Vaccine Injected Directly Into Cancer Appears Promising for Head and Neck Cancer:

quote:

Patients with refractory head and neck cancer currently have very limited effective treatment options, with overall survival being dismal in this group of patients. There are currently no treatment modalities that have demonstrated an improvement in survival in the treatment of refractory head and neck cancer. Several clinical trials are underway to evaluate novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of this disease.

The recent clinical trial evaluating Proxinium™ included 16 patients with head and neck cancer that had stopped responding to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. These patients had cancer that expressed EpCAM, the target of Proxinium™.  Overall, 25% of patients achieved a complete disappearance of detectable cancer and 63% had a partial shrinkage of the cancer that was injected with Proxinium™. Overall, 88% of patients achieved a benefit from Proxinium™, defined as either a shrinkage of their cancer or disease stabilization. Treatment with Proxinium™ was well tolerated. Updated results, including survival data, will be presented at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando, Florida in May.

Dr Vinod, it says 40,000 cases of head and neck cancer in the USA
what are the numbers in the U.K. just wondered

Using the definition of the term ‘oral cancer’ to include cancers of the lip, oral cavity, and pharynx excluding the nasopharynx and the salivary glands, the Cancer Research UK CancerStats (Oral Cancer) page gives the total number of Oral Cancer cases in the UK in 2001 as 4,400. This does not include Oesophageal Cancer (7,475 cases)or Thyroid Cancer (1431 cases).

More information is available at the GLOBALSCAN 2002 database.

Best wishes
Vinod

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dr Vinod K Joshi,

Just read the article, wow and double wow, I pray that it suceeds and id released to the general public soon.

Dear Dr Vinod.
From what I understand, this wouldn't benefit Matthew who has naso-pharyngeal cancer? Am franticly searching for something else.Thank you. Michelle.

Hi Michelle

Have a look at: Aggressive treatment achieves results in nasopharyngeal cancer

NPC seem to respond to this agressive treatment.

Best wishes
Vinod

Hello Dr. Joshi:

How does one get Proxinium. I live in the USA. Is it available here? What about clinical trials? I would appreciate any response. -- thanks, Bill

Hello Bill

You could try contacting the company (Viventia) through the contact information given in this
press release. Some of the Advisory Board members are attached to institutions in the USA, so it is likely that clinical trials will also be held in the USA. Good luck.

Best wishes
Vinod

Hi all,

My dad is suffering in the final stages of oral cancer. We contacted Viventia earlier this month, prior to him starting chemotherapy, but they never responded. We also contact the Sloan Kettering centre and other U.S. hospitals, but without actually flying over there for an appointment or paying $1000 for a written second opinion, you can't get very far.
The other option is getting into a European clinical trial, where they combine normal chemo with Cetuximab, in clinical trials, from Merck.

My dad, based in Belgium, was diagnosed with Stage 4 gum cancer in October 2004. Since then he has undergone:
* extensive surgery in Aache, Gerany, where he had a titanium chain implanted instead of his left jaw.
* 6 weeks of radiotherapy, all the time without PEG or nasal feeding tube
* He battled with infection throughout, got resistant to some antibiotics. In May this year, the titanium chain that was holding his jaw in place was removed, as it seemed to cause the infection.
* After the chain implant was removed, tests showed metastasis. This was early June, as we urgently tried to find any cure, like Proxinium for treatment of inoperable head and neck cancer.
He went straight back to hospital as he had developed life-threatening infection and fever.
* Ater 3 weeks, with the fever under control, and weigjing only 60kg, we opted for standard chemotherapy (cisplatin and 5-FU), as we couldn't get him into the Cetuximab anti-body clinical trial.

He is now at home, having started the first chemotherapy cycle, and is very bad off. He is kept alive by his nasal fedding tube, but even 10 days after the chemeo started, he can't cope with drinking a glass of water, it gives him nausea.

The fist chemo infusions seem to have helped a little, the infection and swelling seems to have reduced in his face, but I doubt he can cope with another 3 monhs of chemo.
He now only weighs 56kg and gets 1500kcals a day via the feeding tube. His morale is low, he can't talk well and is very weak.

Any thoughts?

Suhela