Ann Fonfa heard Dr. Eric Small present on PC-SPES and other prostate issues at the 2002 American Society for Clinical Oncology's Complementary/Alternative Medicine Symposium. She therefore decided to query him on this study, as follows: At 9:06 AM -0500 12/3/02, AnnFonfa@aol.com wrote: Dear Dr. Small: Having heard your presentation at ASCO 2002 on CAM for prostrate, I thought you might be an appropriate 'expert' to consult. I just read the abstract from JNCI, Nov 6, 2002 on PC-SPES and paclitaxel. From the abstract, I was unable to see a downside to the use of PC-SPES (in combo). I wrote to the author to ask if the full article showed that paclitaxel alone was much better than a combination of the two or PC-SPES alone. What was your understanding of this article? I ask because the conclusion stated "Conclusion: PC-SPES may interfere with microtubule polymerization. This activity has implications for the clinical management of patients with advanced prostate cancer who may be taking PC-SPES concurrently with microtubule-modulating chemotherapeutic agents, such as paclitaxel." And Nature stated the following based on this article: Nature Reviews Cancer 2, 892 (2002): "So, although initially is seems that PC-SPES is a beneficial 'complementary' therapy for prostate cancer patients, when taken in conjunction with conventional chemotherapeutics such as paclitaxel, the efficacy of treatment is reduced." My question on the statement above, did the article justify a stronger statement against the use of PC-SPES than the abstract seemed to? The original article abstract showed efficacy and reduced tumor burden with PC-SPES alone and with paclitaxel. Thanks for any interpretation you can offer. We need to inform our visitors. And here is his response: "Unfortunately a moot point, since PC-SPES is no longer available, and is not being manufactured. ES" Here is the response from Dr. P. Nelson: "The results show that while all treatments inhibited tumor growth relative to untreated tumors, the taxol therapy was best with tumor sizes of 1340. Adding PC-SPES reduced the effectiveness of taxol with tumor sizes of 1955. I would stress that these studies were done in mice. I have attached a reprint of the paper in PDF format. Regards, Pete Nelson" Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.