PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Novel biomarker may predict response to new VEGF receptor inhibitor

2010-09-29
(Press-News.org) DENVER — Researchers believe there may be a way to predict, based on individual tumors, those patients that are more likely to respond to the investigational new drug tivozanib.

This is possible, the researchers from AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. said, because they have used a new way of creating animal tumor models that mimic tumor variation seen in human. Based on the results of these studies, they have found a single biomarker that may predict resistance to tivozanib, an oral, triple VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) receptor inhibitor.

Tivozanib is in an ongoing Phase III registration trial in kidney cancer, which recently completed enrollment of 500 patients ahead of schedule, and is in multiple early trials in patients with breast, colon and lung cancer.

In a study being presented at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, the researchers said that the biomarker reflects the presence of certain white blood cells inside a tumor.

"Predictive biomarkers that can be used to assess activity of treatments are what we are all striving for in cancer therapy today," said Murray Robinson, Ph.D., senior vice president, translational medicine, at AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in Cambridge, Mass. "We want to know in advance which patients are most likely to respond to an anticancer therapy, and in this way, spare patients who cannot respond from ineffective therapy."

In its ongoing trials, the company is collecting biomarker data in order to correlate the presence of the biomarker with clinical activity. "This is a necessary step that we must do to validate the predictive value of the biomarker," Robinson said.

To date, the researchers have evaluated 600 human tumor samples across eight different tumor types.

"We saw the biomarker in subsets of all the human tumor types we looked at. Based on these findings, we believe that the biomarker discovered in our animal models may be replicated in human tumors, and may be an important discovery relevant to patient care," said Robinson.

At the AACR conference, Robinson showed that the same biomarker identified in AVEO's breast tumor model was associated with clinical activity in a set of kidney tumor patients from a previous Phase II kidney cancer trial. This biomarker is associated with white blood immune cells that are recruited into the tumor to produce angiogenic growth factors.

"This produces an intrinsic resistance to tivozanib, which is an anti-angiogenesis agent," Robinson said.

The researchers inserted specific oncogenes and other engineered genes altered in numerous cancer types into the tissue of animals and then studied the variety of tumors that were produced. For example, genetically altering the HER2 gene resulted in tumors that naturally expressed different pathways for growth, Robinson said.

"That mimics what happens in women with HER2-positive breast cancer because across patients, there is a significant variation in these HER2 tumors that dramatically alters their response to treatment," he said.

After molecularly characterizing each tumor, they tested what happened when the cancer was treated.

"Because we have the molecular character of the tumor, we can associate biology with response. We have an ongoing effort to discover and develop predictive biomarkers that will aid our clinical development strategies and, we believe, maximize the benefit for specific patient populations," Robinson said.

In this way the researchers isolated tumors that do not respond to tivozanib, and from this they were able to identify the resistant biological phenotype. Further study revealed a correlation between the biomarkers and tivozanib clinical activity.

###

Follow the AACR on Twitter: @AACR #AACR
Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 32,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The 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, research fellowships and career development awards. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 18,000 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. The AACR publishes six major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors and their families, patient advocates, physicians and scientists, providing a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship and advocacy.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Nanotechnology brings personalized therapy 1 step closer to reality

2010-09-29
DENVER — A novel technology can make nanoscale protein measurements, which scientists can use in clinical trials to learn how drugs work. "We are making progress toward the goal of understanding how drugs work in different individuals," said Alice C. Fan, M.D., instructor in the division of oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine. "Using new technologies makes it possible to measure effects of therapeutic agents in tumor cells and different cell populations within our patients. Now that we can make these measurements, we are one step closer to being able to ...

Method to detect bladder cancer earlier is under development

2010-09-29
DENVER — Scientists may have discovered a way to diagnose bladder cancer at its earliest and, therefore, most treatable stages by measuring the presence or absence of microRNA using already available laboratory tests. "Measuring expressions of microRNA in bodily fluid represents a very promising tool with widespread implications for screening," said Liana Adam, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in urology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Adam presented her findings at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic ...

c-Met may be a biomarker for metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma

2010-09-29
DENVER — Targeting c-Met may be a promising personalized treatment method for approximately 45 percent of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have c-Met-positive tumors, according to study results presented at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development. HCC is the most common primary malignant tumor of the liver; c-Met is a receptor for hepatocyte growth factor that appears to drive liver cancer growth, invasion and metastasis. "Current therapies for HCC patients are 'one size fits all.' We propose ...

Cost-effectiveness of routine use of pooled nucleic acid amplification testing

2010-09-29
Detection of acute HIV infection (the stage of disease immediately after HIV acquisition but before HIV antibodies are detectable) with pooled nucleic acid amplification testing (that detects the presence of HIV genetic material in the blood before antibodies are detectable) is feasible but not cost-effective in all settings. Rather, pooled nucleic acid amplification testing after testing for antibodies with third-generation enzyme immunoassays (which can detect the first antibody to appear after infection) or rapid testing is only cost-effective when targeted to settings ...

