Vitespen Failed To Improve Remission After Kidney Tumor-Removing Surgery
The British Journal The Lancet has reported that a new kidney cancer vaccine called vitespen, failed in last-phase clinical trials to improve the odds of avoiding remission after tumor-removing surgery. Christopher Wood and other of his co researchers of the Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, have tested the vaccine to 409 patients whose cancerous tumors had been removed. They then compared the relapse and survival rates to a second group that received no additional treatment. The difference in outcomes was statistically insignificant.
Earlier studies on the similar subject have shown that large number of renal cancer patients experienced relapse after surgery. When this happens, it is lethal, there is no cure for metastatic kidney cancer. The new vaccine was designed to help prevent such remissions.
In can be added that the number of kidney cancer cases are growing worldwide. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has reported more than 200,000 new cases of kidney cancer worldwide in 2004, and just over 100,000 deaths. Renal cell carcinoma is the major killer among the adult patients, accounting for about 85 percent of all kidney tumors.
The study also showed that a subset of patients with early stages of the disease who had been given vitespin fared marginally better than a control group, but said further trials were needed to verify these results.
Source: AFP
Filed under Cancer, Health, Kidney
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