New clinical trial from The University of Colorado Cancer Center

BluebirdOne
BluebirdOne Member Posts: 654 Member

Endometrial cancer clinical trial aims to pave the way for practice-changing therapy

https://coloradocancerblogs.org/endometrial-cancer-clinical-trial-aims-to-pave-the-way-for-practice-changing-therapy/

“We are excited to be one of the first cancer centers in the nation to offer this therapy to our patients,” says Bradley Corr, MD, assistant professor on the gynecologic oncology team at the CU Cancer Center.

Corr developed this trial in collaboration with Clovis Oncology.  CU Cancer Center will be the primary site, Additionally, this trial will be nationally enrolling patients at two other institutions; The University of Pennsylvania and Fox Chase Cancer Center. 

“The Phase II clinical trial aims to determine the effectiveness of the anti-cancer drug Rucaparib as maintenance therapy for patients with metastatic or recurrent endometrial cancer that have been treated initially with chemotherapy,” explains Corr. “Very basically, Rucaparib, a PARP inhibitor, works by stopping cancer cells from repairing their DNA appropriately.  Cancer cells can hijack the body’s system to repair their own DNA, which allows them to multiply. Without the ability to repair damaged DNA, the cancer cells eventually die. Rucaparib is an FDA- approved oral drug used in other cancer types and has been well studied.”

Currently PARP inhibitors are utilized mostly in BRCA ovarian cancer patients, with outstanding sucess. However, preclinical data has demonstrated that patients with a PTEN deficiency may respond to PARP inhibitors as if they had a BRCA mutation.  The PTEN mutation is found in over 80% of endometrial cancer.  This trial will be one of the first to use this drug class in endometrial cancer.  

 

Sounds very promising. 

Comments

  • derMaus
    derMaus Member Posts: 558 Member
    Thank you for posting.

    Thank you for posting. I hadn't seen this yet, it's very hopeful.

  • zsazsa1
    zsazsa1 Member Posts: 565 Member
    Wow!  That's great news!

    Wow!  That's great news!

  • TeddyandBears_Mom
    TeddyandBears_Mom Member Posts: 1,811 Member
    Thanks for sharing.... What

    Thanks for sharing.... What great news for all of us!

    Love and Hugs,

    Cindi

  • BluebirdOne
    BluebirdOne Member Posts: 654 Member
    My Mayo doctors are very familiar

    with the CU doctors and have nothing but great things to say about them. Since I used to live in Colorado half time I seriously considered getting some of my treatment there and the Mayo people were very comfortable with them.  Luckly, I did not need them due to being 1a and now NED. They are the only NCI designated facility for many states. This was really exciting for me to read that they have a new trial that could help anyone of us now or down the road, especially with the accessibility to the eastern US. If we can help even one of us to get enrolled it is worth the effort and also under scores the fact that treatment options besides chemo and radiation are continuing to expand. 

  • evolo58
    evolo58 Member Posts: 293 Member
    What concerns me about this drug is

    the risk of leukemia. Granted, it happened in fewer than 2% of patients, and granted, ALL treatment drugs have risks, but that risk scares me. For Pete's sake, I have a mutation that only 1% of all cancer patients have! 

  • BluebirdOne
    BluebirdOne Member Posts: 654 Member
    evolo58 said:

    What concerns me about this drug is

    the risk of leukemia. Granted, it happened in fewer than 2% of patients, and granted, ALL treatment drugs have risks, but that risk scares me. For Pete's sake, I have a mutation that only 1% of all cancer patients have! 

    Great point.

    It will be interesting to see how this trial goes. 

    Denise