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ENDOSTATIN MESOTHELIOMA CLINICAL TRIAL
The first Phase I trials of the protein Endostatin to treat terminally ill cancer patients are beginning at three locations: Dana Farber/Partners Cancer Care in Boston, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center in Madison. Endostatin has been shown to shrink tumors in mice by cutting off the blood supply to the tumors. Only about 100 people are expected to receive the drug at the three locations.
Tumors need a blood supply in order to grow. The process by which blood vessels form is called angiogenesis. The tumor cells send signals out to ask blood vessels to come and nourish them, enabling the tumor to grow in a way that can eventually kill the patient. Antiangiogenesis drugs, like Endostatin, halt the process by blocking blood vessel growth. The tumor starves and disappears.
Researchers say antiangiogenesis holds extraordinary potential. Most anti-cancer drugs work by poisoning the cancer cells and are, therefore, very toxic.
The Phase I study, like all Phase I studies, will primarily determine the safety of the drug, but researchers will be watching for a reduction in tumor size.
Investigators say patients with renal cell carcinoma, mesothelioma, breast cancer, and melanoma may be best suited for the Endostatin trial because of the large number of blood vessels feeding those types of tumors.
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