Aa
A6 delays recurrence?
After being in remission for two years, my ca-125 has risen from 10, to 15, and three months later (oct. 2007) it was 21.Because I was diagnosed with stage 3c ovca,my doctor is very concerned, and is quite sure it is an early sign of recurrence.
A CT. scan in June 2007 showed no evidence of disease, nor did a pelvic and rectal-vaginal examination as recently as two weeks ago. My next sheduled appointment is in Jan. 2008.The reality of sitting around waiting for a recurrence is terrifying.
I have read of some therapeutic strategies for prolonging remission,femara and A6 for example.
Have these been approved yet for use, and what is your opinion of these products?
In the meantime,do we just wait to become ill again?It really is a nightmare situation.
Thank you for your time,
Anne
A CT. scan in June 2007 showed no evidence of disease, nor did a pelvic and rectal-vaginal examination as recently as two weeks ago. My next sheduled appointment is in Jan. 2008.The reality of sitting around waiting for a recurrence is terrifying.
I have read of some therapeutic strategies for prolonging remission,femara and A6 for example.
Have these been approved yet for use, and what is your opinion of these products?
In the meantime,do we just wait to become ill again?It really is a nightmare situation.
Thank you for your time,
Anne
Thank you so much for your response.Those of us with advanced ovarian cancer at diagnosis can only hope to live long enough to benefit from the new therapies in the pipeline.Until that becomes a reality I will continue to eat my broccoli!
thanks again,
Anne
thanks again,
Anne
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear Anne,
It is really , really hard to wait until January!
There is not enough information about A6 to say whether it is a reasonable drug. It is currently being tested in phase I and II clinical trials on a small number of patients. The private company, ANGSTROM PHARMACEUTICALS , that is funding this study has not published results yet for the clinical trial (except to say it is "promising" based on animal studies.)
Here is their press release from June 14 2007: "Angstrom Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of cancer and eye disease, announced today the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical trial of its proprietary lead product, A6, for the prevention of clinical relapse in patients with ovarian cancer. The study will enroll 48-60 patients and is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of A6 in asymptomatic women in clinical remission who have an elevated CA-125 tumor marker level following successful first line treatment"
A6 is reported to work on the urokinase-type plasminogen activator system . It will be interesting to learn of the results from the clinical trial.
Now this is complicated but I have pasted an explanation of this system from another abstract here:
The urokinase-type plasminogen activator system and inflammatory joint diseases.Del Rosso M, Fibbi G, Matucci Cerinic M.
Department of Pathology and Experimental Oncology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Much evidence indicates that the urokinase plasminogen activator (u-PA), the urokinase receptor (u-PAR) and the serpin inhibitors are critical in cell invasion processes. The balance between u-PAR-bound u-PA and inhibitors modulate a pericellular proteolytic activity able to give "stop and go" signals to invading cells. The plasminogen activation system operates both directly and in concert with the matrix-metalloproteinase system. Direct interactions of u-PAR with vitronectin and integrins further regulate cell invasion. Another line of evidence suggests that u-PA-u-PAR interaction elicits chemotaxis, chemoinvasion and cell multiplication, events that do not require plasmin generation and therefore are referred to as "plasminogen-independent".
Femara is an aromatase inhibitor and inhibits estrogen formation by the adrenal glands. There are some small studies looking at femara in women with recurrent ovarian cacner. It would make sense to consider this drug for women who have a known recurrence and have estrogen receptor positive type cancer. You can ask your mother's doctor if her tumor has been tested for estrogen receptors. and progesterone receptor status.
But until you have evidence of recurrence, it is hard to justify the use of any medicine.
I am sorry that you and Ang both have these tough burdens of waiting and not knowing
best wishes
It is really , really hard to wait until January!
There is not enough information about A6 to say whether it is a reasonable drug. It is currently being tested in phase I and II clinical trials on a small number of patients. The private company, ANGSTROM PHARMACEUTICALS , that is funding this study has not published results yet for the clinical trial (except to say it is "promising" based on animal studies.)
Here is their press release from June 14 2007: "Angstrom Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of cancer and eye disease, announced today the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical trial of its proprietary lead product, A6, for the prevention of clinical relapse in patients with ovarian cancer. The study will enroll 48-60 patients and is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of A6 in asymptomatic women in clinical remission who have an elevated CA-125 tumor marker level following successful first line treatment"
A6 is reported to work on the urokinase-type plasminogen activator system . It will be interesting to learn of the results from the clinical trial.
Now this is complicated but I have pasted an explanation of this system from another abstract here:
The urokinase-type plasminogen activator system and inflammatory joint diseases.Del Rosso M, Fibbi G, Matucci Cerinic M.
Department of Pathology and Experimental Oncology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Much evidence indicates that the urokinase plasminogen activator (u-PA), the urokinase receptor (u-PAR) and the serpin inhibitors are critical in cell invasion processes. The balance between u-PAR-bound u-PA and inhibitors modulate a pericellular proteolytic activity able to give "stop and go" signals to invading cells. The plasminogen activation system operates both directly and in concert with the matrix-metalloproteinase system. Direct interactions of u-PAR with vitronectin and integrins further regulate cell invasion. Another line of evidence suggests that u-PA-u-PAR interaction elicits chemotaxis, chemoinvasion and cell multiplication, events that do not require plasmin generation and therefore are referred to as "plasminogen-independent".
