Aphton Corp of California, USA, has completed its first Phase I/II trial of Gastrimune, a vaccine-like product which has been developed to treat patients with adenocarcinomas of the gastrointestinal system.
Gastrimune is designed to mount antibodies against gastrin 17 (G17), a hormone thought to provide a significant growth stimulus for GI tumors including colorectal cancer, stomach cancer and pancreatic cancer.
The patients selected for treatment with Gastrimune were terminally-ill, with metastases to the liver, and had an estimated life expectancy of around 22 weeks. Treatment with Gastrimune was found to elicit high levels of anti-G17 antibodies which were sufficient to neutralize the effects of the hormone, as well as to neutralize a recently-discovered precursor form of the hormone (glycine-extended G17) which, like G17 itself, stimulates GI tumor growth.
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