[ad_1]
CHICAGO, Ill. – Like all diseases, prostate cancer is more easily treated when it is detected early. But this is not always what happens.
Today, there are treatments at the roots of Illinois that offer new options to men with advanced prostate cancer.
Just ask Ralph Stuart, age 85
He has been fighting prostate cancer for nine years. At first, the cancer was growing slowly, but in 2011, his illness took a turn.
"At that moment, he began to spread, spreading to the bones," said his wife, Austine Stuart.
Ralph's doctors tried hormone treatment, but his cancer continued to spread.
It was at this point that the Stuarts found Dr. Akash Patnaik of the University of Chicago.
Dr. Patnaik was recruiting patients in a leading clinical trial known as "Checkmate 650".
"With the PSA that has progressed so much and nothing else seems to work, we said it would not hurt," said Austine Stuart.
Patients participating in the trial receive an intravenous infusion of two immune-boosting drugs: ipilimumab and nivolumab.
"We are trying to improve the ability of the good immune cells, T cells are able to enter the tumor and overcome this fortress of immunosuppression," said Dr. Patnaik, a university oncologist. .
Dr. Patnaik explains that, when administered separately, the drugs have little effect on patients with advanced prostate cancer, but together, some patients, such as Ralph Stuart, S & P Come out very well.
"He had a very dramatic response even after the first cycle of treatment."
NEW SEARCH: Dr. Akash Patnaik said the study combined two immune stimulating drugs: ipilimumab and nivolumab. These drugs, both monoclonal antibodies, act slightly differently. Ipilimumab blocks a protein called cytotoxic T-cell antigen 4 (CTLA-4) that is on the surface of T cells and prevents them from doing their job by attacking cancer cells. When ipilimumab, the first known immune inhibitor, binds to CTLA-4 on T cells, it can help these cells get back into action, destroying cancer cells. It also inhibits the activity of other cells, such as regulatory T cells, that further impede the immune response. Nivolumab blocks another path, called PD-1. Tumors exploit the pathway to protect themselves from T cells. PD-1 is an immune control point that stops tumor attack by T cells. PD-1 inhibitors, such as nivolumab, can restore capacity. T cells to penetrate and attack tumors.
At its highest level, Ralph's PSA rate, a measure of prostate cancer, was greater than 500. At present, this is not detectable, the sign of a possible treatment.
"There is a solution for a lot of people," said Ralph's wife, Austine.
Both drugs have already been approved by the FDA for advanced kidney cancer and metastatic lung cancer.
The "Checkmate 650" trial is underway in five centers in the United States, including the University of Chicago.
If this story has had an impact on your life or prompted you, or anyone you know, to search for or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Jim Mertens at [email protected] or Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at [email protected]
Source link
