Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Dana-Farber research cites antibody therapy for melanoma

By James M. Connolly

A pair of monoclonal antibodies, intensified formulations of natural disease-fighting proteins, have shown the potentional to be more effective when working together to fight advanced, inoperable melanomas, according to the results of a Phase 1 study led by investigators at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The drugs are ipilimumab, which is designed to spur the immune system to attack diseased cells, and bevacizumab, which is known by the trade name Avastin and blocks the growth of blood vessels that nourish tumors. Both drugs have been used on their own in the past, with ipilimumab extending the lives of metastatic melanoma patients and bevacizumab being used to treat tumors of the colon, lung and kidneys. In the new report, presented to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the two drugs working together were shown to be safely administered and “potentially more effective than either drug alone” for treatment of advanced melanomas, according to a press release from Dana-Farber.

The lead author was F. Stephen Hodi, director of the melanoma treatment center at Dana-Farber. He said most of the 22 participants didn’t experience serious adverse side effects, although some did experience inflammation of artery walls, the liver, thyroid gland, colon, or uvea.

According to Dana-Farber, scans showed an immune system response to many of the melanoma tumors, and decreased blood flow to the tumors.

Funding for the trial was provided by grants from the Melanoma Research Alliance and National Institutes of Health. The other co-authors of the study are Philip Friedlander, MD, Annick Van Den Abbeele, MD, Nageatte Ibrahim, MD, Xinqi Wu, PhD, Jun Zhou, PhD, Anita Giobbie-Hurder, Travis Hollmann, MD, PhD, Sara Russell, MD, Pamela Dipiro, MD, Jeffrey Yap, PhD, of Dana-Farber; George Murphy, MD, David McDermott, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Michael Atkins, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and Donald Lawrence, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Last month, the director of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science, Dr. Ronald DePinho, was reported to be about to be named the new president of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Tex., which is the largest cancer center in the country.