Could arsenic a new treatment for prostate cancer?

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BRONX, NY (March 3, 2003) - Men with prostate cancer who do not respond to standard therapies may some day find hope in arsenic trioxide treatment, according to a phase II clinical trial conducted by researchers at Montefiore Medical Center and reported on at a recent national cancer symposium in New York City.

Under an NIH grant, Robert E. Gallagher, MD, director of leukemic cell biology at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein Cancer Center in the Bronx, NY studied the effectiveness and safety of arsenic trioxide treatment on 15 prostate cancer patients who had failed at least two hormonal treatments and may have had prior chemotherapy or radiation therapy. In one patient in particular, who was also receiving radiation therapy, PSA (prostate specific antigen) levels dropped precipitously.

“We had promising results in two patients in our study,” said Dr. Gallagher. “but expanded studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of the arsenic treatment in larger populations.”

Arsenic has already proved to have a “remarkable clinical effectiveness” in patients with relapsed acute promyelocitic leukemia, according to Dr. Gallagher.

Dr. Gallagher presented his findings at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine’s Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium XX in late November, 2002.

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