Jill Bloom 410-601-5025 [email protected] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 11, 1997
SINAI HOSPITAL PARTICIPATES IN NATIONAL SKIN CANCER VACCINE STUDY
Physicians at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore are part of a national study to test the effectiveness of a new vaccine to prevent recurrences of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The vaccine, GM2, works by helping to boost the patient's immune system to destroy cancer cells.
"More than 30 percent of patients treated for melanoma will have a recurrence within the first two to three years even after their cancer has been completely removed surgically," says Mukund S. Didolkar, M.D., director of surgical oncology and principal investigator of the study for Sinai Hospital. "Often times a few stray cells will remain following surgery, causing the cancer to recur in some patients. Once that happens the prognosis for survival is tremendously effected."
In some patients, however, the immune system kills any leftover melanoma cells before they grow. Their immune systems naturally create antibodies to the ganglioside called GM2, found on the surface of melanoma cells. The new vaccine replicates the GM2 antibodies.
To be eligible for the study, patients must have had their initial cancer surgically removed and must be at high risk for recurrence due to either the invasiveness of the initial cancer or because the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Patients who have been free of melanoma for several years and develop a recurrence in the lymph nodes are also eligible. Once enrolled in the Phase III study, participants will be randomly selected to receive either the vaccine or interferon, a treatment for melanoma that is already FDA approved. Both drugs are given by injection. According to Dr. Didolkar, the vaccine has fewer side effects than interferon. A total of 850 patients will be enrolled nationwide to participate in the study.
Each year, melanoma strikes more than 40,000 people in the United States, killing more than 7,000. In Maryland last year, 610 new cases were diagnosed and 110 people died of the disease. Exposure to the sun is still the leading cause of melanoma. Dr. Didolkar says it is the sun exposure that people experience as children and young teens that can lead to melanoma.
People interested in finding out more about the vaccine study should call 410-601-9999.
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