DENVER – Doctors at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus say they discovered a cancer-causing gene and found drugs to fight it.
The treatment, now in clinical trials, appears to be shrinking tumors — fast.
Patient Nichol Miller, who traveled to Colorado from her home in Oregon, credits the treatment with saving her life. Chemotherapy had stopped working and the tumors in her lungs were still growing, when she first decided to visit Colorado for clinical trials in December.
“When I got my diagnosis, I was like… failure is not an option. I’ll beat this somehow, some way,” said Miller.
She is working with Dr. Robert Doebele, who discovered a cancer-causing gene back in 2012 in another patient. Dr. Doebele says he also found the drugs to block its activity — the same drugs Miller is taking.
The “before and after” pictures of Miller’s lungs show the treatment is working — fast.
“She had very extensive tumor involvement in both lungs,” said Dr. Doebele. “Now, it’s very hard to find involvement in either lung.”
Miller is the first patient in the trial with the abnormal gene. Doebele says her case proves what he discovered in the lab works in humans. Miller hopes others can experience the same success.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s given me back my future.”
The goal is to get FDA approval for the new drug, but Doebele says that will take at least two years.