New Treatment for Advanced Colorectal Cancer Being Studied

Doctors at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston are now enrolling patients with advanced colorectal cancer in a study that will examine whether SU5416, a promising investigational medication, enhances the effect- iveness of a new, triple-drug chemotherapy.

UT-Houston is among four sites in the state that are participating in the international clinical trial, and it is the only institution in the Texas Medical Center that will offer the experimental therapy.

"It's very exciting that we'll be able to offer the very best treatment for advanced colon cancer to all the patients in the study," said Dr. Joan Bull, director of UT-Houston's oncology division. "We are expecting that people who are getting the SU5416 will have a greater response to the treatment and a longer survival rate."

The American Cancer Society reports colorectal cancer, which includes colon and rectal cancer, is the third most common form of the disease in both men and women in the United States. In 2000, an estimated 130,200 new cases were diagnosed and more than 56,000 deaths were reported.

Currently, 66 percent of patients whose colorectal cancer has spread to surrounding tissue survive at least five years after diagnosis. Only about 8 percent of patients whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body survive five years.

Dr. Bull, the study's principal investigator in Houston, said patients who have been diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups.

All 1,270 patients will receive a state-of-the-art chemotherapy that includes irinotecan, leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil, a combination that Dr. Bull calls the best treatment for colorectal cancer. Half of the patients also will receive SU5416, an angiogenesis inhibitor that essentially starves tumors by cutting off their supply of blood and nutrients.

In preliminary studies, researchers found that SU5416, also known as Semaxanib, stopped the growth of blood vessels that allow tumors to thrive and spread.

"SU5416 is a new, rationally designed, potentially powerful drug. It is a new class of drug, an antioangiogenesis inhibitor, which prevents tumors from growing and metastasizing. It can even shrink tumors and make them disappear,'' Dr. Bull said. "We are hoping that with this drug we will add months and possibly even years to patients' lives." Sugen/Pharmacia, the manufacturer of SU5416, is funding the research.

To participate in the study, call the UT-Houston oncology office at 713-500-6820. Patients also can call the oncology/hematology clinic at (713) 704-3961.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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