Rush Testing Kinder, Gentler Therapy For Lung Cancer

The medication being studied is called Xyotax, which links paclitaxel, a commonly used chemotherapuetic agent, to a biogradeable polymer. This polymer creates a new chemical, designed to deliver higher and potentially more effective levels of paclitaxel to tumors.

Paclitaxel is one of the families of chemotherapy agents known as taxanes, the most widely used anticancer drugs in the treatment of non-small cell lung, breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers. Patients with non-small cell lung cancer who qualify for this Phase III study will receive either Xyotax, or another therapy called docetaxel.

"It is a kinder, gentler treatment for lung cancer," said Dr. Philip Bonomi, director of the Rush section of Oncology and Hematology and the only Chicago investigator in this study. "Xyotax offers patients convenience, shorter time spent in doctors' offices, and I believe it will be less toxic."

Unlike blood vessels in healthy tissue, those in tumor tissues have openings that make them porous to large molecules. Xyotax flows through healthy blood vessels and because the chemotherapy is inactive when bound to the polymer, lower levels of the drug are seen in the bloodstream. However, in tumor blood vessels, Xyotax leaks through the pores and is trapped in tumor tissue.

Xyotax is taken up by tumor cells through a process called pinocytosis. Because the polymer is made up of biodigestible amino acids, it is metabolized inside the tumor, releasing the paclitexal. This allows Xyotax to bypass a primary mechanism by which tumor cells grow resistant. The result is that Xyotax should work better and be potentially safer than many existing chemotherapy agents.

Bonomi said that because this is a Phase III study, it is unclear just how well patients who take Xyotax will do. Bonomi believes that even if this drug shows a small improvement, the decreased side effects -- nausea, hair loss and fatigue -- it still might make Xyotax an attractive alternative to other chemotherapy agents if it gets Food and Drug Administration approval for widespread use.

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women. There were an estimated 156,900 deaths from lung cancer in the United States in 2000 and non small cell lung cancer deaths account for 85 percent of the 164,000 news cases of lung cancer that develop each year.

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Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center is an academic medical center that encompasses the 824-bed Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital (including Rush Children's Hospital), the 110-bed Johnston R. Bowman Health Center and Rush University. Rush University, with more than 1,270 students, is home to one of the first medical schools in the Midwest, one of the nation's top-ranked nursing colleges, as well as graduate programs in allied health and the basic sciences. Rush is noted for bringing together clinical care and research to address major health problems, including arthritis and orthopedic disorders, cancer, heart disease, mental illness neurological disorders and diseases associated with aging.