pancreas cancer : New Treatments For Pancreatic Cancer

July 6 - KGO - Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest form of the disease. Almost all who are diagnosed with it will die within six-to-12-months. But there is some exciting research taking place. Meet one patient who's beating the odds, and a Bay Area company hoping to offer a powerful solution.

Ed Marra, pancreatic cancer patient, 2004: "The first oncologist told me I would likely live nine months."

That was two year ago. Ed Marra quickly learned he was facing the biggest challenge of his life.

The American Cancer Society estimates nearly 34,000 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year. More than 32,000 will die from it.

Ed moved to the Bay Area to undergo treatment at UCSF.

Dr. Margaret Tempero is deputy director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a nationally renowned expert in pancreatic cancer.

Margaret Tempero, M.D., UCSF director of clinical sciences: "It's diagnosed often late, and the reason for that is it has very few early signs or symptoms."

Once diagnosed, pancreatic cancer is operable in less than a quarter of patients -- and treating it is tricky. Chemo does not shrink the tumors as it does with other forms of cancer.

Margaret Tempero, M.D., UCSF director of clinical sciences: "We started learning if you paid attention to how people felt for example or focused more on survival, which are much more important end points than whether a measurement is changing, that you could do a lot better in sifting through the treatments that we were trying, and finding ones that were actually effective."

Ed's treatment regimen couples chemotherapy every three weeks with bevacizumab -- known as Avasitin -- a Genentech drug approved for treating colorectal cancer.

Ed Marra, pancreatic cancer patient: "This is the best I've felt. I'm cycling, I'm exercising, and I feel mentally strong."

Margaret Tempero, M.D., UCSF director of clinical sciences: "What we found by adding the bevacizumab to our chemotherapy, we seem to be getting much better results."

But a stage three clinical trial studying the effectiveness of Avastin in treating pancreatic cancer was called off last week because the drug did not have a statistical impact on survival rates of patients.

For a disease with so few treatment options, this was a tough blow. But there is promise in the form of vaccine research.

Tom Dubensky, Ph.D., v.p. research, Cerus Corporation: "The goal is to re-educate the immune system so they recognize, in fact, that the cancer is foreign."

Tom Dubensky is vice president of research for Concord-based Cerus. The company is combining exciting vaccine research from Johns Hopkins with Listeria research out of UC-Berkeley.

Listeria is a deadly food-borne bacteria, but Cerus scientists have genetically engineered it to trigger an immune response without causing illness.

Tom Dubensky, Ph.D., V.P. research, Cerus Corporation: "Essentially what we're doing is using Listeria to hijack the immune system, thinking that it's been infected with this food borne contaminate, but in doing so, recognizing Listeria, it will also generate these cytotoxic T-cells that are specific for mesothelin and the pancreas cancer."

The idea is the killer T-cells will then attack pancreatic tumor cells anywhere in the body. Phase one clinical research focused on safety should begin next year.

Tom Dubensky, Ph.D., v.p. research, Cerus Corporation: "If we can stimulate an immune response specifically for pancreas cancer, that when necessary we can give those patients a booster."

And by continuing to boost patient's immune response, pancreatic cancer could become more of a chronic condition rather than a fatal disease.

Tom Dubensky, Ph.D., v.p. research, Cerus Corporation: "That infected metastasis that turned into an abscess is now just a hole."

Ed Marra remains confident he can beat this cancer despite the poor odds. He's always had "a passion to win." It's a philosophy he's now applying to his battle with cancer.

He's determined to raise awareness and money for this woefully under-funded disease.

Ed Marra, pancreatic cancer patient: "The advances being made in cancer are a function of funding and focus, and getting the best and brightest minds researching cancer and doing the clinical trials."

He's hopeful the work being done at Cerus could mark a turning point.

For more information:

UCSF Cancer Center cancer.ucsf.edu

Johns Hopkins pathology2.jhu.edu/pancreas/vaccine.cfm


Copyright 2006, ABC7/KGO-TV/DT.