Cancer Treatment News and Research

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Cancer diagnosis associated with suicide, cardiovascular death

People who are diagnosed with cancer have a markedly increased risk of suicide and cardiovascular death during the period immediately after being given the diagnosis. This has been shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in the prestigious scientific journal The New England Journal of Medicine.

6 Apr 2012

FDA alerts on fake cancer drug imports

This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alerted healthcare professionals that 120 vials of fake cancer drug Altuzan - which contained no active ingredient - had entered the U.S from distributors in the U.K. after being purchased from wholesalers in Turkey.

5 Apr 2012

ARI-4175 drug may treat colorectal cancer patients with KRAS mutation

When combined with other treatments, the drug cetuximab-which works by slowing or stopping the growth of cancer cells-has been shown to extend survival in certain types of cancer, including metastatic colorectal cancers. Unfortunately, about 40 percent of colorectal cancer patients-specifically those who carry a mutated form of a gene called KRAS-do not respond to the drug. Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, however, have been working on a way to overcome this resistance to cetuximab by unleashing a second cetuximab driven mechanism using a novel drug called ARI-4175.

5 Apr 2012

Scientists discover why rapamycin causes diabetic-like symptoms in patients

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered why diabetic-like symptoms develop in some patients given rapamycin, an immune-suppressant drug that also has shown anti-cancer activity and may even slow ageing.

4 Apr 2012

Regular walking regimen can benefit cancer survivors

Researchers have affirmed that pancreatic cancer patients can literally take a step-by-step approach to combat fatigue. A study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons reports that patients who underwent an operation as part of their cancer treatment and then started a regular walking regimen experienced less fatigue than cancer survivors who did not do the walking program.

2 Apr 2012

$Aeterna Zentaris X-PECT Phase 3 refractory advanced colorectal cancer trial fails to meet primary endpoint$

Aeterna Zentaris X-PECT Phase 3 refractory advanced colorectal cancer trial fails to meet primary endpoint

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. today announced that the Phase 3 "X-PECT" (Xeloda + Perifosine Evaluation in Colorectal cancer Treatment) clinical trial evaluating perifosine + capecitabine (Xeloda) in patients with refractory advanced colorectal cancer did not meet the primary endpoint of improving overall survival versus capecitabine + placebo.

2 Apr 2012

Scientists use DNA sequencing to identify 'driver' mutations in cancer

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are using powerful DNA sequencing technology not only to identify mutations at the root of a patient's tumor - considered key to personalizing cancer treatment - but to map the genetic evolution of disease and monitor response to treatment.

2 Apr 2012

Elekta receives clearance to CE mark Agility device

Elekta announced today it has received clearance to CE mark Agility, a revolutionary beam-shaping device integrated into the head of a linear accelerator (linac). Patients and clinics will benefit from the speed and reliability of this new MLC design.

From Elekta 2 Apr 2012

Combination of cixutumumab and temsirolimus shrinks tumors in patients with Ewing's sarcoma

A pair of targeted therapies shrank tumors in some patients with treatment-resistant Ewing's sarcoma or desmoplastic small-round-cell tumors, according to research led by investigators from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012.

2 Apr 2012

STAT-1 and PLSCR-1 proteins could play a crucial role in breast cancer

At the time of diagnosis, the majority of breast cancers are categorized as estrogen-receptor positive, or hormone sensitive, which means their cancerous cells may need estrogen to grow. Patients with this type of cancer often respond favorably to treatments called aromatase inhibitors, like tamoxifen, which cause cell death by preventing estrogen from reaching the cancerous cells.

2 Apr 2012

Unapproved, misbranded drug products seized in Missouri

Dara Corrigan, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and David M. Ketchmark, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that U.S. Marshals have seized drugs being held by Notions-n-Things Distribution of Bogard, Mo. Yesterday's seizure follows a civil forfeiture complaint that was filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo.

30 Mar 2012

Researchers generate artificial thymus tissue to enable T cell maturation

The thymus plays a key role in the body's immune response. It is here where the T lymphocytes or T cells, a major type of immune defence cells, mature. Different types of T cells, designated to perform specific tasks, arise from progenitor cells that migrate to the thymus from the bone marrow. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Immunology and Epigenetics in Freiburg have generated artificial thymus tissue in a mouse embryo to enable the maturation of immune cells.

30 Mar 2012

New technique could restore fertility of boys undergoing cancer treatment

Treatments for childhood cancers are increasingly successful with cure rates approaching 80%, but success often comes with a downside for the surviving men: the cancer treatments they received as boys can leave them sterile as adults. Now, a research team led by Ralph Brinster of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine has completed a 14-year experiment that gives hope for a technique that could restore their fertility.

29 Mar 2012

Broad Institute, Novartis develop cancer cell line encyclopedia

Novartis and the Broad Institute have developed a cancer cell line encyclopedia that catalogues the genetic and molecular profiles of almost 1,000 human cancer cell lines used in drug research and development. Results of the collaboration, published in the journal Nature and released in advance online today, may allow scientists around the world to use this information to improve cancer clinical trial design and further cancer research.

29 Mar 2012

New treatment approach halts spread of cancer cells into normal brain tissue

Treating invasive brain tumors with a combination of chemotherapy and radiation has improved clinical outcomes, but few patients survive longer than two years after diagnosis. The effectiveness of the treatment is limited by the tumor's aggressive invasion of healthy brain tissue, which restricts chemotherapy access to the cancer cells and complicates surgical removal of the tumor.

29 Mar 2012

Researchers design new treatment approach for invasive brain tumors

Researchers from Emory and the Georgia Institute of Technology have designed a new treatment approach that appears to halt the spread of cancer cells into normal brain tissue in animal models.

29 Mar 2012

IMRT associated with reduced toxicities when compared with standard whole breast irradiation

Breast cancer patients treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) instead of standard whole breast irradiation (WBI) have a lower incidence of acute or chronic toxicities, according to a study in Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

29 Mar 2012

Nature journal publishes first volume of Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia

The goal of cancer treatment is to match the right drug to the right target in the right patient. But before such "personalized" drugs can be developed, more knowledge is needed about specific genomic alterations in cancers and their sensitivity to potential therapeutic agents.

29 Mar 2012

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-induced hyperthermia can kill cancer cells

Using nanoparticles and alternating magnetic fields, University of Georgia scientists have found that head and neck cancerous tumor cells in mice can be killed in half an hour without harming healthy cells.

28 Mar 2012

Therapy Finder - Colorectal Cancer app now available for patients

No one wants to hear the words, "you have colon cancer." For patients diagnosed with an advanced form of the disease, these words can be particularly devastating. The five-year survival rate can be a little as 6 percent. The top-of-mind question becomes, "Which treatment or clinical trial will work for me?"

28 Mar 2012