El depositar en éxito: Mantener el tejido fino del tumor para el uso el tratamiento del cáncer
por
Heather Mayer, DOTmed News Reporter | May 13, 2010
Currently, more than 20 percent of patients reached the six-year mark or more, said Powers.
"With conventional treatment -- surgery, radiation, chemotherapy -- no one makes it to six years," she said.
But because the vaccine is still in clinical trial, patients also must go through traditional treatments, Powers said.
"You have to give standard of care," she said. "If something is experimental, it can only be additional."
TUMOR BANKING
What makes the DCVax vaccine possible is the utilization of a patient's tumor tissue and blood sample. In order for the vaccine to be created, patients need to store their tumor tissue after surgical removal in a tissue bank, not unlike an umbilical cord bank or blood bank.
After surgery, hospitals collect a small sample of the tumor for their archives, but that does not belong to the patient, explained Powers.
"Hospitals only store a small sample," she said. "Today, the rest gets thrown into the trash can," which makes a vaccine treatment impossible.
"Once tissue is out of the patient and the hospital takes a sample, that's it," she said. "Patients can't access it. Who does it belong to? Who gets to use it? Not the patient."
For this reason, HealthBank, a bio banking company, recently announced that it will store tumor tissue. According to HealthBank, the initial process of freezing a patient's tumor tissue and the first year of storage costs $1,995. After the first year, it costs $195 per year of storage.
In order for a patient to store his or her tissue, arrangements are made prior to surgery to put together a kit, which is delivered to HealthBank, or a similar storage bank, like Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center or Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, and then delivered to a doctor or clinic where the tissue will be used for treatments, like personalized vaccines.
But tissue banking offers more opportunities than just personalized medicine. Researchers can genetically profile a patient's tumor, which can evaluate the cancer and its prognosis. This allows doctors and researchers to cater treatment to a specific patient.
Another promising possibility of tissue banking is chemo-sensitivity testing, which can help identify which drugs the tumor will respond to. This allows patients to avoid unnecessary chemotherapy treatments.
"With chemo-sensitivity testing, you can test a particular drug regimen directly in a lab dish and learn what works the best," said Powers. "Most cancer drugs only work, clinical research has shown, in 25 to 30 percent of patients, but all of the patients get the toxicity. Instead of finding out the hard way, you can start to find out with chemo-sensitivity testing."