26 May 2014

Myeloma Drug Better at Low Doses

Myeloma Drug Works Better at Lower Dose.

To prove that less can really means more, U.S. government researchers say that lower doses of chemotherapy increased the number of patients with blood cancer multiple myeloma, can survive.

What happens is, the increased ability to survive one year, so shocking and exhilarating at the same time - from 86 percent to 96 percent - for the psien who received a lower dose of the steroid dexamethasone at the National Cancer Institute clinical trials so that the experiment was terminated prematurely so that all participants can obtain great benefits that may be ..

The patients received a lower dose of steroids along with other cancer drugs exterminator, lenalidomide, the chemical quality of thalidomide

"This treatment reduces the risk of side effects, and at the same time, it is also more effective, and to show that the GCC more is not always better," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, Chief Medical Officer in the Environment of the American Cancer Society. He himself was not involved in these penetilian.

The results of these studies have not been issued, but all data will be presented in June in the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. The results of one year and the introduction of two studies designed for this year, released earlier this week for the interest of the patient who was struggling against the double mysloma, say the researchers.

These diseases, harmful cells from the plasma that live in the bone marrow and blood flow, was diagnosed in nearly 20,000 Americans each year, according to the NCI.

According to Lichtenfeld, particularly myeloma patients given one of the fourteen ways of treatment, depending on the type and level of their illness.

Starting in mid-1990s, scientists began to realize that the drug thalidomide may help fight myeloma, primarily through its effect in reducing the blood supply to cancer.

According to researchers who are both conducting research, namely Dr. Howard Streicher, drugs such as thalidomide may also inhibit meloma by the intervention of the major signaling molecules called cytokines, or by increasing the immune reactions

Nevertheless, Thalidomide had a past that is not fixed, most tekenal is the cause of devastating birth defects.

Lenalidomide name. (Brand name Revlimid) is a very significant part of thalidomide, which is a newly developed chemical compounds, said Strecher, a senior researcher at the NCI.

"Apparently this does not cause birth defects and the same; it does not have the nature of pain relievers, but it may be more powerful and active than thalidomide in myeloma," said Strecher.

Doctors have also long used dexamethasone (brand name Decadron) to fight myeloma, because the drug appears to make cancer cells die.

But dexamethasone has a drawback, too - the most notable increase in the risk for subtle nerve in thrombosis (DVT) and embolism associated with the lungs, blood clots which is a major threat to life.

New experiment seeks to determine whether a lower dose of dexamethasone would work as a high lelbih doses, when combined with the same dose of lenalidomide.

In these experiments, Streicher and his colleagues compared the survival rate and toxicity in 445 patients given a new diagnosis of multiple myeloma diagnosed. None of the patients who underwent any form of chemotherapy prior to the experiment, which is planned to be done for two years. The patients had been randomly selected to receive, if it dose dexamethasone plus lenalidomide treatment of low or high doses.

Results lpenelitian one year is a happy surprise, said Sreicher.

"Concentration of reaction in terms of survival in the two sides is very high, even higher with a lower dose of dexamethasone," said Streicher again. Content of the reaction is even higher than we had anticipated. "

He said it is unclear why the lower dose of dexamethasone could improve levels of living, despite a reduction toxins may play a large role. Levels for most of the side effects - particularly dangerous blood clots - was associated with a declining number of steroids at a low dose, according to Streicher.

In fact, the results achieved so positive so that (the board of the research review board) stopped the trial early so they do not need to reject the patients in this trial - and patients in general - treated in this way, "said Lichtenfeld. "It's usually a very, very positive indication of a successful experiment."

Streicher nonetheless asserts that these findings remain preliminary.

"We do not know what it would like within two years," he said again. "Maybe we will find that the benefits will continue to exist for a long time, or something else needs to be done if the patient is diseased replicates. That is a problem that still need answers. "

Lichtenfeld said the success of the experiment was "all part of the story is used as destination therapy," which he says is a breakthrough treatment for cancer.

But he also warned that the weaknesses of existing inventions at public health institutions such as NCI - who support and care of many types of clinical trials - threaten the progress of this kind.

"We are trying to better understand myeloma and we are able to use these drugs," said Lichtenfeld. "But if we do not continue to support these types of activities, then we may lose our progress."

0 comments:

Post a Comment