Advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a challenging disease to treat. More than 200,000 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed each year, and 85 percent to 90 percent of diagnosed lung cancers fall into the non-small cell type.
A new strategy for treating NSCLC that increases the effectiveness of standard chemotherapy in patients with advanced stage disease has been found by Emory researchers. Recent advances in treatment result in improvement in patient survival noted for all stages of NSCLC.
Saresh Ramalingam, MD
Lead investigator Suresh Ramalingam, MD, associate professor of hematology and medical oncology at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, along with a consortium of academic institutions that is supported by the National Cancer Institute, published the positive results in The Journal of Clinical Oncology.
In the clinical trial, Emory scientists added a cancer-fighting compound that is used to treat a specific type of lymphoma to standard lung cancer chemotherapy, resulting in an increase in positive response rates in NSCLC patients.
The addition of vorinostat, a compound that affects the function and activity of DNA and various other proteins, to standard chemotherapy treatment of carboplatin and paclitaxel, increased positive response rates in patients from 12.5 percent to 34 percent in a clinical trial of 94 patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Vorinostat may be affecting histones, which are spool-like proteins around which the cell’s DNA is wound. These proteins are important for cell division. We believe these molecular effects could enhance the efficacy of carboplatin and paclitaxel, respectively.
Vorinostat is part of an emerging class of anti-tumor agents that interfere with enzymes known as histone deacetylases (HDAC). Inhibiting these enzymes increases the level of acetylation, a modification of proteins in the cell. Vorinostat is sold by Merck as Zolinza and was approved by the FDA in 2006 to treat cutaneous T cell lymphoma.
Ramalingam says this exciting data will have to be further evaluated in confirmatory phase III studies before they can be adopted in routine use. However, HDAC inhibitors can now be considered among the leading targeted agents under evaluation for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.
