Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine, have come up with interesting finding from a two-Drug Phase I Trial Show, i.e., the combination of decitabine (see structure) and carboplatin appears to improve the outcome of women who have late-stage ovarian cancer. Researchers report four of 10 patients who participated in a phase I clinical trial had no disease progression after six months of treatment. One patient experienced complete resolution of tumor tissue for a period of time.
"Carboplatin is the most efficient drug therapy for ovarian cancer," unfortunately, patients with recurrent disease become resistant to the drug after one or two rounds claims the lead researcher.."
Decitabine was first used to treat the study patients intravenously daily for five days followed on the eighth day with carboplatin. After a month, the regimen begins again.
Encouraged by the results of the phase I trial, which determined the safety of two different dosing regimens, a phase II trial is now under way with 17 patients already enrolled. Phase II trials are primarily focused on assessing the effectiveness of a drug or treatment protocol.
As per the claim by the researcher, decitabine (a known methylation inhibitor) can help return tumor suppression genes to an active state, and also improve cells' susceptibility to anti-cancer drugs like carboplatin. Researchers adds that decitabine isn't just targeting active ovarian cancer cells, but also cancer stem cells that seem to survive the first treatments.
Researchers conclude that, by keeping tumor suppression genes from being methylated, carboplatin and other platinum-based treatments for ovarian cancer have a better chance of success in the late stages.