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On Trial
We thank Dr. Seth Lerner and Dr. Guru Sonpavde, Baylor College of Medicine, for providing this description  of  “Phase II Pilot Study with Correlative Markers of Tamoxifen for Progressive Transitional Cell Carcinoma Following Previous Chemotherapy.”
 
Current systemic chemotherapy for advanced transitional cell cancer of the urinary tract is generally not curative and effective options are not available following prior chemotherapy. The Baylor College of Medicine is conducting a phase II clinical trial testing oral tamoxifen 20 mg daily in patients with progressive metastatic transitional cell cancer following 1-2 prior chemotherapy regimens. Response will be correlated with expression of estrogen receptor (ER)-beta in tumor tissue. Laboratory research conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine has demonstrated the over-expression of estrogen receptor (ER)-beta protein in human bladder cancer cells, which is a target of tamoxifen. Tamoxifen has exhibited anti-tumor activity against these cells and is also active against human bladder cancer borne by animals.

The trial is expected to enroll 28 patients at the Baylor College of Medicine (Dr Guru Sonpavde and Seth Lerner), Houston, Texas, USA and the San Camillo Forlanini Hospital (Dr Cora Sternberg), Rome, Italy. For more information about this trial, please contact one of the following investigators: Seth Lerner, MD at slerner@bcm.tmc.edu or 713-798-6841; Sonpavde, MD at gurus@bcm.tmc.edu or 281-316-4927; Cora Sternberg, MD at cstern@mclink.it or 39-06-664-18008.

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