Friday, March 19, 2010

Gemcitabine and cisplatin a promising combination for endometrial cancer...

In continuation of my update on cis-platin and its importance, I find this  info interesting to share with...

Gemcitabine (see structure) and cisplatin in combination have been investigated extensively in other disease sites, and synergism of the two agents has been confirmed in cell lines of human endometrial, ovarian, colon, lung and squamous cell head and neck carcinoma

Now researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center , lead by Dr.Jubilee Brown, report from a small study of women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, that gemcitabine and cisplatin, when used in combination, produced a response rate in fifty percent of patients.

The Phase II study of 20 patients found that the combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin, two drugs currently used to treat other types of cancer, limited the disease's progression, increasing progression-free survival while maintaining tolerable toxicity levels. It is believed that when administered together, gemcitabine helps overcome cell resistance to cisplatin, throwing tumor cells a potent one-two punch.


Findings demonstrated a 50 percent overall response rate, or improvement in disease. Additionally, the clinical benefit of the two-drug combination was 80 percent, as 16 of the 20 women experienced either an improvement or stabilization of disease. All side effects resulting from the therapy were manageable. Lead researcher, Dr. Brown concluded  that results from the study warrant investigation of the chemotherapy combination in a larger, definitive trial at multiple institutions.....

Ref :  Dr. Jubilee Brown, http://www.mdanderson.org/

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