News Release

Mayo Clinic study finds radioactive drug samarium hopeful new treatment for osteosarcoma

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Mayo Clinic

Teenagers comprise majority of patients diagnosed with this cancer of the bone

ROCHESTER, MINN. -- A Mayo Clinic study indicates the radioactive drug samarium may expand treatment options for osteosarcoma, offering patients with bone cancer further hope of a treatment that specifically targets and kills tumors in the bone.

In the study, 24 of the 30 patients enrolled experienced a good to excellent response to the samarium treatment. Two of the patients have been in complete remission for more than two years. (See attached profiles on patients Francisco Villagran of Dallas, Texas, and Casey Quinn of Minneapolis, Minn.)

The Mayo Clinic study is the first known American research study to be completed on the use of samarium for treatment of osteosarcoma. The findings are published in the current edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“Samarium is an interesting radioactive drug that’s similar to isotopes that have been used for years by radiology physicians to perform bone scans for detecting bone cancer and for determining the spread of cancer from a primary site, such as a breast, to the bone,” says Peter Anderson, M.D., a Mayo Clinic pediatric oncologist and lead researcher on the study. “Now our study confirms research done in Norway and Germany that for some patients, samarium also is an effective treatment for osteosarcoma.

“The beauty of samarium is that it targets the tumors in the bone and kills off the cancer cells,” says Dr. Anderson. “Because it is bone-specific, samarium does not have many of the side effects often associated with chemotherapy -- nausea, vomiting and fatigue.

“We see samarium as advancement in treatment of osteosarcoma because patients with this cancer still have a poor prognosis if the cancer cannot be adequately controlled through surgery and chemotherapy.”

Osteosarcoma belongs to the sarcoma group of cancers, uncommon malignant tumors that begin in bone and form bony tumors. The majority of these patients are teenagers. The usual treatment for osteosarcoma 20 years ago was amputation of the affected arm or leg. Today, surgery remains the mainstay treatment but in a majority of patients the affected limb can be saved with limb-sparing surgery. Patients typically also receive eight to 12 months of chemotherapy as part of their treatment plan.

In about ten percent of patients, surgery or chemotherapy cannot adequately control osteosarcoma. For these patients, samarium may be an option for achieving remission from the cancer. In the Mayo Clinic study, 21 patients had osteosarcoma. All of the patients in the study had failed two or more previous therapies and had multiple sites of bone cancer. The patients ranged in age from 18 to 57, with 24 being the average age.

The samarium treatment process begins with the collection of stem cells from the patient’s blood. These cells are frozen and stored and then infused back into the patient two weeks after the samarium treatment is given. Patients are hospitalized an average of two days during the entire treatment.

The samarium is administered intravenously. The actual time of giving the treatment is about 30 minutes.

“The drug has a half-life of only two days, so in two weeks the drug has done its job and bones have very little radioactivity” says Dr. Anderson. “Then, the patient receives the stem cells to enable the return of blood counts.”

The Food and Drug Administration approved samarium in 1997 for relieving pain in patients with cancer involving bone. In Europe, Dr. Oyvind Bruland, of the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, Norway, has led research on the use of the drug for treatment of osteosarcoma. Dr. Anderson worked with Dr. Bruland on the use of samarium for several of his patients who had relapsed after standard treatment for osteosarcoma before initiating the study at Mayo Clinic. Other studies are now being developed at Mayo Clinic to test samarium in patients with other types of cancer inside the bones, including multiple myeloma.

###

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Friday, Feb. 8, 2002
Samarium

Eastern
Test: 14:00-14:05
Program: 14:05-14:30

Central
Test: 13:00-13:05
Program: 13:05-13:30

Satellite Coordinates

Ku-Band
Satellite: Galaxy 11
Transponder: 13 (H)
Channel: 13
Downlink Frequency: 11960 MHz
Audio: 6.2 or 6.8 MHz
Longitude: 91° W

C-Band
Satellite: Galaxy 4R
Transponder: 20 (V)
Channel: 20
Downlink Frequency: 4100 MHz
Audio: 6.2 or 6.8 MHz
Longitude: 99° W

For News Release information, please contact: 507-284-5005 (Mayo Clinic Communications). For satellite technical questions or difficulties, contact: (800) 608-3663 (Strategic Television) or (507) 284-9118 (Mayo Clinic Satellite Desk)

PROFILES of patients treated with samarium. These patients are available for interviews. Contact Mary Lawson at Mayo Clinic to arrange: 507-266-0810 (days), 507-284-2511 (evenings), e-mail: newsbureau@mayo.edu

Francisco Villigran: Francisco received samarium in June 1999 for treatment of osteosarcoma and has been cancer-free for the past two and one-half years.

Villigran, 23, is a senior majoring in management sciences at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas.

Originally from Guatemala and nicknamed Paco, Villigran was only 11 months old when he was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma, a cancer affecting both of his eyes. It was his first encounter with cancer.

Children diagnosed with cancer have about a 75 percent chance of getting a second cancer later in life. Sometimes the second cancer occurs in either the muscle or bone. Villigran’s second encounter came in 1999 when he was diagnosed with cancer of the bone in his upper left arm.

Four rounds of chemotherapy made Villigran very sick but had little chance of providing a durable response because the cancer was in five different bones. A Dallas oncologist recognized Villigran had advanced osteosarcoma and that the chemotherapy wasn’t working and referred him to Mayo Clinic.

Villigran received his first samarium treatment in June 1999. Bone scans taken a few months later showed improvement, but as a precaution Villigran received a second samarium treatment in March 2000. Follow-up bone scans have shown no sign of cancer.

“Compared to chemotherapy, the samarium treatment was easy and painless,” says Villigran. “It took minutes and I didn’t feel nausea or fatigue.”

Villigran underwent surgery last April to reconstruct the upper part of his left arm. The very large tumor was completely dead at the time of surgery. He is now working on completing his studies at SMU where he is a double major in economics and computer science.

Casey Quinn: Casey received samarium in August 1998 for treatment of osteosarcoma and has been cancer-free for the past three and one-half years.

Quinn, 24, works for an advertising agency in Minneapolis, Minn., creating Web sites and producing CD presentations for clients.

Originally from Mankato, Minn., Quinn received a double dose of bad news in 1995. A junior at Mankato West High School, he was first told he had colon cancer. Then during the surgery to resect the colon, the surgeons found he had cancer of the bone in his pelvis. Seven months of rigorous and intensive chemotherapy followed. By September 1997, he had finished chemotherapy treatments and things went pretty well for two years.

While a student at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., Quinn experienced pain in his ankle. In October 1997, a bone scan showed a spot on his left heel. A biopsy proved the spot cancer and Quinn underwent amputation of his left leg just below the knee to remove the tumor.

Then a new lesion appeared on another bone scan done in January1998. The cancer was in his jaw. He underwent radiation therapy to slow the cancer, with little hope of stopping it completely.

“Dr. Anderson suggested samarium at that point because the spot on my jaw wasn’t growing but it wasn’t going away either,” said Quinn. “I received one treatment of samarium. Compared to chemotherapy, it was a walk in the park. So simple; no side effects.”

At his six-month check-up last summer, Dr. Anderson told Quinn that he didn’t need to be re-checked for a year.

“That was just the best news,” said Quinn.

Video Feed: A video feed, including sound bites from the investigator and b-roll, will be fed via satellite at 1 p.m. CST on Friday, Feb. 8, 2002


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.