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The cancer drug cetuximab has proved effective against Menetrier's disease, a rare stomach disorder, researchers in Tennessee found.
"We have identified the first effective medical therapy for this disorder," said Dr. Robert Coffey, a professor of cancer research at Vanderbilt University.
Menetrier's causes thickening of the stomach lining and abdominal pain, as well as anemia and swelling in the feet and ankles because of protein loss. Menetrier's patients also are at greater risk for gastric cancer. Previously, the only effective treatment for Menetrier's was surgical removal of the stomach.
Cetuximab, marketed under the name Erbitux, relieved symptoms of severe Menetrier's disease in seven patients who completed a one-month course of treatment. Four of them showed near-complete remission, Coffey's team reported in the Nov. 25 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Cetuximab blocks the binding of TGF-alpha, a signaling protein, to the epidermal growth receptor. Menetrier's patients have abnormally high levels of TGF-alpha.
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