The Next Phase

A little over a week ago (1/24) we met with Kev's Oncologist. He offered us the chance to get into a clinical trial that Kev had wanted to do last summer so we jumped at it. First new scans had to be performed, so appointments were set up for later that night and the following day. The brain MRI had to come back clean otherwise he wouldn't qualify. And an appt was scheduled for us to meet with the clinical trials Dr the following week (1/31).

However, when we came back for the appt with the trials Dr, we were informed that the next available opening was in four weeks. Although his brain MRI was clean, the CT scans indicated a lot of new growth so it was decided that we did not want to wait and opted for plan B, which used one of the same drugs from the trial. Plan B consists of taking an oral med, Nexavar(Sorafenib) along with an IV drug Abraxane(Paclitaxel). (The trial was Nexavar with an experimental drug CCI-779)

Nexavar targets two separate enzymes that regulate the cell cycle. It targets both the RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway to inhibit cell proliferation and the VEGFR-2/PDGFR-ß signaling cascade to inhibit tumor angiogenesis. In common language that means it supresses the formation of cells and new blood vessels.

Abraxane kills cancer cells by affecting its ability to stop cell division. It works by damaging the RNA or DNA that tells the cells how to copy itself in division. If the cells are unable to divide, they die. The faster the cells are dividing, the more likely it is that chemotherapy will kill the cells, causing the tumor to shrink. They also induce apoptosis (cell suicide).

Treatment is scheduled to begin on Wed 2/7.