Two prostate cancer
patients, who were told that their conditions were beyond surgery, are now cancer-free as the result of an experimental therapy.
Before the treatment, the two men had an aggressive form of prostate cancer, which tends to advance and spread quickly. By the time their cancer was diagnosed, the treatment was practically ineffectual.
Dr. Eugene Kwon, an immunologist and urologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and leader of the study, stated, "The goal of the study was to see if we could modestly improve upon current treatments for advanced prostate cancer.
"The candidates for this study were people who didn't have a lot of other options. However, we were startled to see responses that far exceeded any of our expectations."
The experimental therapy
The men were enrolled in a clinical trial of an immunotherapeutic agent called MDX-010, or ipilimum, which was used in combination with standardized hormone treatment and radiation therapy.
After one infusion of the ipilimumab drug, a monoclonal antibody that stimulates the immune system, both patients saw their prostate specific antigen (PSA) shrink enough to be surgically removed.
A surgical surprise
Within a few weeks of treatment, the two men’s tumor could not be seen on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
But the real surprise came when Kwon and his colleague Michael Blute, a urologist and surgeon, decided to operate on the first patient. They were shocked with the results, which were far beyond anything they had ever expected.
Dr Michael Blute said: "The tumors had shrunk dramatically. I had never seen anything like this before. I had a hard time finding the cancer. At one point the pathologist asked if we were sending him samples from the same patient."
Surgery on the second patient showed similar results. A year-and-a-half later, both patients are entirely off therapy and are cancer free.
Dr Kwon said, "This is one of the holy grails of prostate cancer research. We've been looking for this for years."
Kwon admitted that there is need for more research to understand the mechanisms of the antibody used in the treatment and what the most effective dosages and ways of administering those might be.
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