【➽】 Immunotherapies Trial Finder (USA, Canada, worldwide)

MaiaW

Hello, I read this forum since long time ago and I've learnt a lot from you all... I follow your struggles, rejoyce with the good news and I have cried many times with the departures of dearly loved members of this board. I've posted this in other board, where I used to post -I thought someone else would post it here but, since it's not happening, here I go. I think it could be helpful to some. Immunotherapies may be not the mainstream cancer treatament yet, but certainly they are 'here' and they are not totally un-accesible.

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This is a Cancer Trial Finder for Immunotherapies only (http://www.cancerresearch.org/cancer-immunotherapy/clinical-trial-finder) put together by the Cancer Research Institute . They say you fill that form and they email you back with suggested trials, meaning that you can 'talk' with someone about options.

(Just for you to know some background: the Cancer Research Institute was founded in 1953 by Helen Coley Nauts to continue the work begun by her father, Dr. William B. Coley, who pioneered immune-based treatments for cancer, and is considered the “father of cancer immunotherapy”. One of the finest cancer immunologists of the world, Lloyd J. Old, was part of the CRI during 20 years, until his death in 2011. The Scientific Advisory Council is formed by, basically, the top immunologists at the MD Anderson, Sloan-Kettering, Dana Farber, Fred Hutchinson, Johns Hopkins, etc.))

The Cancer Research Institute site has a lot of interesting information. For example, there is a free ebook, Cancer and the Immune System: The Vital Connection to download, and also a Helpbook For Patients.

The bottom part of this image is a quite illustrative infographic about the functioning of the immune system (larger here; click to enlarge, and then scroll down)

You can also ask for some guide at clinicaltrials@cancerresearch.org and call them at (800) 99-CANCER (800-992-2623)

Information on what to consider about enrolling in immunotherapy clinical trials, including how immunotherapy trials may be different from trials of other types of treatment, what to look for, common exclusion criteria, and additional questions to ask: http://cancerresearch.org/cancer-immunotherapy/about-clinical-trials/should-you-participate

Colorectal cancer immunotherapy page for general information about immunotherapy and colorectal cancer: http://cancerresearch.org/cancer-immunotherapy/impacting-all-cancers/colorectal-cancer

Some 'tips' from them, about how to evaluate an immunotherapy clinical trial:

"What Should I Look For?

The following are some of CRI's recommendations for when evaluating clinical trials of investigational cancer immunotherapies. For help on interpreting information found in clinical trial records, go to http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/help/how-read-study.

● Although you are guaranteed to receive experimental treatment in phase I trials, the agents being tested in these trials have not been fully evaluated for safety and you may not receive the optimal dose. In randomized, later-phase (phase II and III) trials, the safety of the treatment has been established and it may have shown signs of clinical efficacy. In randomized trials, however, you are not guaranteed to receive the treatment under investigation.

● CRI believes that immunotherapies that combine different agents that target or modulate different mechanisms of the immune system represent the most promising treatments currently in development. Therefore, we recommend clinical trials of combination regimens involving multiple immunotherapies or an immunotherapy with another kind of treatment, such as chemotherapy, that may enhance the anti-cancer effect of the immunotherapy. One exception to this recommendation is in the case of checkpoint blockade or similar immune modulating therapies. These have shown promising and sometimes dramatic results as monotherapies in a subset of patients. Moreover, many of these are very new in development and may not be available in combination regimens.

● Vaccines that use short peptides of antigens have historically shown poor results. If you can determine the form of the antigen used, CRI recommends trials of therapeutic vaccines that use protein or long peptides, the latter of which may be preferable over the former, although additional studies are warranted. "

 

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Hope this helps someone, eventually. Feel free to repost in any other place you want to. (I have not relationship with the Cancer Research Institute, at all; I'm simply very focussed on immunotherpies for cancer.

And sorry about any English mistakes -it's not my own language : )

manwithnoname

Thanks Maia

interesting stuff, didn't know about this org. (your English is MUCH better than my Spanish)

MaiaW

manwithnoname said:

Thanks Maia

interesting stuff, didn't know about this org. (your English is MUCH better than my Spanish)

You're welcome!
This is a

You're welcome!

This is a big, old and important organization but the development of new (cytotoxic) drugs has precluded during years almost everything coming from the immunotherapy field. Hopefully, after ASCO 2012 and 2013, this is changing.

pete43lost_at_sea

MaiaW said:

You're welcome!
This is a

You're welcome!

This is a big, old and important organization but the development of new (cytotoxic) drugs has precluded during years almost everything coming from the immunotherapy field. Hopefully, after ASCO 2012 and 2013, this is changing.

great post MaiaW

Immunotherapies have saved my life so far, I am contacting them about other trials.

thanks. i put this on my blog as well.

pete

janderson1964

This is a great organization.

This is a great organization. It is mind boggling to think they have been around so long and we are now just starting to see immunotherapies.

MaiaW

No More Chemo: Doctors Say It’s Not So Far-Fetched

No More Chemo: Doctors Say It’s Not So Far-Fetched  June 26, 2013

"When it comes to taming tumors, the strategy has always been fairly straightforward. Remove the offending and abnormal growth by any means, in the most effective way possible. And the standard treatments used today reflect this single-minded approach — surgery physically cuts out malignant lesions; chemotherapy agents dissolve them from within; and radiation seeks and destroys abnormally dividing cells.

