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The West Australian Thursday, April 17^th 2008

Scientists find way to destroy cancer tumours

WA scientists have discovered a new way to stop rapid growth of blood vessels that “feed” deadly tumours, paving the way for a new cancer therapy. Fast growing blood vessels are essential in helping tumours grow and spread, but the scientists have revealed they can halt the process by switching off a master gene.

Turning off the gene, called RGS 5, forces vessel growth to return to normal and gives the immune system a better chance of getting to the tumour and destroying it.

The world–first discovery, reported in the international journal Nature today, was made in mice, but the researchers and other cancer experts say it offers hope as a bold new therapy if the process can be replicated in humans.

“By understanding what is actually going on in the tumour itself, the ultimate hope is that we’ll be able to work on making current therapeutic approaches even more successful and reducing side-effects of them, “ said Professor Ruth Ganss, of the WA Institute for Medical Research.

She and her team were studying the behavior of blood vessels when they realized the gene would reverse so called angiogenesis, the growth of blood vessels inside the tumour.

“It’s the uncontrolled growth of blood vessels and the formation of abnormal blood vessels inside turmours that ‘feed them’, allowing them to grow and stopping the immune system from wiping out the tumour, “Professor Ganss said.

“What we’ve shown is that RGS5 is a master gene in angiogenesis and that when t is removed, angiogenesis reverses and the blood vessels in tumours appear more normal.

She said this normalization changed the tumour environment in a way that improved immune cell entry, meaning tumours could be destroyed. Cancer Council Australia chief executive Professor Ian Olver said reversing abnormal vessel growth was a fresh approach to tackling angiogenesis.

"Most of the other research looks at either killing of blocking the vessels, not reversing their growth,” he said.

Current treatments focus on attacking growth factors and stimulate vessels to grow, giving a “slightly increased advantage” when used alongside other therapies.

“But attacking a gene is farther down the pathway which, in theory, should make it more effective,” Professor Olver said.

West Australian Newspaper - January 18th 2007

Tests on new breast cancer drug

A new chemotherapy drug to treat advanced breast cancer could be on the Australian market within two years.

Abraxane, which is approved for use in the US and Canada, will be considered by the Therapeutic Drug Administration and a decision is expected within 18 months.

The drug is a modification of an often-used treatment for metastatic breast cancer called paclitaxel, which contains toxic solvents to attack the tumour. The new drug removes the need for the solvents.

Perth oncologist Arlene Chan said it was encouraging that another effective chemotherapy drug had been found to treat women with advanced breast cancer. Ït appears to be well tolerated and gives breast cancer patients another option for treatment,"Dr Chan said.

A study of the drug involving 460 women with metastatic breast cancer showed that it slowed the progression of tumours more significantly in patients treated with Abraxane than other drugs. Those treated with Abraxane also had fewer side-effects, including lower white and red blood cell counts,infections, nausea, vomiting and aches, than other patients, despite not being administered additional medication to stem reactions.

Dr Chan said studies in the US had shown the most effective way of administering the drug was with a medium weekly dose and common side-effects were lower than other drugs.

Story By Peta Rule

West Australian Newspaper

January 18th 2007

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West Australian Newspaper -Tuesday 16,2007

New Lung Cancer Drug set for Trial

A ground - breaking lung cancer vaccine which could extend the lives of victims is set to undergo a trail in WA by mid-year as a part of a global study.

Cancer Council WA professor of clinical cancer research Michael Millward said yesterday that the drug - Stimuvax - told the body's immune system to attack cells which had a type of protein unique to cancer cells.

The caccine is more targeted than conventional treatments like chemotherapy, which can harm non -cancerous cells.

Professor Millward said the phase three study would be conducted on cancer patients whose cancer had gone into remission after chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

The caccine targets non-small cell cancer, the most common form.

"This is not a preventative vaccine like the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. It is a treatment vaccine,"Professor Millward said. "This is a new approach to dealing with lung cancer and it is critically important to develop new ways to treat it.

"Lung cancer is difficult to teat and most patients do not get symptoms until the cancer is quite progressed."

Professor Millward said that each year about 50 people had lung cancer in remission following chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Cancer Council WA figures showed that lung cancer was the biggest cause of cancer-related deaths in WA during 2004 and more than 800 new case were detected each year, with the rate in women on the rise.

International reports have suggested the trial will include 1300 patients in 30 countries, including the US and Britain.

In the study, half the people taking part would be treated with Stimuvax in addition to combinations of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The remainder would receive the treatment or a placebo.

Trials involving 171 patients who had responded to conventional treatment suggested that the vaccine can improve survival rates.

In the placebo group, half the patients survived 13 months or longer. In the vaccine group, half survived for 30 months or longer.

The vaccine was developed after studies funded by Cancer Research UK and the technology was licensed to be developed by the Canadian biotechnology company Biomira.

Story by Peta Rule

West Australian Newspaper Tuesday 16,2007