Keck Medical Center Of USC: Search For More Effective Treatments
The following content is provided by Keck Medical Center of USC.
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Clinical Trials and Research at Keck Medical Center of USC Search for More Effective Treatments for Colorectal Cancer
Groundbreaking studies and clinical trials to find more effective treatments for colorectal cancer are underway at the Keck Medical Center of USC, including a clinical trial for a new drug with the potential to benefit patients suffering not just from colorectal cancer, but other cancers, diseases and conditions.
The Phase I clinical trial for a drug called PRI-724 was launched in March 2011 at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital, part of the Keck Medical Center of USC. The drug, the first in its class, is being tested in several patients. While the trial is not yet complete, early results are promising, said Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D., professor of medicine and preventive medicine and co-director of the USC Center for Molecular Pathways and Drug Discovery.
The drug is the first that specifically targets the Wnt pathway, a network of proteins fundamental in the development of all major human organs, as well as an important pathway that is over-stimulated in both liquid and solid tumors, Lenz said.
The drug was developed by Lenz and Michael Kahn, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and co-director of the USC Center for Molecular Pathways and Drug Discovery. The trial, led by Anthony El- Khoueiry, M.D., associate professor of clinical medicine, is being conducted under an investigational new drug application sponsored by PRISM BioLab Corp.
The Wnt pathway has been likened to a freeway that cancer cells travel on. PRI-724 is designed to shut down the various "off ramps" that the cancer cells can use to travel on communication networks.
"The two main goals of the trial are to identify the safe dose of the drug as well as identify the dose that achieves the best modulation of the Wnt pathway," Lenz said. "Once the safe dose is identified, the trial will focus on treating patients with metastatic pancreatic and colon cancers to determine the drug's effect on their tumors."
Clinical trials such as this one are important to patients, including Jennifer Weir, a colorectal cancer patient who is not participating in the PRI-724 clinical trial.
"I was diagnosed five years ago in August, and was lucky to have a two-and-a-half year break with no treatment," she said. "But the cancer recently came back and I'm undergoing chemo again. I hope to continue to battle cancer until the day that a treatment is found that can cure cancer."
Lenz is the associate director of clinical research of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, is chair of the GI Oncology Program and is the co-director of the Colorectal Center. He also serves as the scientific director of the Cancer Genetics Unit. Lenz earned his medical degree at the Johannes-Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, receiving a full scholarship by the prestigious Cusanuswerk scholarship program, in Bonn, Germany. After graduating medical school, Lenz had medical clerkships in Austria, Switzerland, England and the United States. He completed his fellowship in oncology/hematology in Tuebingen. Germany.
Lenz is co-chair of the Southwest Oncology Group's Gastrointestinal (SWOG GI) committee, chair of translational medicine of the SWOG GI committee, member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) GI Steering Committee and member of the NCI translational medicine committee. He serves on several editorial boards as well as on national and international advisory boards. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and holds over 20 patents on molecular markers.
Information on the clinical trial, including eligibility requirements, is available at http://uscnorriscancer.usc.edu/ClTrials/ViewProtocol.aspx?protocol_num=0C-10-4&protocol_id=2574, or by calling (323) 865-0451.
