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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 The current paper is actually a secondary analysis of a study originally published in the Feb. 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The trial involved 160 men with advanced prostate cancer, who were either taking docetaxel (Taxotere, a chemotherapy drug) plus a newer drug, Asentar, or docetaxel alone.
The analyses were supported by Novacea Inc., which makes both Taxotere and Asentar. Both OHSU and Beer have financial interests in the company.
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Men taking both drugs had about a 49 percent improvement in survival and a 34 percent reduction in serious side effects, as compared with those taking Taxotere alone.
CRP was the only biomarker surveyed (others included PSA) that predicted shorter survival.
"In our analysis, CRP was much more predictive of survival than PSA was so, from that perspective, it's a potentially better test," Beer said.
PSA has been used both for early detection of prostate cancer and for monitoring the progression of the cancer. CRP has only been looked at for monitoring progression. "We're talking about very advanced patients with extensive cancer," Beer said. "There's no information that CRP would be useful when the cancer is tiny and probably there's not a lot of inflammation."
However, CRP may have potential both in prognosis and also in cancer biology.
"This gives us a lot of ideas as to how we might be able to better treat cancer in targeting inflammation as well as cancer," Beer said.
But the findings need to be replicated before they become a part of clinical practice.
"Any time we find a new prognostic marker, it really needs to be looked at in a second group of patients to make sure it holds up reliably," Beer said. "There needs to be a second study, and we're working towards that as we speak."
More information
There's more on prostate cancer at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
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