gene thearpy verus standard

[cathyjack]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this but here goes:

What is your opinion of the out come of gene therapy verus standard chemo? I realize that the gene therapy is in trails. Thanks for your time!

CathyW

[john]

As you said gene therapy and almost all cancer therapy besides chemo is through a trial. More and more are being approved for other cancers (monoclonal antibodies mostly) but I think Iressa is the only non-chemo drug approved for LC. I difinitely could be wrong about this.

There is P53 vaccine that *seems* promising.

The best thing to do from a practical point is figure out what trials are available to you. You can ask your Dr

Also you can look at

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov and other web sites that show trials.

Look at this site to find the closest NCI designated center

http://www3.cancer.gov/cancercenters/ce ... t.html#L28

You can call the centers to find out what trials are open

If you are close to Washington DC you can call NCI (National Cancer Institute to find find trials.)

After you get a list of the trials you may be qualified for, look for Phase III trials and any other info that may seem to indicate one is more promising. Compare that you 2nd line chemo.

There are a lot of trials I found in maryland. I did not find as many in virginia, but there is probably more.

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/search ... 2Cmaryland

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/conte ... Cancer.asp

[cathyjack]

Thanks alot John. As far as asking my husbands Dr., I've tried that. He is proving to NOT be very helpfull. This is such a scarry process I really wanted his help but it looks like we are to "go it alone". Thanks for the info.

Cathy

[john]

If the Dr is not willing to help then maybe find another one.

You can try to call different NCI designated centers, or use the web to

find clinical trials.

My mom was retired and on Medicare and all the trials were covered

by the insurance. Most trials are fairly cheap, I *think* you only pay for supportive care not the drug

Are you close to DC or University of Virginia or Richmond? A NCI designated center usually will have access to more trials (I think) than a regular hospital

Michael J. Weber, Ph.D.

Director

Cancer Center

University of Virginia, Health Sciences Center Jefferson Park Ave., Room 617E

Charlottesville, Virginia 22908

Tel: 434/243-9926

Fax: 434/982-0918

(Clinical Cancer Center)

Gordon D. Ginder, M.D.

Professor of Medicine & Director

Massey Cancer Center

Virginia Commonwealth University P.O. Box 980037

Richmond, Virginia 23298-0037

Tel: 804/828-0450

Fax: 804/828-8453

(Clinical Cancer Center)

[kimblanchard]

Cathy, I'm not sure what you mean by gene therapy. If you are referring to the experimental use of techniques which insert new genes into cells to repair a genetic flaw, we are not even close to making this a real cancer treatment.

[cathyjack]

Hi Joe,

I mean the vaccine trails, I thought that was gene thearpy. If I understand correctly the puropse is to turn on your bodies immune system to recognize and kill the cancer. Thanks for your time!

Cathy

[Rick]

Is it the Gvax that you are talking about?

[kimblanchard]

Vaccine therapy is a very sexy idea but is still experimental. I am always in favor of experimental treatments so would strongly encourage people to pursue them.

[cathyjack]

Yes Rick, gvax and other vaccines. We are looking at one at NIH. I talked with thme today but the vaccine trail they suggested is phase 1 and I'm kinda scared of that. They don't do the Gvax . We are still waiting to hear from the Gvax clincial trail nurse. Not sure what to do yet.

Joe, I don't know if I would call it "sexy"(lol),but vaccines seems to have hope(in my opinion anyway, from what i have read) where as chemo does not in my husbands case.

cathy