September 1 Clinical Cancer Research Highlights

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Selected Articles from the September 1, 2007 Issue

The articles referenced in this Highlights section will be available online in HTML and PDF formats to all interested users at no charge until the next issue of Clinical Cancer Research is published. Click on the article title to view the complete article.

View the Table of Contents for the September 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

New Marker Predicts Breast Cancer Outcome

SS1P Well-tolerated in Mesothelioma Patients

SS1P is a recombinant immunotoxin targeting the tumor differentiation antigen mesothelin. Hassan and colleagues conducted a phase I clinical trial of SS1P given as an intravenous bolus infusion to patients with mesothelin-expressing mesothelioma, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers. A total of 34 patients were treated, and the maximum tolerated dose was established as 45 µg/kg. SS1P was well tolerated, with pleuritis as the dose-limiting toxicity. Evidence of clinical activity was noted in a group of heavily pretreated patients. Phase II clinical trials of SS1P are being planned in patients with malignant mesothelioma and other mesothelin expressing cancers.

Androgen Receptor Locus Affects Hormonal Treatment Response

One way to expedite cancer drug development is to test drugs used for other indications as cancer therapeutics, a process that has been termed “repositioning.” To identify existing drugs that inhibit Akt, Gills and colleagues screened 6 FDA-approved HIV protease inhibitors and identified nelfinavir as the most potent inhibitor. Nelfinavir decreased proliferation of every cell line in the NCI60 panel and decreased the growth of lung cancer xenografts. Nelfinavir inhibited Akt transiently and caused cytotoxicity by inducing ER stress and autophagy, which was observed in vitro and in vivo. These studies indicate that nelfinavir has potential to be repositioned as a cancer therapeutic.