The University of Nebraska Medical Center is one of four sites nationwide that is enrolling patients in a clinical trial to test a new therapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). In addition to UNMC three other medical facilities are participating in the trial: MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Stanford University. The study is funded by Human Genome Sciences, Inc.
Julie Vose, M.D., professor and chief of the section of hematology/oncology, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, and principal investigator of the study, is hopeful that the drug being tested, TRM-1, will safely and effectively treat people with relapsed or refractory NHL.
“There are 40 different types of NHL with 60,000 new diagnoses made each year,” said Dr. Vose, who is nationally recognized for treatment and research in lymphoma. “It is a devastating disease.”
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the fifth most common cancer in the United States. Signs and symptoms include painless swelling of the lymph nodes usually in the neck, armpit, groin or abdomen. It can also cause fever, night sweats, excessive tiredness, indigestion, abdominal pain, loss of appetite and bone pain.
TRM-1, a monoclonal antibody engineered in the laboratory, is believed to be a safer alternative to treating NHL because it specifically targets the cancer cells and not healthy cells in surrounding tissues. It does this by binding onto the protein receptor TRAIL-R1, which is found in a wide variety of tumor cells, such as NHL. Once bound to the targeted site TRM-1 can block the growth of the tumor.
Patients in this study are not expected to experience the painful side effects such as hair loss, mouth sores and nausea that are associated with radiation and chemotherapy, Dr. Vose said.
Patients will be given up to six doses of TRM-1 at 21-day intervals. The first phase of the clinical trial began in July and the entire study is expected to be completed in one year. Dr. Vose will begin enrolling new patients in September.
Candidates for the study must be 19 years of age or older, been treated for NHL and have exhausted other treatment options, including radiation and chemotherapy and failed to achieve or maintain the objective response after the last treatment.
For more information, contact Susan Blumel, research nurse coordinator at UNMC at (402) 559-9183.