Inside STAT: A heretical approach to chemotherapy is extending cancer patients' lives

DR. ROBERT GATENBY IN HIS OFFICE AT MOFFITT CANCER CENTER IN TAMPA, FLA. (TINA RUSSELL FOR STAT)

Just as overwhelming fields with pesticides causes resistant weeds, overwhelming malignant tumors with chemotherapy could also, counterintuitively, mean that the resistant tumors spring back to then make the cancer incurable. Or that was the working theory behind a prostate cancer trial run by Dr. Robert Gatenby at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. Instead of going full-speed on the men’s tumors, Gatenby tested dosing them just enough to temporarily shrink the tumors — and while this would spare malignant cells, it would also, hopefully, keep the patients alive. All told, the men in the trial have been receiving 41% of the recommended chemo dose, and although the final results aren’t in, things are promising: Tumors in these men have remained in check for 34 months, compared to 14 months in those receiving standard treatment. STAT’s Sharon Begley has more on the unusual approach for STAT Plus subscribers here.