Health

Cancer Treatment Shrinks Pancreatic Tumor

by Paul Conneally | November 23, 2008 at 11:50 pm

2632 views | 5 Recommendations | 6 comments

A new cancer treatment shrinks pancreatic tumours.

Although not curing the cancer it could add a number of months of quality life for patients.

The anti-cholesterol drug Lovastatin is a key element of the new treatment.

A new cancer treatment is realizing outstanding results against pancreatic cancer. Following five weeks of treatment, a patient's large, stage 4 tumor was reduced in size by 70%. After seven more weeks of treatment, it no longer could be definitely identified on scans. Pancreatic cancer usually is fatal six to nine months after diagnosis. NeoPlas Innovation's combination of FDA-approved drugs appears to improve those odds for some patients, based on this result and similar ones seen before the protocol's public availability. The tumor reduction correlated with resolution of the patient's symptoms of pain and digestive problems. "The cancer isn't gone," emphasized NeoPlas Innovation Director of Research Dr. Stephen B. Cantrell. "There are still several metastatic lesions to address, but this kind of response is virtually unheard of in pancreatic cancer. At the very least, we're looking at his having many, many months of added survival with a quality of life he can truly enjoy."

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Uwe Paschen

at 06:25 on November 24th, 2008

Hope is always Good, and yet I am some what surprised that this is only coming up now, since the drug has been around since 1970. THe news if confirmed down the road by other labs is good in deed. However not a cure.

Paul Conneally

at 07:27 on November 24th, 2008

Thanks Paschen - these statin drugs - it looks as though they are the subject of all kinds of research to see what they might be useful for beyond lowering risk of heart disease. Hope this works.

DGB (not verified)

at 09:25 on November 24th, 2008

In case it's helpful, here is an excerpt from an earlier article telling more about the statin use history.

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Lovastatin, the first of the statin group of lipid fighters, was introduced in 1980. Early studies revealed an unexpected side effect --- killing or impairing cancer cells in laboratory cultures. Excitement among cancer researchers subsided, however, when it appeared that humans could not tolerate the levels needed to affect tumors significantly. While some researchers are reconsidering the usefulness of statins to treat cancer, one Nashville physician already is seeing its success against some of the most lethal malignancies.

According to NeoPlas Innovation Director of Research Dr. Stephen Cantrell, “The key to moving beyond theory to success and survival in real patients has been finding the right medicine to combine with lovastatin. When we have administered a precisely timed regimen of low-dose interferon with lovastatin, tumors have begun regressing, sometimes within just a few weeks."

The first person treated with the investigative protocol in 2000 had stage 4 melanoma; he remains disease-free today.