An allergic reaction to the cancer drug cetuximab has been found.
Sometimes the reaction includes anaphylaxis, a life-threatening condition characterized by a drop in blood pressure, fainting, difficulty breathing, and wheezing.
Now researchers funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered that specific pre-existing antibodies cause the severe reaction to the drug.
Cetuximab is an immune-based therapy commonly used to treat persons diagnosed with head and neck cancer, or colon cancer, marketed as the popular brand Erbitux — a product of ImClone Systems Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
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When all other treatment options for colorectal cancer have been exhausted to no significant effect, cetuximab is the effective treatment option.
Such were the suggestion confirmed by a research study recently presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research
According to Derek Jonker, M.D., assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and Canadian co-chair of the study:
< blockquote>”Cetuximab improved survival in these patients when all other therapies had failed. This is the first time a single agent biologically targeted therapy has demonstrated a survival advantage in patients with colorectal cancer, and it is also the first time …read more

Metastases – the process of cancer spreading to other parts of the body – is a scary word in cancer.
A research team led by Dr. Joan Massagué from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, US) has demonstrated a way to stop breast cancer metastasis by either switching off the genes involved in the process or blocking them with drugs.
In 2005, they found a number of genes that help breast cancer to metastase to the lungs. In this new study, they have identified four genes in particular that work together to help cells from the primary site to settle at …read more

Preliminary findings of a new study designed by researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center found that adding the chemotherapy drug cetuximab (brand name Erbitux) to radiation therapy and chemotherapy may help some patients with head and neck cancer to live longer.
According to Mohan Suntharalingam, M.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the University of Maryland:
“Given the advanced stages of disease that patients have on this study, these results point to the potential of increasing the therapeutic gain for patients.
We now need a phase III study to determine if adding this drug is better than …read more