Oncology News and Research

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Oncology, meaning bulk, mass, or tumor, and the suffix ''-logy'', meaning "study of") is a branch of medicine that deals with tumors (cancer). A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''.

Therapeutic video games can show health-related benefits

Can video games help patients with cancer, diabetes, asthma, depression, autism and Parkinson's disease? A new publication by researchers from the University of Utah, appearing in the Sept 19 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, indicates video games can be therapeutic and are already beginning to show health-related benefits.

20 Sep 2012

New 24/7 Cardiologist program now available at ProMedica Toledo Hospital

ProMedica Toledo Hospital is the only hospital in northwest Ohio with a cardiologist on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to treat patients who may be experiencing a heart attack.

20 Sep 2012

APR-246 can restore function of defective p53 and activate apoptosis in cancer cells

The p53 gene plays a key role in the prevention of cancer, by blocking cell growth and triggering programmed cell death or apoptosis. If, however, p53 has mutated and become defective, the cancer cells can acquire the ability to evade apoptosis and become more resistant to therapy.

20 Sep 2012

Light alcohol consumption may increase risk of certain cancers

The majority of observational studies have shown that alcohol intake, especially heavy drinking, increases a number of upper-aero-digestive tract (UADT) and other cancers, and even moderate drinking is associated with a slight increase in the risk of breast cancer.

19 Sep 2012

MRD monitoring falls short in childhood AML assessment

Measuring treatment response by minimal residual disease monitoring offers no more prognostic value than morphologic analysis in children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), show study findings.

19 Sep 2012

Reduced-intensity benefits confirmed for AML cell transplantation

Reduced-intensity conditioning reduces toxicity associated with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia without affecting long-term outcomes, show results from the first randomized trial of this treatment.

19 Sep 2012

Positive data from Nektar’s NKTR-192 Phase 1a study on acute pain

Nektar Therapeutics announced today that positive data from the first single-ascending dose Phase 1a clinical study of NKTR-192, the company's novel short-acting mu-opioid analgesic candidate, demonstrate that the drug candidate achieved its target pharmacokinetic profile.

19 Sep 2012

UC San Diego’s bold plan aims to personalize cancer treatment

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center launched a bold plan today aimed at personalizing cancer treatment. The "My Answer to Cancer" team of oncologists, bioinformaticians, pathologists and geneticists pledges to "sequence" or analyze the DNA of large numbers of patients with cancer in order to match each patient to the best available drug for his or her particular tumor.

19 Sep 2012

Intensive rehabilitation may put off move to nursing facilities for elderly

Elderly, community-dwelling individuals who visit hospital with an acute illness are less likely to be transferred to skilled nursing facilities if they receive an intensified type of rehabilitation rather than usual rehabilitative care, report US researchers.

18 Sep 2012

Abiraterone acetate confirmed to offer significant survival benefit to advanced prostate cancer patients

Results of a phase 3 trial published in The Lancet Oncology have confirmed that the drug abiraterone acetate (marketed as Zytiga®) offers a significant survival benefit to patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, which is spreading to other parts of their body (known as metastatic prostate cancer).

18 Sep 2012

Power of taxane-based chemotherapy drugs may be potentially underestimated

The power of taxane-based chemotherapy drugs are misunderstood and potentially underestimated, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in the September 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research.

18 Sep 2012

Philadelphia Eagles, TJUH partner to educate about prostate health and cancer awareness

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month, and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals has again teamed up with the Philadelphia Eagles to educate fans and others about prostate health and to raise cancer awareness.

18 Sep 2012

Positive data from Aprea’s APR-246 Phase I/II study on blood or prostate cancer

Aprea today announced positive data from a completed Phase I/II clinical study with its investigational drug APR-246. The results from the study have been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

18 Sep 2012

Harris Health System celebrates completion of Smith Clinic

On Sept. 12, Harris Health System celebrated the completion of Smith Clinic, the system's first outpatient specialty facility. The new facility enhances and expands specialty care for patients formerly seen at hospital-based clinics located at Ben Taub Hospital.

18 Sep 2012

Important data from Pfizer’s lung cancer and RCC portfolios to be presented at ESMO Congress

Pfizer Oncology today announced that important data from its lung cancer and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) portfolios will be presented at the upcoming European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Vienna, Austria, September 28 - October 2, 2012.

18 Sep 2012

Healthcare costs could total more than household assets for elderly at end of life

For more than 25% of elderly US citizens, healthcare costs incurred during the last 5 years of life will amount to more than their total household assets, show data reported in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

17 Sep 2012

New test to assess viral load of cytomegalovirus

Roche announced today the commercial availability of a new test to assess a patient's viral load of cytomegalovirus (CMV). Physicians use information from the test to help them manage patients who have been diagnosed with CMV disease, specifically patients with an immune system that has been suppressed for solid organ transplantation.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 17 Sep 2012

Novel drug combination for patients with NRAS-mutant melanoma

A new study published online in Nature Medicine, led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, describes the discovery of a novel drug combination aimed at a subset of melanoma patients who currently have no effective therapeutic options.

17 Sep 2012

Jennerex Phase 2 JX-594 clinical data for hepatocellular carcinoma presented at ILCA meeting

Jennerex, Inc., a private, clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development and commercialization of first-in-class targeted oncolytic immunotherapies, presented Phase 2 clinical data of JX-594 delivered first intravenously and subsequently through intra-tumoral route demonstrating safety as well as disease control and tumor responses in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer, HCC).

17 Sep 2012

PARP inhibitors may be novel treatment strategy in women with HER2-positive breast cancers

Poly (ADP-Ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, shown to have clinical activity when used alone in women with familial breast and ovarian cancers linked to BRCA mutations, may be a novel treatment strategy in women with HER2-positive breast cancers, according to the results of a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

17 Sep 2012