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To: Scott H. Davis who wrote (1967)	5/6/1998 11:41:00 PM
From: Miljenko Zuanic	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4676

Scott: From your description of her cancer pathology I am afraid that melanoma (after metastasis and going deep in to lymph ) did spread to body. This is the worse scenario and the best will be to accept as fact and fight as hard as she can. With good approach her life can be long and healthy. To my knowledge the immunology therapy with IL-2 and/or INF-A-2b (or their combination) give better results than chemotherapy alone. Anyway, the best is that you do research on Cancernet: cancernet.nci.nih.gov Search for selection : skin cancer, PII or PIII (I will suggest PIII), and treatment (or diagnostic). For all trials you can access protocol and see are your friend qualified. Quick list of PIII trials: 1. IMMUNOTHERAPY AFTER SURGERY IN TREATING PATIENTS WITH BREAST AND OTHER CANCERS 2. Phase III Randomized Study of Observation vs Adjuvant Low-Dose Extended-Duration Interferon alfa in Completely Resected Malignant Melanoma at High Risk of Recurrence 3. INTERLEUKIN-2 WITH OR WITHOUT IMMUNOLOGIC ADJUVANT IN TREATING PATIENTS WITH STAGE IV MELANOMA 4. Phase III Randomized Adjuvant Study of Interferon Alfa-2b (IFN-A) Alone vs Biochemotherapy Using Cisplatin, Vinblastin, Dacarbazine (DTIC), IFN-A, and Interleukin-2 (IL-2) in Melanoma Patients with Regional Lymph Node Metastases 5. Phase III Randomized Study of Immunotherapy with an Allogeneic Melanoma Vaccine plus IFN-A vs IFN-A Alone in Metastatic Malignant Melanoma 6. Phase III Randomized Study of Adjuvant Intermediate High-Dose IFN-A vs Intermediate Low-Dose IFN-A vs Observation Following Definitive Resection of Thick Primary and/or Regional Lymph Node Metastases in High-Risk Stage III Melanoma 7. Phase III Randomized Study of DTIC/CDDP/IFN-A with vs without IL-2 for Metastatic Melanoma 8. Phase III Study of Concurrent Biochemotherapy with Cisplatin, Vinblastine, Dacarbazine, Interleukin-2, and Interferon alfa-2b versus Cisplatin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine Alone in Patients with Metastatic Malignant Melanoma 9. VACCINE THERAPY COMPARED WITH HIGH-DOSE INTERFERON-ALFA IN TREATING PATIENTS WITH HIGH-RISK MELANOMA Hope that this help. Best of luck to her. Miljenko

To: Scott H. Davis who wrote (1967)	5/7/1998 3:29:00 PM
From: Peter Singleton	Respond to of 4676

Scott, You might look into the melanoma therapeutic vaccines. Ribi Immunochem has one which has completed PIII in Stage IV patients (I think), and is continuing trials in Stage II (again, I think), and in combination with alfa-interferon. Also, the John Wayne Institute work noted below. Morton is apparently controversial, but lots of controversial folks have turned out to be right in science. Btw, thanks for asking for prayer for your friend. My best to her, and to those who love her. Peter press release 4/7/98: John Wayne Cancer Institute to test cancer vaccine By Mark Egan LOS ANGELES, April 7 (Reuters) - The John Wayne Cancer Institute said Tuesday it had been given a grant of $26.8 million to fund a clinical study that it hoped would yield the first approved cancer vaccine. The institute, a private research body, said it had been given the National Cancer Institute grant to test the effectiveness of its vaccine on patients in the advanced stages of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. The money will fund phase III trials on 1,100 patients with melanoma that has spread to the lymph glands or other parts of the body. Phase III trials are a final step in getting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a treatment. These patients have already had surgery. The point of the vaccine is to control any further spread of disease. "I firmly believe that, within my lifetime, we'll see cancer controlled," Dr. Donald Morton, surgeon in chief at the institute, said in an interview. "I'm very, very excited." The vaccine was pioneered by Morton in the early 1960s and has been used experimentally since 1984. Morton, 62, has made the vaccine his life's work. He has completed phase I and II clinical trials, and they showed effectiveness in 90 percent of patients. But he has not done the random clinical trials the medical community needs to tell if the vaccine works better than surgery or drugs alone. Unlike chemotherapy drugs, which work by killing both tumors and healthy cells, the vaccine does not attack a tumor. Instead it triggers the body's immune system to produce disease-fighting white blood cells to kill the tumor. "This is much less toxic than chemotherapy," Morton said. Morton used radiation to weaken live cancer cells that had been taken from other patients. He then combined them with bacteria to form the vaccine. The five-year clinical trial will compare improvements in survival rates in patients given the vaccine and patients given the drug Intron A. Sold by Schering-Plough Corp. <SGP.N>, Intron A is a synthetic version of the body's interferon-alpha proteins, which have anti-viral and anti-cancer properties. "I believe the vaccine shows great potential for treating several types of cancer," Morton said. "We have to show this works on melanoma first ... but the same principle should work in other types of cancer as well." If the the vaccine works on cancer patients, then "the next and really most exciting phase will be to see if this can prevent cancer" when given to people with a history of cancer in their families, Morton said. Many other researchers are testing cancer vaccines. The Morton vaccine will be tested in 32 centers in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Israel. All 32 centers are seeking patients for the clinical trials. 21:24 04-07-98 Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similiar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

To: Scott H. Davis who wrote (1967)	5/7/1998 8:50:00 PM
From: William Nelson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4676

I believe Progenics (pgnx) is doing pIII trials on a cancer vaccine intended for Melanoma. As to whether it works at this stage, I have no idea, since I'm not expert in the area.

To: Scott H. Davis who wrote (1967)	5/8/1998 10:58:00 PM
From: Merg	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4676

Scott, Sorry about your friend...I know that UCLA Medical Center has had Clinical Trials on these vaccinations for Advanced Melanoma in the past but I don't know the current status of this work. I can tell you that in general UCLA is always looking for participants in these trials. Here are some phone numbers that may help you: For the Jonsson Cancer Center, Patient & Physician Referral/Research Protocol Information (310) 825-8727. Also for the Bowyer-Surgical Oncology Center -New Patient Referrals (310)794-1648. Good Luck and God Bless. Merg