Decitabine may target ovarian CSCs?

Two-Drug Phase I Trial Shows Promise in Treating Late-Stage Ovarian Cancer, ScienceDaily, June 13, 2010. Excerpt:

"Our hypothesis is that decitabine isn't just targeting active ovarian cancer cells, but also cancer stem cells that seem to survive the first treatments," [Kenneth] Nephew said. "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."

This news release is about the publication entitled: A phase 1 and pharmacodynamic study of decitabine in combination with carboplatin in patients with recurrent, platinum-resistant, epithelial ovarian cancer by Fang Fang, Curt Balch and 9 co-authors, including Kenneth P Nephew and Daniela E Matei, Cancer 2010(Jun 8) [Epub ahead of print].

Clinical trial on the natural history of solid organ cancer stem cells (SOCSC)

Studying Stem Cells in Patients With Primary or Metastatic Solid Tumors. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00892060

Study Type: Observational

Primary Objective:

To study and characterize, both quantitatively and qualitatively, solid organ cancer stem cells (SOCSC) from the time of tumor resection to the time of recurrence and/or metastasis using established phenotypic and functional markers of putative cancer stem cells from patients with primary or metastatic solid tumors.

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Estimated Enrollment: 676
Study Start Date: February 2009
Estimated Primary Completion Date: February 2014 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

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Location: United States, Maryland

Principal Investigator:

Itzhak Avital, MD NCI - Surgery Branch

Found via Twitter (May 4, 2009).