MDX-010 (Ipilimumab) treatment for advanced prostate cancer

Researchers in the Mayo Clinic have found very positive results in trials for 108 men with advanced prostate cancer. For patients with advanced prostate cancer which has spread outside the prostate, surgery is no longer an option. Standard treatment for advanced prostate cancer is to use hormone therapy to try to shrink the cancer tumour.

In the Mayo Clinic study, the researchers tested MDX-010 (Ipilimumab), a type of monoclonal antibody, to see if it will stimulate a strong immune response to attack the prostate cancer cells. The results, according to Dr. Eugene Kwon, were beyond expectations. It was found that in 3 cases, the tumours had shrank so much that it was possible to surgically remove the tumour. 20 other test subjects had also shown improvements. The researchers so so encouraged that they have planned to expand the trial to test higher dosage of MDX-010 on a further 30 prostate cancer patients, and beyond that, to expand to larger trials in many hospitals.

Here are more details about the "startling results": Rodger Nelson was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. The tumor has spread beyond the prostate while the cancer is encroaching upon the abdomen. The prognosis for such condition is usually death within a few months and only palliative care would be given. However, after only one dose of Ipilimumab (MDX-010), Nelson's tumor has shrunk so much that it could be surgically removed. The surgeons described the tumors as "very hard to find". Another patient in the study, Fructuoso Solano-Revuelta, had a tumor as large as a golf ball with similar prognosis. His tumor too have shrunk after application of Ipilimumab to the extend it became operable. Both men have returned to work.

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