Lung Cancer News and Research

Latest Lung Cancer News and Research

Smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body

U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona today released a new comprehensive report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body.

27 May 2004

Nicotine remains one of the most addictive drugs ever used

Nicotine-the main ingredient in tobacco products-remains one of the most addictive drugs ever used. Still, nearly 72 million people have used nicotine in the United States, according to the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

21 May 2004

British cancer charities call for improved lung cancer care

Today, MPs are being urged to support cancer charities' call for the provision of modern equipment vital to the treatment of people living with lung cancer, six months after the Government first promised to produce a national framework.

17 May 2004

One person per week dies in British hospitality industry from passive smoking

New figures to be presented at a Royal College of Physicians (RCP) conference today will show that every week in the UK one hospitality industry employee dies from passive smoking at work. The new figures, calculated by Professor Konrad Jamrozik of Imperial College in London, will be presented at the RCP conference called ‘Environmental Tobacco Smoke and the Hospitality Industry’.

17 May 2004

Genetically engineered viruses may create new class of cancer therapies

A genetically engineered virus can selectively kill cancerous cells in the lung and colon while leaving healthy cells intact, according to new research published today in Cancer Research by William Wold and colleagues at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

15 May 2004

Women are not checking for colon cancer

Many women who regularly get checked for breast cancer and cervical cancer still don’t go for a test that could save them from another big killer -- colon cancer – according to new University of Michigan research. But perhaps their mammogram and Pap smear appointments could be used as “teachable moments” to help prompt them to get their colons checked, the researchers suggest.

15 May 2004

Particles in the air we breathe may pose genetic risks to humans

Particles in the air we breathe may pose genetic risks to humans and wildlife, according to new findings by researchers at McMaster University.

15 May 2004

SWHR urges women to learn about their unique health issues

Cardiovascular disease kills 50,000 more American women than men each year and women who smoke are more likely than men to develop two of the worst types of lung cancer. National Women's Health Week is May 9-15 and the Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR) urges women to learn how their unique biological makeup affects the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these and many other diseases.

8 May 2004

New way by which cells can become cancerous may solve mystery with lung cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are describing an entirely new way by which cells can become cancerous. And they say their finding provides an answer to a mystery in lung and other cancers.

8 May 2004

Researchers find an entirely new way by which cells can become cancerous

Finding provides an answer to a mystery in lung and other cancers: why a potent tumor suppressor gene called FUS1 functions as it should, yet none of the protein it produces can be found anywhere in a cancer cell.

6 May 2004

World's first gene therapy trial aimed at preventing cancer

The concept seems straightforward. If, at its heart, cancer is a disease of genes, then giving patients new genes should disarm cancer. Such treatment would replace missing or faulty genes that keep cell growth in check, or would flush the body with "super genes" that could attack and destroy cancer.

5 May 2004

Swedish Medical Center has unveiled the world's most advanced mobile mammography center

Swedish Medical Center today unveiled the world's most advanced mobile mammography center. Known as the "Swedish Breast Care Express," the 64-foot self-contained coach features the latest full-field digital mammography equipment. And it will be the first unit to incorporate a complete rooftop satellite system for transmitting images remotely.

5 May 2004

Australian company receives FDA orphan drug designation for product to treat malignant melanomas

Progen Industries Limited, an Australian anti-cancer drug development company, announced today that it has received orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their lead anti-angiogenesis product PI-88 for treatment of malignant melanoma.

3 May 2004

Developing smart drugs

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Researchers, sensing an opening in the cancer battle, are mounting a quick thrust to flush out suspected molecular cancer triggers in tumor cells.

30 Apr 2004

Combination of real-time PET and CT is a highly sensitive tool for identifying non-small cell lung cancer

The combination of real-time PET and CT is a highly sensitive tool for identifying non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and can assist in identifying patients whose cancer has not yet spread to lymph nodes, according to results of a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins.

30 Apr 2004

Mutation of a gene involved in non-small cell lung cancer linked to drug effectiveness

Mutation of a gene involved in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) increases the likelihood that the drug gefitinib (Iressa™) will show a beneficial response, researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) - part of the National Institutes of Health - and two other institutions announced today in the online version of Science.

29 Apr 2004

Mothers who smoke increase the likelihood of daughters smoking 3 fold

The illusion of smoking can be just as deadly as the real thing for minority inner-city girls who believe their mothers have the habit, a new University of Florida study finds.

28 Apr 2004

The world's smallest computer made entirely of biological molecules

The world's smallest computer (around a trillion can fit in a drop of water) might one day go on record again as the tiniest medical kit.

28 Apr 2004

Britain wheezes at bottom of European lung league

Data from The European Respiratory Society’s (ERS) new European Lung White Book shows that the death rate from respiratory diseases in the UK is 105 per 100,000 people, which is twice the EU average. The only countries with a higher rate are former Soviet Union countries - Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – and Ireland.

27 Apr 2004

New cancer drug Tarceva - a breakthrough with significant survival benefit in patients with advanced lung cancer

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Genentech, Inc., and Roche today announced that a Phase III study of Tarceva™ (erlotinib HCl), an investigational HER1/EGFR-inhibitor agent in previously treated patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), met its primary endpoint of improving overall survival, with patients receiving Tarceva™ living longer than those in the placebo arm of the study.

26 Apr 2004