RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
  Bladder
  Blood
  Bone Cancer
  Brain
  Breast Cancer
  Carcinogens
  Cervical Cancer
  Colon
  Endometrial
  Esophageal
  Gastric Cancer
  Liver Cancer
  Lung
  Nerve Tissue
  Ovarian Cancer
  Pancreatic Cancer
  Prostate Cancer
  Rectal Cancer
  Renal Cell Carcinoma
  Risk Factors
  Skin
  Testicular Cancer
  Therapy
  Thyroid
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Research Article
Liver Cancer Channel

subscribe to Liver Cancer newsletter
Latest Research : Cancer : Liver Cancer

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Sunitinib slows tumor growth and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Apr 14, 2008 - 2:01:16 PM , Reviewed by: Dr. Sanjukta Acharya
“Results are still preliminary, but there is clear evidence of an anti-tumor activity in these patients,” Zhu said.

 
[RxPG] Treatment with sunitinib slows tumor growth and reduces the risk of metastasis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, an aggressive cancer of the liver, researchers report.

“Patients with this type of liver cancer have a very poor prognosis and the only currently available therapy is sorafenib. This study shows that we may be able to effectively use sunitinib with manageable side effects,” said Andrew X. Zhu, M.D., Ph.D., director of liver cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. “Giving these patients more options would have a significant impact.”

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a cancer that relies heavily on blood vessels for growth; sunitinib controls the growth of blood vessels and could therefore potentially play an important role for treatment, Zhu says.

Researchers enrolled 34 patients with advanced liver cancer and gave them 37.5 mg sunitinib daily on a standard four weeks on, two weeks off regimen. Sunitinib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets multiple receptors, including VEGFR2, c-Kit and FLT3. These receptors may be present in cancer cells as well as in endothelial and immune cells.

By 12 weeks, one patient had a partial response and 17 patients had stable disease. The median progression-free survival was four months and the median overall survival was 10 months.

“Results are still preliminary, but there is clear evidence of an anti-tumor activity in these patients,” Zhu said.

Researchers also measured changes in tumor vascular permeability using MRI, because the abnormally increased leakage of plasma from blood vessels in tumors is causally related to pathways blocked by sunitinib. They found that permeability decreased after treatment with sunitinib by 40 percent compared to measures taken at the start of the study.

Circulating progenitor cells, a potential measure of the risk of cancer spread, also were reduced with sunitinib treatment, Zhu says, noting that an increase in circulating progenitor cells during treatment appears to be associated with significantly increased mortality.

Researchers report that the patients tolerated the sunitinib treatment. High levels of SGOT and SGPT liver enzymes were noted in 18 percent and 9 percent of patients, respectively. Blood disorders such as neutropenia (12 percent of patients), lymphopenia (15 percent) thrombocytopenia (12 percent) and hyperbilirubinemia (6 percent) also occurred at low rates. Fatigue was observed in 9 percent of patients and hand-foot syndrome in 6 percent of patients.




Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Liver Cancer News
Thalidomide may help as adjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma
Chlorophyll limits the absorption of the carcinogen aflatoxin
Sunitinib slows tumor growth and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma
Combined stenting and photodynamic therapy may improve survival rates in liver cancer
Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors prove safe and effective
Cancer cells metastatic to the liver are a perfect target for gene therapy, study reports
Nexavar shown to significantly extend survival for patients with advanced liver cancer
Colchicine can delay the development of hepatocellular carcinoma
Study implicates two human genes in liver cancer
Skin rash after lapatinib for liver cancer determines survival

Subscribe to Liver Cancer Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 About Dr. Sanjukta Acharya
This news story has been reviewed by Dr. Sanjukta Acharya before its publication on RxPG News website. Dr. Sanjukta Acharya, MBBS is the chief editor for RxPG News website. She oversees all the medical news submissions and manages the medicine section of the website. She has a special interest in diabetes and endocrinology.
RxPG News is committed to promotion and implementation of Evidence Based Medical Journalism in all channels of mass media including internet.
 Additional information about the news article
The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes nearly 27,000 basic, translational, and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 70 other countries. AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special Conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment, and patient care. AACR publishes five major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Its most recent publication and its sixth major journal, Cancer Prevention Research, is the only journal worldwide dedicated exclusively to cancer prevention, from preclinical research to clinical trials. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors, patient advocates, their families, physicians, and scientists. CR provides a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship, and advocacy.

 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)