Femara is an aromatase inhibitor and inhibits estrogen formation by the adrenal glands. There are some small studies looking at femara in women with recurrent ovarian cacner. It would make sense to consider this drug for women who have a known recurrence and have estrogen receptor positive type cancer. You can ask your mother's doctor if her tumor has been tested for estrogen receptors. and progesterone receptor status.
But until you have evidence of recurrence, it is hard to justify the use of any medicine.
I am sorry that you and Ang both have these tough burdens of waiting and not knowing
best wishes
Hi Ang,
I hope that your mother is o.k. It is terribly stressful to wait for imaging results, particularly as we are always aware of ovca statistics!
Thank you for your reply,I realize that until there is evidence of disease,there is no treatment, but it is frustrating to think you should be doing something to avoid a recurrence.Ovarian treatment has a long way to go.
On the other hand,I feel well, and I hope that your mother does ,too.Let me know how her scan goes, my fingers are crossed.
Sometimes I think that the diagnosis is harder on family members, such as daughters.I know mine panics at each twinge and check-up. It is hard...but know that your love and help keeps your mother
intent on beating this disease.
Anne
I hope that your mother is o.k. It is terribly stressful to wait for imaging results, particularly as we are always aware of ovca statistics!
Thank you for your reply,I realize that until there is evidence of disease,there is no treatment, but it is frustrating to think you should be doing something to avoid a recurrence.Ovarian treatment has a long way to go.
On the other hand,I feel well, and I hope that your mother does ,too.Let me know how her scan goes, my fingers are crossed.
Sometimes I think that the diagnosis is harder on family members, such as daughters.I know mine panics at each twinge and check-up. It is hard...but know that your love and help keeps your mother
intent on beating this disease.
Anne
Hi
My mum had OVCA stage 3 March 2005. CA125 was over 500, went down to 12, then in Jan jumped to 21(Jan 2007) then 27 (April 2007) then 31(October 2007).
Mum had normal examinations until this week when by accident a CT scan has shown as small mass in her liver. We are waiting for an MRI scan to confirm if its cancer or not.
The Dr told mum that if the cancer was returning and nothing was found on a ct scan it could be that the cancer is returning but is too small to see.
We have had the same agonizing wait and are now waiting for the results of the MRI scan.
You could try and get another scan as June is a long time ago.
A rising CA125 is not enough for chemo as its not enough evidence of a recurrence. Also your CA125 is still within normal at 21.
But I feel for you going through the same thing as us.
Ang
My mum had OVCA stage 3 March 2005. CA125 was over 500, went down to 12, then in Jan jumped to 21(Jan 2007) then 27 (April 2007) then 31(October 2007).
Mum had normal examinations until this week when by accident a CT scan has shown as small mass in her liver. We are waiting for an MRI scan to confirm if its cancer or not.
The Dr told mum that if the cancer was returning and nothing was found on a ct scan it could be that the cancer is returning but is too small to see.
We have had the same agonizing wait and are now waiting for the results of the MRI scan.
You could try and get another scan as June is a long time ago.
A rising CA125 is not enough for chemo as its not enough evidence of a recurrence. Also your CA125 is still within normal at 21.
But I feel for you going through the same thing as us.
Ang
Hi
My mum had OVCA stage 3 March 2005. CA125 was over 500, went down to 12, then in Jan jumped to 21(Jan 2007) then 27 (April 2007) then 31(October 2007).
Mum had normal examinations until this week when by accident a CT scan has shown as small mass in her liver. We are waiting for an MRI scan to confirm if its cancer or not.
The Dr told mum that if the cancer was returning and nothing was found on a ct scan it could be that the cancer is returning but is too small to see.
We have had the same agonizing wait and are now waiting for the results of the MRI scan.
You could try and get another scan as June is a long time ago.
A rising CA125 is not enough for chemo as its not enough evidence of a recurrence. Also your CA125 is still within normal at 21.
But I feel for you going through the same thing as us.
Ang
My mum had OVCA stage 3 March 2005. CA125 was over 500, went down to 12, then in Jan jumped to 21(Jan 2007) then 27 (April 2007) then 31(October 2007).
Mum had normal examinations until this week when by accident a CT scan has shown as small mass in her liver. We are waiting for an MRI scan to confirm if its cancer or not.
The Dr told mum that if the cancer was returning and nothing was found on a ct scan it could be that the cancer is returning but is too small to see.
We have had the same agonizing wait and are now waiting for the results of the MRI scan.
You could try and get another scan as June is a long time ago.
A rising CA125 is not enough for chemo as its not enough evidence of a recurrence. Also your CA125 is still within normal at 21.
But I feel for you going through the same thing as us.
Ang
You are reading content posted in the Ovarian Cancer Forum
Learn how to spot the warning signs of this “silent killer.”
Diet and digestion have more to do with cancer prevention than you may realize
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
