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Old 02-17-2007, 09:24 AM   #1 (permalink)
 
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Vitamin D pill offers hope in fighting cancer

http://www.oregonlive.com/special/he...530.xml&coll=7

Vitamin D pill offers hope in fighting cancer OHSU - Doctors find DN-101 extends lives of men with serious prostate cancer
Saturday, February 17, 2007 ANDY DWORKIN
The Oregonian
A potent form of vitamin D may extend the lives of men with advanced prostate cancer by 50 percent, fueling hope the drug may fight other tumors and some non-cancerous diseases.
The chemical, calcitriol, is made in people's kidneys by the breakdown of vitamin D and normally helps the body process calcium. But its cancer-fighting ability emerges when people absorb calcitriol pills in high doses, impossible with regular vitamin D supplements, which are toxic in large amounts.
One kind of calcitriol, developed by Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute's Dr. Tomasz Beer, helped men with the most serious cases of prostate cancer live a record length of time. Beer and others gave the drug, DN-101, along with standard chemotherapy to 125 men whose tumors resisted traditional treatment and spread beyond their prostate.
The scientists estimate the men lived an average of 24.5 months after starting the two-drug regimen, much longer than the 16.4 months the average man taking chemo alone survived.
The study, which will appear in Monday's Journal of Clinical Oncology, was first reported at a cancer conference in 2005. Excitement over that report and other promising calcitriol tests has spurred a host of new studies and "put a lot of excitement into the field," said Beer, who has studied calcitriol for 10 years.
Dozens of trials are now planned or under way to test different forms of calcitriol against diseases, including a pancreatic cancer study going on at OHSU and trials elsewhere on melanoma, brain tumors, blood cancers -- even noncancerous ailments including Crohn's disease and psoriasis.
High doses of calcitriol seem to help spur cancerous cells to self-destruct and limit their ability to connect with new blood vessels, the tumor's food source. Calcitriol also seems to limit fast-growing cells, Beer said. That could explain its cancer powers as well as a happy side effect: The men taking calcitriol in Beer's study had significantly fewer serious stomach problems as side effects of treatment. Because the lining of the gut grows quickly, and fast-growing cells are a target of chemo drugs, a calcitriol slowdown may help spare the gut.
Calcitriol also seems to lower the rate of blood clots, another risky side effect of chemotherapy.
Beer warned that men can't get these benefits from taking lots of vitamin D supplements, which can build to poisonous levels in the body. The DN-101 he developed is more potent and processed faster, so the body can get up to 50 times the normal dose without toxins, he said.
"It is a vitamin, but it really isn't -- it's a drug, with its own risks and benefits," Beer said.
The company that makes DN-101, Novacea Inc., is running a bigger study on men with prostate cancer to help win federal approval to market the drug. Beer and OHSU licensed the patent for the drug to Novacea and have a financial stake in the company, so OHSU's Conflict of Interest committee helped review and manage the just-published study.
OHSU is not part of the larger test of calcitriol because "we thought it would be most prudent and upstanding to step out of the way," Beer said. Other Northwest doctors are involved (see www.ascent-2.com for details).
While the new test seeks to confirm calcitriol's benefits, some users need no more proof. Keizer resident Dr. David Copeland started using calcitriol in 2003 through Beer's research. Copeland, a retired dentist and award-winning flower arranger, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991 and saw his cancer return.
"I'm sure I wouldn't be here today without the pill," said Copeland, 79.
Andy Dworkin: 503-221-8239; andydworkin@news.oregonian.com
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