Scorpion Venom Used To
Treat Brain Cancer - Radiation and Chemotherapy Can Be Used With TM-601
Breaking Brain Blood Barrier
July 28th 2006
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Israeli Scorpion |
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Scientists at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Maxine Dunitz
Neurosurgical Institute in Los Angeles say that a key ingredient found
in the Giant Yellow Israeli scorpion, TM-601, can transport radioactive
iodine to cancerous glioma cells in the brain. A Phase I study has
been concluded using a synthetic version of the peptide which is found
in this scorpion’s venom.
Glioma is an extremely aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer.
TM-601 binds to glioma cells and has the unusual ability to pass through
the blood-brain barrier that blocks most substances from reaching brain
tissue from the bloodstream.
Dr. Adam N. Mamelak, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai and leader of
the Phase I trial, believes TM-601 can be used with other therapies.
The peptide has not affected neighboring tissue or other body organs,
and the clinical trial has been shown to be safe on the 18 patients in
Phase I.
Mamelak explains “We’re using the TM-601 primarily as a carrier to
transport radioactive iodine to glioma cells, although there are data to
suggest that it may also slow down the growth of tumor cells. If studies
continue to confirm this, we may be able to use it in conjunction with
other treatments, such as chemotherapy, because there may be a
synergistic effect. In other words, TM-601’s ability to impede cancer
growth could allow us to reduce the dose of chemotherapy to achieve a
therapeutic effect.”
Doctor Keith L. Black said “Despite advances in surgical technology,
radiation therapy and cancer-killing drugs, length of survival has
remained virtually unchanged for patients with gliomas. Only in the
recent past have we begun to discover some of the molecular, genetic and
immunologic mechanisms that enable these deadly cancer cells to evade or
defy our treatments, and we are developing innovative approaches, such
as this one, that capitalize on these revelations.” Black is director of
the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and interim chair of
Cedars-Sinai’s Department of Neurosurgery.
Phase II is underway and will assess the effectiveness of multiple
doses. The Phase I trail found the median length of survival for all
patients was 27 weeks. Two patients, women in their early 40s, had a
“complete radiographic response,” meaning there was no evidence of
residual tumor according to magnetic resonance imaging scans. The
patients were still alive beyond 33 and 35 months after surgery, despite
the low dose of TM-601 and radiation levels that were below expected
therapeutic levels.
Analyses also showed that most of the radioactivity delivered by the
drug left the region within 24 hours of administration. That which
lingered was “tightly localized to the tumor cavity and surrounding
regions, suggesting discrete binding to the tumor.” The drug was
eliminated primarily through the urine, with radiation doses to the
thyroid and other vital organs remaining extremely low and harmless.
Marsh Quinn
Writer
Books on Cancer
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