Mayo Clinic Study Suggests Two is Better Than One

The Mayo Clinic News is running a story about some promising research findings: ER-CHOP yields better results than R-CHOP in early studies of patients with diffuse large-cell lymphoma. Why am I bothering to post about it, since I have never had this particular disease, and most of my readers do not have it either?

E = epratuzumab (a monoclonal antibody)  R = Rituximab (a different monoclonal antibody) CHOP = a 4-drug chemo cocktail

I care because every bit of knowledge can be a stepping stone to more-personalized medicine, i.e., medicine that is more effective and less toxic to individual patients.

This and all the other studies being presented at the ASCO meeting in Orlando over the next two days will add to scientists' fund of knowledge about cancer. 

As many of you already know,I was subject #15 (see video) in the Phase I Clinical Trial of IDEC C2B8, the first monoclonal antibody used in humans to treat disease. That was back in 1993 at Stanford. Now it is known as rituximab -- trade name, Rituxan -- and now, 15 years later, is the most commonly prescribed antilymphoma drug (and not just for the type of lymphoma I've had, but for other types, too).

Even more exciting is that researchers have been learning how best to use this drug, not only for the specific disease for which is was developed, but also for other diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.   

News coming from research meetings gives Healthy Survivors hope that progress is being made in the development of safer, less toxic and more effective therapies for all diseases.  

Comments

[Kairol Rosenthal]

I too think it is important to stay up to date of news on the ASCO horizon. I think it is equally important to continue reading updates, as information presented at conferences is often in early stages and in need of continued investigation.