Idaho cancer center to test vaccines
North Idaho cancer patients are about to test three vaccines that previous trials have shown effective in eliminating prostate cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and doubling life expectancy for people with pancreatic cancer.
The clinical trials at North Idaho Cancer Center are for three different pharmaceutical companies, all of which are conducting nationwide tests. The vaccines are for people already fighting cancer and are in their last phase of testing, said Dr. Haluk Tezcan, an oncologist and director of clinical research at the cancer center in Coeur d’Alene.
“It’s hard to change the management of cancer if we don’t try new therapies,” Tezcan said. “For us to participate, a trial has to offer potential good for our patients and has to answer a good question: Are we going to make management of the disease better?”
The cancer center also has to have enough patients to generate a reasonable number of results. Finding enough patients in North Idaho and Spokane with prostate or pancreatic cancer or non-Hodgkins lymphoma is no problem, Tezcan said.
Idaho reports about 200 newly diagnosed cases of pancreatic cancer a year. The Cancer Data Registry of Idaho lists 16 cases of pancreatic cancer in the five northern counties in 2002, the last year of available statistics.
Tezcan said the North Idaho Cancer Center sees about 50 patients with new diagnoses of pancreatic cancer a year, but many of those come from Spokane.
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among men and women in the United States.
Prostate is the most common cancer in men, particularly senior men. The five northern counties reported 147 new cases of prostate cancer in 2002 and 35 new cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin’s is cancer in the lymphatic system.
Vaccines were big news in cancer treatment 20 years ago, but they didn’t work as hoped and eventually faded into obscurity.
Tezcan said interest renewed in the last few years when researchers started to understand how the immune system recognizes cancer cells.
According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer cells are so similar to normal cells that most immune systems won’t fight them.
Scientists began creating vaccines that stimulate an immune response, target existing cancer and prevent the development of new cancer.
The prostate cancer vaccine North Idaho Cancer Center patients will test uses a variety of killed prostate cancer cells as bait for the immune system, Tezcan said.
The vaccine has shown good results in two earlier levels of testing, eliminating the cancer in a few patients, he said.
The trial is open to as many as 20 men who have had no luck with hormone management – blocking testosterone to the tumor. Half the participants will receive chemotherapy already proven to extend survival rates, and half will take the trial vaccine in shot form.
Participants won’t know which therapy they’re undergoing, Tezcan said.
He contacted urologists in the area last week to notify them of the clinical test and ask for patient referrals.
Each of the 10 or so patients in the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma vaccine trial will have a personalized vaccine. Tezcan said he’ll take tissue samples from patients with newly diagnosed tumors and send them to the pharmaceutical company’s lab. Scientists will extract an antigen specific to the tumor and combine it with an immune stimulant to help the patient develop an immunity against lymphoma.
As in the prostate vaccine trial, patients in the non-Hodgkin’s vaccine trial won’t know if they’re getting a vaccine or an immune stimulant already approved as a lymphoma treatment.
The pancreatic cancer vaccine uses a pox virus to stimulate an immune system reaction. Pancreatic cancer has stymied researchers for decades. Chemotherapy hasn’t produced good results. At best, treatment extends life a few months. Only half the people with pancreatic cancer live a year after diagnosis.
“We’re far away from curing it,” Tezcan said.
“But there are some promising biological therapies. We keep hunting for options.”
The vaccine the cancer center is testing has extended life in some patients by as much as a year. Tezcan said the vaccine most likely won’t replace chemotherapy, but will follow chemotherapy to keep new cancer cells from developing.
Most health insurance doesn’t pay for experimental treatments, but vaccine manufacturers pick up costs for patients in clinical trials. Patients apparently need the incentive.
Tezcan said many are afraid to participate in clinical trials, particularly when they don’t know if they’re taking an experimental or approved treatment.
Cancer Care Northwest in Spokane is participating in a similar trial for a prostate vaccine. It’s not part of the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or pancreatic cancer vaccine trials.
The two cancer centers in the region regularly participate in clinical trials and have several dozen ongoing most of the time.
People interested in participating in the cancer vaccine clinical trials starting now should talk with their primary doctors and find out if they’re eligible.