治療卵巢癌的藥物或對治療前列腺癌有效

A drug approved last year for women with ovarian tumours has shown remarkable benefits in some men with advanced prostate cancer, UK researchers have found in what they say is a “landmark clinical trial” of genetic oncology.

英國研究人員在他們所稱的一次“里程碑式的（遺傳腫瘤學）臨牀試驗”中發現，去年批准的一種治療女性卵巢腫瘤的藥物，對部分患晚期前列腺癌的男性顯示出明顯療效。

The Institute of Cancer Research in London, which carried out the study with the Royal Marsden hospital and a wide range of funding bodies, said that olaparib — the drug introduced last year by AstraZeneca under the trade name Lynparza — would benefit 25 to 30 per cent of patients with advanced prostate cancer.

這項研究由倫敦癌症研究院(Institute of Cancer Research)與皇家馬斯登醫院(Royal Marsden Hospital)及多個基金會合作開展。倫敦癌症研究院表示，25%到30%的晚期前列腺癌患者將從這個名爲奧拉帕尼(Olaparib)的藥物中受益。該藥物是去年由阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)推出的，商品名爲Lynparza。

These men carry specific genetic mutations that affect their cells’ ability to repair damaged DNA. While this enables cancer to get started, olaparib further disrupts the repair mechanism — causing so much damage that tumour cells can no longer survive, said Joaquin Maleo, lead author of the study, which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

這些男性攜帶特殊的基因突變，會影響他們細胞修復受損脫氧核糖核酸(DNA)的能力。該研究報告第一作者華金氠萊奧(Joaquin Maleo)表示，儘管這種突變令癌得以萌生，奧拉帕尼卻會進一步擾亂修復機制，造成很大的損傷，以至於腫瘤細胞無法再存活。該研究報告發表在《新英格蘭醫學期刊》(New England Journal of Medicine)上。

“Our trial marks a significant step forward in the treatment of prostate cancer, showing that olaparib is highly effective at treating men with DNA repair defects in their tumours,” added Johann de Bono, head of drug development at the Institute of Cancer Research. “It also proves the principle that we can detect prostate cancers with specific targetable mutations, using genomic sequencing to deliver more precise cancer care by matching treatment to those men most likely to benefit.”

倫敦癌症研究院藥品開發主管約翰德博諾(Johann de Bono)補充說：“我們的試驗標誌着前列腺癌治療取得了重大進展，證明了奧拉帕尼對治療腫瘤中存在DNA修復缺陷的男性非常有效。該試驗還證明了可用特定靶向性突變診斷前列腺癌的原理，我們可利用基因測序，將治療手段與最可能受益的男性匹配起來，實現更精準的癌症治療。”

The study included 49 men with terminal prostate cancer that had resisted previous treatment. Fourteen of them — those with detectable DNA repair mutations — responded very well to the drug, surviving for much longer than expected for patients with such advanced disease.

這項研究的對象包括49名患晚期前列腺癌的男性，此前的治療手段對他們無效。在他們中間，14人攜帶可檢測到的DNA修復能力突變。這14人對該藥物的反應非常好，存活時間遠遠長於患如此晚期癌症的病人的預期存活時間。

The results have led to a second trial, now getting under way, in which only patients whose DNA shows detectable repair mutations will receive olaparib. If it confirms the findings of the first study, olaparib could become a standard treatment for advanced prostate cancer in men with these mutations.

這些結果促使研究人員設計了第二個試驗，該試驗正在進行當中。在第二個臨牀試驗中，只有那些DNA具有可檢測到的修復能力突變的患者纔會服用奧拉帕尼。如果這次試驗確認了第一次試驗的結論，奧拉帕尼或成爲攜帶這種基因突變的晚期前列腺癌患者的標準治療手段。