Catch-up: Off chemotherapy

“You’re not getting chemo today.”

For a variety of reasons, my doctor pulled the plug on this latest course of chemotherapy treatment. Wednesday’s blood labs showed low platelets again, which alone would have postponed this round of treatment, but in short, I haven’t tolerated it well at all, and it’s not working.

But that wasn’t the whole reason. My doctor was grinning.

“I was hit with divine inspiration. There’s a new drug. It’s experimental for melanoma and I can get you into the next round of study, but there’s a four week wait while they work up a genetic profile to see if you meet the criteria. I don’t want us to wait and we don’t have to. The drug has been approved for other forms of cancer, so it’s available commercially. I just wanted to talk to you about it first so I can have it overnighted to your house and you can start taking it tomorrow. I guarantee, by the time they can get the study done, we’ll know by your response if you fit the profile.”

She then proceeded to tell me about Gleevec.

Gleevec is not chemotherapy. It’s not toxic, has minimal side effects; it doesn’t cause you to lose your hair. It’s a drug that takes a different approach. Instead of targeting cancer cells and everything else in its path, it goes after specific proteins exhibiting a particular genetic mutation. A high correlation of response was initially noticed in patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and certain gastrointestinal tumors (GIST), which tend to exhibit these defective proteins, the first case of proteins known to cause cancer.

Now here’s the kicker: studies are underway to find other cancers that exhibit the same type of genetic abnormality. In the case of most melanomas, Gleevec has no effect. But various independent studies have shown that there are a couple of forms of melanoma that start in “non-standard” areas, which do tend to have the defect. The first type is in moist areas of the anatomy, such as sinuses, mucosa, and vagina. The second type is when the primary lesion is on the palms of the hand and on the feet. If you remember, my initial lesion in 2002 was on the side of my heel!

My doctor’s excitement about this new drug is contagious. I took my first pill last night. There’s so much more to write about it, but I need to get some sleep tonight. Look for new posts tomorrow.