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heblaj01 · 06-03-2006, 09:26 AM

Lisa,

Here is a just published article which you might ask your onc to look into:

Reported June 2, 2006
One-Two Punch for Lung Cancer

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- UCLA researchers find adding the COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex (celecoxib) to the lung cancer drug Tarveca significantly increases the number of people who can benefit from the therapy

In their study, about 33 percent of patients responded to the combination treatment. Typically, only about 10 percent of lung cancer patients respond to Tarveca alone.

The addition of Celebrex is believed to up the efficacy of Tarveca because it inhibits the COX-2 cell signaling pathway. That pathway has been linked to resistance to Tarveca, which blocks the growth of tumor cells by targeting a protein known as the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR.

"Tarveca alone is a great drug and has a lot of clinical benefits, but for a small proportion of patients," says study author Dr. Karen Reckamp. "With this drug combination, we saw an increase in response rates, indicating we are overcoming some resistance."

All of the participants in the study were diagnosed with advanced lung cancer that failed to respond to conventional treatments like chemotherapy.

The authors note the Tarveca-Celebrex treatment could be superior to chemotherapy because it targets only the diseased cells. Chemotherapy kills all fast growing cells, healthy and diseased alike, and can cause serious side effects. In this study, Tarveca only caused minor side effects, such as rash and diarrhea, and the addition of Celebrex didn't add any side effects to the mix.

The researchers plan more study to confirm these early findings and delve more deeply into why some people are resistant to Tarveca.

SOURCE: Clinical Cancer Research, published online June 1, 2006

P.S.: in the above text one should read "Tarceva" instead of wrongly spelled "Tarveca". Tarceva is the commercial name for Erlotinib. The abstract for the study results can be read at:
http://www.her2support.org/vbulletin...ad.php?t=24036

06-03-2006, 09:26 AM	#6
heblaj01 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 543	Lisa, Here is a just published article which you might ask your onc to look into: Reported June 2, 2006 One-Two Punch for Lung Cancer (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- UCLA researchers find adding the COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex (celecoxib) to the lung cancer drug Tarveca significantly increases the number of people who can benefit from the therapy In their study, about 33 percent of patients responded to the combination treatment. Typically, only about 10 percent of lung cancer patients respond to Tarveca alone. The addition of Celebrex is believed to up the efficacy of Tarveca because it inhibits the COX-2 cell signaling pathway. That pathway has been linked to resistance to Tarveca, which blocks the growth of tumor cells by targeting a protein known as the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR. "Tarveca alone is a great drug and has a lot of clinical benefits, but for a small proportion of patients," says study author Dr. Karen Reckamp. "With this drug combination, we saw an increase in response rates, indicating we are overcoming some resistance." All of the participants in the study were diagnosed with advanced lung cancer that failed to respond to conventional treatments like chemotherapy. The authors note the Tarveca-Celebrex treatment could be superior to chemotherapy because it targets only the diseased cells. Chemotherapy kills all fast growing cells, healthy and diseased alike, and can cause serious side effects. In this study, Tarveca only caused minor side effects, such as rash and diarrhea, and the addition of Celebrex didn't add any side effects to the mix. The researchers plan more study to confirm these early findings and delve more deeply into why some people are resistant to Tarveca. SOURCE: Clinical Cancer Research, published online June 1, 2006 P.S.: in the above text one should read "Tarceva" instead of wrongly spelled "Tarveca". Tarceva is the commercial name for Erlotinib. The abstract for the study results can be read at: http://www.her2support.org/vbulletin...ad.php?t=24036 Last edited by heblaj01; 06-06-2006 at 08:28 PM.. Reason: P.S. added to indicate spelling error in original press report for Tarceva (wrogly spelled Tarveca)