Lung Cancer News:

Drug Designed to Make Radiation More Effective May Help in Treating Lung Cancer

A drug designed to make radiation more effective is being tested in patients suffering from the most common form of lung cancer.

Researchers at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute report that motexafin gadolinium (Xcytrin®), is being combined with radiation and chemotherapy before surgery in patients with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes in the middle of the chest but can still be treated by surgery.

Prior studies have shown that the five-year survival rate for patients with at this stage is less than ten percent if they are treated with just radiation or surgery alone. Adding chemotherapy can up the survival rate to 20 percent.

Use of motexafin gadolinium with radiation slowed new tumor growth significantly in studies of laboratory animals, and may enhance the effects of radiation in humans as well, according to Dr. John Grecula, associate professor in the Division of Radiation Oncology.

Researchers are currently attempting to determine the best dose of motexafin gadolinium to combine with lung irradiation. In the current study, patients will be given three courses of paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy before beginning radiation with twice-weekly motexafin gadolinium.

Motexafin gadolinium should be an ideal agent to improve the effectiveness of radiation because it selectively concentrates in cancer cells more than healthy cells, said Grecula. The drug also works independently of oxygen, an important quality because oxygen is needed to make radiation effective and many tumors have low oxygen concentration, enabling radiated cells to repair themselves instead of being permanently damaged. Motexafin gadolinium does not need oxygen to work effectively and is able to destroy cancer cells permanently.

Source: Medical Week staff, week of May 5, 2002