SURVIVING PANCREATIC CANCER
Each year in the united states, more than 30,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and nearly all will die from it. As the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, doctors have been searching for answers in this hard to treat disease. Now, they may have found one.
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Last december, Arnold Wroblewski joined the 30,000 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year.
Arnold Wroblewski
Has pancreatic cancer
"It took quite a while for it to soak in that this was really what's happening."
Facing a grim diagnosis, he enrolled in a study on an experimental treatment for the disease.
Kenneth Chang, M.D.
Gastroenterologist
H. H. Chao Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA
"It's a new paradigm in cancer treatment. The concept is very new, very cutting edge, and very exciting."
That concept is this drug -- TNF-Erade. TNF is a cancer-fighter that occurs naturally in the body. Doctors inject the gene for TNF into the tumor to capitalize on its cancer-killing ability. It works in synergy with radiation and chemotherapy. Chemo makes radiation more effective and radiation makes TNF multiply faster.
Kenneth Chang, M.D.
"This represents a potential to truly advance our ability to treat and potentially cure cancers as lethal as pancreatic cancer."
Early results show 33 percent of patients who received the highest dose had their tumors shrink more than 50 percent. Nearly one year later, arnold's tumor is gone.
Kenneth Chang, M.D.
"He should have, by all statistics, been dead at this time, but he is alive. He is well. He is fully functioning."
Arnold Wroblewski
"There's still something special that I need to get done to help some other less fortunate people in the world, because I've been so fortunate, so fortunate, and I can't believe why."
Studies of TNF-Erade are ongoing.
BACKGROUND: According to the American Cancer Society, more than 30,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. The mortality rate for patients with this disease is almost the same as the incidence. Thus, about 30,000 Americans will also die of pancreatic cancer each year. Kenneth J. Chang, M.D., from the H.H. Chao Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center at the University of California, Irvine, says pancreatic cancer has a very low survival rate. He says, "The prognosis is terrible. This cancer has the worst prognosis of any solid tumor." The median survival rate for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer is three to six months, without treatment. Researchers say the reason many patients face such a grim diagnosis is because pancreatic cancer is extremely difficult to detect. The pancreas lies deep inside the body, behind the stomach, and oftentimes doctors cannot see or feel tumors during a routine physical exam. Currently, there are no blood tests or other tests that can detect this cancer early in patients without symptoms. In many cases, by the time an individual experiences symptoms, the tumor has enlarged, and the cancer has spread to other organs.
Some symptoms of pancreatic cancer include jaundice, abdominal pain, weight loss, blood clots, a swollen gallbladder, digestive problems, and the onset of diabetes. While researchers do not know exactly what causes pancreatic cancer, they have identified several risk factors. These factors include smoking, a family history, exposure to chemicals, and a poor diet. Pancreatic cancer is also more common among black males, and the likelihood of developing the disease increases with age. Traditional treatment options include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. However, surgery represents the only chance for a cure, which is only a 25 percent to 30 percent cure rate.
NEW HOPE: Dr. Chang is studying a new drug called TNF-erade. TNF is a cancer-fighting protein that occurs naturally in the body. Researchers are able to package the TNF gene into a virus that does not replicate or cause illness. This virus is delivered into the tumor through a procedure called endoscopy. Once the virus enters the tumor, researchers deliver multiple viral particles that attach to the cancer cells. Once attached, the TNF from the virus actually centers the cancer cells, and the virus dies off. The TNF replicates and produces more TNF, which ultimately works to destroy cancer cells. This procedure works in synergy with radiation and chemotherapy. Radiation makes TNF multiply faster.
Early results show 33 percent of patients who received the highest dose of TNF-erade had their tumors shrink more than 50 percent. Dr. Chang says this treatment is very cutting edge. He says, "This represents a potential to truly advance our ability to treat and potentially cure cancers as lethal as pancreatic cancer."
H. H. Chao Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center
(888) 717-GIMD (4463)
www.ucihealth.com/cddc
Copyright © 2003 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
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