He also cited a number of design problems with the study, including the small number of patients, which makes some comparisons difficult. Michael Prados, MD, of the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues tested the effectiveness of temozolomide in treating anaplastic astrocytoma at first relapse. Prados said he believes this phase II study prompted the recommendation for accelerated approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration. In addition, a significant number of patients reported an improvement in their quality of life. The study of temozolomide in treating anaplastic astrocytoma, while encouraging, Buckner said in his discussion, suffers from the fact that the patient population had more than one diagnosis.
Some drugs enhance the effectiveness of radiotherapy in treating certain cancers.
In animal studies, paclitaxel has shown evidence of sensitization activity. The team's first step was to determine whether paclitaxel would be tolerated along with radiation. Nevertheless, Langer's bottom line seemed less than encouraging. When these cancers invade the brain, patient prognosis plummets, and the more metastases there are, the worse the prognosis. It's a good radiosensitizer and hopefully would improve the effect of radiation to the brain.