Chest physiotherapy not effective in infants hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis

2010-09-29
In research published this week in PLoS Medicine, Vincent Gajdos and colleagues report the results of a randomized trial conducted among hospitalized infants with bronchiolitis. The researchers enrolled nearly 500 children aged 15 days to 2 years who were admitted to seven French hospitals for a first episode of acute bronchiolitis. Their results show that a physiotherapy technique (increased exhalation and assisted cough) commonly used in France does not reduce time to recovery in this population. The researchers conclude "Our results did not support the recommendation ...

19-million-year-old genomic fossils of hepatitis B-like viruses in songbirds

2010-09-29
Biologists from The University of Texas at Arlington have uncovered virus fragments from the same family of the modern Hepatitis B virus locked inside the genomes of songbirds such as the modern-day zebra finch. The article, publishing next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, marks the first time that endogenous hepadnaviruses have been found in any organism. An endogenous virus is one that deposits itself or fragments of itself into the chromosome of an organism, allowing it to be passed from generation-to-generation. Previously, most of these known "fossilized" ...

TGen/Mayo Clinic/Arizona Cancer Center study finds gene associated with aggressive skin cancer

2010-09-29
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Sept. 28, 2010 — The loss of a gene known as INPP5A could predict the onset, and track the progression, of an aggressive type of skin cancer, according to a study published today by the Arizona Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). Targeting INPP5A could provide physicians with better ways to prevent and treat cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, or SCC, a skin cancer that often spreads to other parts of the body, according to a scientific paper published today in the journal Cancer Prevention Research. "Loss ...

What next for the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic?

2010-09-29
WASHINGTON, DC – September 28, 2010 -- Now that the H1N1 influenza pandemic is officially over, what will happen to the virus? In a perspective article published today in the online open-access journal mBio®, scientists from the National Institutes of Health delve into history and explore the fates of other pandemic influenza viruses in order to speculate on the future of the most recent pandemic virus. "While human influenza viruses have often surprised us, available evidence leads to the hope that the current pandemic virus will continue to cause low or moderate mortality ...

Sodium plays key role in tissue regeneration

Sodium plays key role in tissue regeneration
2010-09-29
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Sodium gets a bad rap for contributing to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Now biologists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences have discovered that sodium also plays a key role in initiating a regenerative response after severe injury. The Tufts scientists have found a way to regenerate injured spinal cord and muscle by using small molecule drugs to trigger an influx of sodium ions into injured cells. The approach breaks new ground in the field of biomedicine because it requires no gene therapy; can be administered after ...

Pharma must be held more accountable to its human rights responsibilities

2010-09-29
In this week's PLoS Medicine, the Editors argue that drug companies should be held much more accountable for their human rights responsibilities to make medicines available and accessible to those in need. Despite decades of advocacy on the part of the access to medicines movement, and human rights guidelines developed in 2008 for pharmaceutical companies that make clear that their responsibilities go beyond stakeholder value to encompass human rights, there is inadequate accountability, say the Editors. "At the same time that the 825 billion dollar global pharmaceutical ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Childhood traumatic events and transgender identity are strongly associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors in university students

UVA to test if MRI can reveal undetected brain injuries in soldiers

Mount Sinai Morningside unveils new, state-of-the-art facility for patients who need inpatient rehabilitation

BD² announces new funding opportunities focused on biology of bipolar disorder

“Want to, but can’t”: A new model to explain the gap in waste separation behavior

Highly sensitive, next-generation wearable pressure sensors inspired by cat whiskers

Breaking the code of sperm motion: Two proteins found to be vital for male fertility

UC Irvine poll: Californians support stricter tech regulations for children

Study finds critically endangered sharks being sold as food in U.S. grocery stores

Meat from critically endangered sharks is commonly sold under false labels in the US

‘Capture strategies’ are harming efforts to save our planet warns scientists

Misconceptions keep some cancer patient populations from benefitting from hormone therapy

Predicting the green glow of aurorae on the red planet

Giant DNA discovered hiding in your mouth

Children lose muscle during early cancer treatment — new ECU study warns of a hidden danger to recovery 

World-first koala chlamydia vaccine approved

Taking the pulse of digital health in Asia

Even healthy children can be severely affected by RSV

Keto diet linked to reduced depression symptoms in college students

Blood test identifies HPV-associated head and neck cancers up to 10 years before symptoms

Odds of dementia strongly linked to number of co-existing mental health disorders

Large social and economic inequalities persist among UK doctors

Research reveals how microplastics threaten Gulf of Mexico marine life

AI tool developed at Oxford helps astronomers find supernovae in a sky full of noise

Hungry star is eating its cosmic twin at rate never seen before

The Age of Feasting: Late Bronze Age networks developed through massive food festivals, with animals brought from far and wide

Study of breast cell changes in motherhood provides clues to breastfeeding difficulties

Seizure spread marks loss of consciousness

Carlos Collet, MD, Ph.D., joins CRF® as director, cardiovascular imaging, physiology and translational therapeutics

Beyond weight loss: How healthy eating cuts chronic pain

[Press-News.org] Novel biomarker may predict response to new VEGF receptor inhibitor