University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada 18 April 1997

New treatment offers hope for cancer cure

By Lee Elliott

I caution you that we are not announcing a cure for cancer today."

Dr. Lung-Ji Chang, a researcher in the U of A's department of medical microbiology and immunology, tried to contain the excitement at a crowded news conference Friday, April 11. However, the gene therapy treatment he developed with Dr. Ken Petruk, a professor of neurosurgery, is front page news and offers the promise of a future cure.

Chang and his research team announced the beginning of human clinical trials to test their revolutionary cancer-fighting vaccine. The vaccine has already successfully halted the growth of tumours in mice specially bred to accept a human immune system.

In the Phase I human clinical trials to start as early as mid-May, five patients with advanced brain cancer and five with melanoma (a type of skin cancer) will receive the treatment. "These patients will usually survive about six months without therapy," Petruk explained. In the course of the trial, they will have cancerous cells removed and injected with a combination of two genes that stimulate the immune system. The cells will then be grown in a culture for two months and sent to the U.S. for safety and toxicity checks before being injected back into the patient.

"This is a first demonstration," cautions Chang. "Gene therapy has not been proven yet in treating cancer." Even if the first human trial is successful, Chang says the number of patients tested is too small to announce a cure. "However, our research and clinical trials are on the leading edge of finding a cure for cancer in the future," he says. While the trials will initially target two types of cancer, the researchers hope it will be and effective treatment for all cancers.

Petruk says no side effects were observed in the mice, and "I would not expect to see any side effects or toxicity in the trials."

The first stage of the clinical trial will last a year or more. If successful, the research team will conduct two more clinical trials to satisfy Health Protection Branch requirements for approval of the treatment.

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