There is no denying that such methods work; deaths from cancer have dropped by around 20% in the U.S. over the past two decades. But as effective as they are, these interventions can be just as brutal on the patient as they are on a tumor. So researchers were especially excited by a pair of studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week that showed a new type of anti-cancer drug, which works in an entirely different way from chemotherapy, helped leukemia patients tally up to an 83% survival rate after being treated for two years.

(...)

 "“The field is moving toward using the right drugs at the right time in the right patients,” says Dr. George Demetri, senior vice president of experimental therapeutics at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. “We’re moving toward a more precise understanding of cancer, and being able to tailor therapies toward an individual’s cancer.”

In the case of the NEJM studies, researchers were able to target an active receptor on immune cells responsible for enticing them to grow out of control, blocking the protein and essentially shutting down two different type of leukemia tumors.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/26/no-more-chemo-doctors-say-its-not-so-far-fetched/

 

smokeyjoe

MaiaW said:

No More Chemo: Doctors Say It’s Not So Far-Fetched

No More Chemo: Doctors Say It’s Not So Far-Fetched  June 26, 2013

"When it comes to taming tumors, the strategy has always been fairly straightforward. Remove the offending and abnormal growth by any means, in the most effective way possible. And the standard treatments used today reflect this single-minded approach — surgery physically cuts out malignant lesions; chemotherapy agents dissolve them from within; and radiation seeks and destroys abnormally dividing cells.

There is no denying that such methods work; deaths from cancer have dropped by around 20% in the U.S. over the past two decades. But as effective as they are, these interventions can be just as brutal on the patient as they are on a tumor. So researchers were especially excited by a pair of studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week that showed a new type of anti-cancer drug, which works in an entirely different way from chemotherapy, helped leukemia patients tally up to an 83% survival rate after being treated for two years.

(...)

 "“The field is moving toward using the right drugs at the right time in the right patients,” says Dr. George Demetri, senior vice president of experimental therapeutics at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. “We’re moving toward a more precise understanding of cancer, and being able to tailor therapies toward an individual’s cancer.”

In the case of the NEJM studies, researchers were able to target an active receptor on immune cells responsible for enticing them to grow out of control, blocking the protein and essentially shutting down two different type of leukemia tumors.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/26/no-more-chemo-doctors-say-its-not-so-far-fetched/

 

Thanks again Mia...

Thanks again Mia...

MaiaW

smokeyjoe said:

Thanks again Mia...

Thanks again Mia...

You're welcome, Pete,

You're welcome, Pete, Janderson, smokey! Feel free to respost.

 Immunotherapies are more advanced for melanoma and blood cancers (like leukemia) but the clinical trials are starting to show the good results for solid cancers, like colon, since one year ago.

I want to share something more, hopefully to make some of you smile. I've been following this since a couple of years ago, it hit the news months ago (New York Times and such) but now they've made this little video that went viral, since a month ago:

Dr Carl June's work, on leukemia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6SzI2ZfPd4

I put the video in minute 3:00 to see Dr June's expression these days, when I need some hope.

He received the 2012 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumour Immunology, by the Cancer Research Institute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b7SDEeEkD8 You can see there Dr Wolchok -Memorial Sloan-Kettering-, whose immunotherapy for melanoma was the big news on ASCO 2013- handling the prize to Dr June. Both are part of the CRI, the organization behind this immunotherpies trial finder.

A webinar from Dr June: http://youtu.be/1sA_oz_1P5E

pete43lost_at_sea

MaiaW said:

You're welcome, Pete,

You're welcome, Pete, Janderson, smokey! Feel free to respost.

 Immunotherapies are more advanced for melanoma and blood cancers (like leukemia) but the clinical trials are starting to show the good results for solid cancers, like colon, since one year ago.

I want to share something more, hopefully to make some of you smile. I've been following this since a couple of years ago, it hit the news months ago (New York Times and such) but now they've made this little video that went viral, since a month ago:

Dr Carl June's work, on leukemia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6SzI2ZfPd4

I put the video in minute 3:00 to see Dr June's expression these days, when I need some hope.

He received the 2012 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumour Immunology, by the Cancer Research Institute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b7SDEeEkD8 You can see there Dr Wolchok -Memorial Sloan-Kettering-, whose immunotherapy for melanoma was the big news on ASCO 2013- handling the prize to Dr June. Both are part of the CRI, the organization behind this immunotherpies trial finder.

A webinar from Dr June: http://youtu.be/1sA_oz_1P5E

awesome videos maia

i have never had any regrets in ditching standard chemo after it failed me and gambling on immunotherapies.

sometimes in life if you gamble you win, these videos are inspirational, we just have to hang on a bit longer, the answer may not be a new chemo drug but a car activated tcell.

a little hope is all i need, these videos prove that immunotherapies have so much potential.

a sincere thanks

hippiechicks

Thank you for posting this!!

Thank you for posting this!! I have been following this story for some time now.  I am very hopeful ... just a little longer ... I think they are really onto something here!