BC Cancer Agency only Canadian site in international chemoprevention drug trials

VANCOUVER - BC Cancer Agency cancer specialists seek 100 long-time smokers for a lung cancer prevention trial. The study, which begins here today, will test whether an inhaled topical steroid used in asthma patients prevents the development of cancer cells in the lungs.

The BC Cancer Agency has received $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to run the Phase II lung cancer prevention drug trial. The study will evaluate whether Pulmicort or Budesonide could help heal precancerous lesions in people at risk of developing lung cancer.

"For smokers at risk for lung cancer, chemoprevention could help us prevent the disease from advancing to a deadly stage," says Dr. Stephen Lam, the principal investigator. Lam is a renowned expert in the early detection and treatment of lung cancer and head of Pulmonology at the BC Cancer Agency.

Chemoprevention drugs are natural or synthetic compounds that may halt or reverse the growth of precancerous cells. Among many substances currently under investigation to prevent lung cancer, Pulmicort has shown great promise in recent laboratory studies.

Researchers are recruiting B.C. residents who are… 

• 40 to 74 years old, 
• current or former smokers of at least 20 cigarettes a day for 30 or more years, 
• willing to travel to Vancouver for assessment and follow-up for the six-month study.

At least 50 per cent of the study population will be women. They must be post-menopausal or have a negative serum pregnancy test before participating. The BC Cancer Agency is the only organization in the world to focus on women for a lung cancer prevention study.

Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer death in North America, kills more people than breast cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer combined. The 1998 Canadian Cancer Statistics estimates 17,100 people died from lung cancer last year.

In B.C., 25-year cancer trends have shown the incidence of lung cancer in elderly women has quadrupled.

"Our current treatment approaches have not been very effective against lung cancer," Lam says. "One reason is the disease can progress to a late stage without showing symptoms. But if we can catch lung cancer at the precancerous or early stage, the survival rate could jump to 90 per cent from the current 15 per cent."

In January 1998, the NIH designated the BC Cancer Agency a Chemoprevention Branch of the National Cancer Institute (US) as a Master Agreement Holder, to conduct Phase II clinical trials for new chemopreventive agents. Of 24 sites, the Agency and the European Institute of Oncology are the only non-U.S. sites in the pool of eligible centres.

Lam's colleagues involved in chemoprevention studies at the BC Cancer Agency: Calum MacAulay, PhD, head of Cancer Imaging (CI); Branko Palcic, PhD, director of the Technology Development Office and a senior scientist in CI; Jean LeRiche, MB, FRCPC, emeritus scientist in Pathology; and Andy Coldman, PhD, head of Cancer Control Strategy. The team works closely with Adi Gazdar, MD, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

"This trial is very exciting for a few reasons. The drug is relatively inexpensive and easy to use, and it is a prescription drug with few side-effects," Lam says. "If this chemoprevention proves to be useful, NIH will want to do a larger multi-centre trial, involving thousands of people." He adds that because the BC Cancer Agency has the structure for this kind of study, he expects the organization will draw more of this type of clinical trial.

In addition to chemoprevention studies, Lam and his BC Cancer Agency colleagues have developed a proposal for a feasibility study for a province-wide lung cancer screening program, based on the premise that screening people at high risk will improve survival rates.

While researchers worldwide have made small steps in the treatment of the disease, scientists in B.C. have made major leaps in the development of early detection devices and new treatment approaches. B.C. advances include computerized microscopes that detect abnormal cells in sputum, imaging equipment that uses blue fluorescent light to reveal precancerous tissues and early cancers, and treatments that mix light-sensitive drugs and red light to zap cancerous tissues. These and other inventions are currently undergoing testing around the world.

For more information about the Pulmicort trial and other lung cancer prevention initiatives, please call Suzan Ross at 604.877.6190.

The BC Cancer Agency provides a comprehensive cancer control program for the people of British Columbia by working with community partners to deliver a range of oncology services, including prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, research, education, supportive care, rehabilitation and palliative care. The BC Cancer Research Centre conducts research into the causes and cures for cancer. The BC Cancer Foundation has a mandate to raise funds to support the work of the Agency and Research Centre, for a world without fear of cancer.

For more information, please call Francine Gaudet:
Ph: 604.877.6107
Fax: 604.877.6146
Public Relations.