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