Abstract SS02-02: Chemoprevention: Poised for Success Free

SS02-02

AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention

Special Session: Achieving the Potential of Chemoprevention

Monday, November 17, 2008; 12:00-1:00pm

Abstract

Chemoprevention: Poised for Success

Peter Greenwald

National Cancer Institute

[email protected]

Phase III trials to prevent breast, prostate and colo-rectal cancers demonstrate clearly that reducing cancer risk via chemoprevention is possible and merits major research investment in addition to a balanced approach to public and professional education about the potential benefits for many people. In September 2007, the FDA approved raloxifene to reduce the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women at high risk of the disease. Thus, based in large part on the breast cancer prevention trial with tamoxifen and the more recent STAR trial, there are now two drugs approved for the prevention of breast cancer. The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial showed that men who took 5 mg of finasteride daily for 7 years had a 25% reduced risk of developing prostate cancer compared with men taking placebo. Subsequent studies provide reassurance that the drug was probably not causing high grade cancers in the finasteride group (an earlier concern), but rather finasteride may simply have made it easier to detect high-grade cancers. Seventy percent of colon polyps, including 92 % of advanced adenomas, were prevented by a combination of the investigational compound DFMO and the anti-inflammatory agent sulindac. As a group, these pivotal trials demonstrate that major reductions in risk for common cancers are possible by means of chemoprevention. Expansion of pre-clinical chemoprevention studies, exploratory investigational studies of pharmaceuticals and bioactive food compounds for cancer prevention, and phase I & II trials, together with increased attention to building public-private partnerships and professional and public interest, will help to grow this promising field of cancer prevention.

Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):SS02-02.