Dr. Kahn and Dr. Lenz in Their Lab

I have shared with you in the past the efforts of Dr. Michael Kahn and myself to develop novel drugs which are completely different than the existing ones.

Even the smart drugs we have such as Avastin or Erbitux, which are monoclonal antibodies that attack important targets in cancer growth and progression, have disappointed,  particularly if you are not able to select the patients who benefit the most.

Why are they not more effective? Read the rest of this entry »

This has been an amazing year with unexpected findings.

We were all convinced that when we added Erbitux and Avastin to our chemotherapy, it would work in the adjuvant setting, which means with FOLFOX for 6 months after the successful removal of colon cancer.

But it did not work. Neither Avastin nor Erbitux showed any benefit. How is that possible? Read the rest of this entry »

Patients with colon cancer have learned over the last two years that we have now a genetic marker which can predict efficacy of antibodies against EGFR which are used in patients with metastatic colon cancer.

We have learned that tumors with mutations in KRAS will not benefit from this treatment. All patients should be tested for KRAS mutation if they have advanced or metastatic disease.

However patients who have mutations of the KRAS gene don’t do worse than patients with wild type. The only difference is that the drugs which target EGFR will not work. Read the rest of this entry »

When we see patients in our offices with metastatic colon cancer which is confined to the peritoneal cavity and the histology of the cancer shows mucinous carcinoma, we consider not only chemotherapy but also think about specialized surgery to remove the cancer in the abdomen and combine this with hyperthermia and chemotherapy given directly into the cavity during surgery.

Why is that? Read the rest of this entry »

Genomic Health has commercialized a new test which has been shown to be associated with risk of tumor recurrence for stage II colon cancer. The test came on the market in January of 2010.

I wanted to review with you the limitations of this test, which is  not as good by far as the test they have developed for breast cancer. Read the rest of this entry »