A drug that has been in use for treating kidney cancer is now showing potential as treatment for pulmonary hypertension. Scientists from the University of Chicago Medical Center discussed their study's finding at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in Toronto, Canada this month.

Sorafenib (Nexavar ®) has been tested on nine patients in the study. Eight of the patients had increased ability to exercise. Six of the nine had improvements in the heart pumping blood to the lungs. Sorafenib was originally developed to treat colon cancer, but was found to be more effective with kidney cancer.

Currently there are few treatment options for sufferers of pulmonary hypertension. Study author Mardi Gomberg-Maitland, MD, MSc, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago says this is what makes the discovery "exciting." Treatment generally involves slowing the progress of the condition. This discovery offers hope for a more progressive treatment that may eventually stop or reverse the disease. The preclinical trial showed that sorafenib reduced pulmonary hypertension in a rat model, which led to a patient trial.
The patients enrolled had stable disease conditions, and took their regular medicine along with the sorafenib for 16 weeks. The dosage was lower than that given to cancer patients. Gomberg-Maitland reported that the patients all had some improvement, some patients having "dramatic" improvement. The patients had an 8-percent improvement in exercise capacity and improvement in the heart pumping blood to lungs.

Pulmonary hypertension and cancer are similar in certain ways-both have abnormal cell growth. The abnormal cells grow new blood vessels in pulmonary hypertension, causing a thickening of vessel walls and reduction of blood flow. This causes an increase in pressure within the lungs and the heart must pump harder for blood to get to the lungs. The heart will eventually become damaged from the extensive work for the lungs.

Side effects of the medication include skin rashes and hair loss, which decreased with a reduced dosage. Further research is planned with a placebo-controlled, crossover study.

Adapted from materials from the University of Chicago Medical Center. More information at: http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2006/20061114-sorafenib.html

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