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Esperance completes EP 100 and paclitaxel Phase 2 combination trial on advanced ovarian cancer

Esperance Pharmaceuticals today announced the completion of the run-in cohort of its Phase 2, randomized, multi‐center trial of EP‑100 in combination with paclitaxel for patients with advanced ovarian cancer. EP‐100 is a targeted membrane‐disrupting peptide (tMDP) designed to seek and destroy cancer cells that overexpress luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) receptors on their surfaces.

29 Aug 2012

The Wistar Institute, MSKCC partner to publish first annotated atlas of Epstein-Barr virus genome

Researchers from The Wistar Institute and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have teamed to publish the first annotated atlas of the Epstein-Barr virus genome, creating the most comprehensive study of how the viral genome interacts with its human host during a latent infection. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is thought to be responsible for one percent of all human cancers, establishes a latent infection in nearly 100 percent of infected adult humans.

24 Aug 2012

Lung cancer patients can be screened for ALK-inhibitor suitability

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene status in patients with lung adenocarcinoma can be determined non-invasively using circulating tumor cells, research shows.

8 Aug 2012

Activating NOTCH and AKT gene may trigger cholangiocarcinoma

A rare type of cancer thought to derive from cells in the bile ducts of the liver may actually develop when one type of liver cell morphs into a totally different type, a process scientists used to consider all but impossible. UCSF researchers triggered this kind of cellular transformation-and caused tumors to form in mice-by activating just two genes.

17 Jul 2012

Chemotherapy improves survival for patients with periampullary cancer following resection

Patients who had surgery for periampullary cancer (a variety of types of cancer that are located in and near the head of the pancreas, including an area called the ampulla where the bile duct joins up with the pancreatic duct to empty their secretions into the upper small intestine) and received chemotherapy had a statistically significant survival benefit, compared to patients who did not receive chemotherapy, after adjusting for prognostic variables, according to a study in the July 11 issue of JAMA.

11 Jul 2012

New volumetric functional MRI scan figures out beneficiaries of chemotherapy in liver cancer patients

Studies on some 55 U.S. men and women with potentially deadly liver or pancreatic cancers show that specialized MRI scans can tell within a month whether highly toxic chemotherapy is working and killing tumor cells long before tumors actually shrink - or fail to shrink.

2 Jul 2012

MRI scans determine whether chemotherapy is working long before tumors shrink

26 Jun 2012

Having antibodies for cutaneous HPV and sun exposure can act synergistically in BCC, SCC

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of South Florida and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg have found that having antibodies for cutaneous types of human papillomavirus (HPV), coupled with sun exposure (ultraviolet radiation) or poor tanning ability, can act "synergistically" in the development of non-melanoma skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

26 Jun 2012

Smoking increases skin cancer risk

Individuals who smoke may be increasing their risk for developing a type of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma, a review of published studies suggests.

22 Jun 2012

Drug shows promise as skin cancer treatment

A new drug for a type of skin cancer caused by a rare genetic disease can not only substantially shrink the tumors, but can also prevent the growth of new cancers, US investigators have discovered.

15 Jun 2012

NEJM hails vismodegib as ‘the greatest advance in therapy yet seen’ for advanced BCC

Vismodegib, a new skin cancer drug for patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma tested by TGen, Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare and Mayo Clinic, is hailed as "the greatest advance in therapy yet seen" for advanced basal cell carcinoma in an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine.

14 Jun 2012

ADAM28 inhibits VWF-mediated cancer cell apoptosis and enhances lung metastases

ADAM28, a metalloproteinase belonging to the ADAM gene family, cleaves the von Willebrand factor (VWF) and inhibits VWF-mediated cancer cell apoptosis, thereby enhancing lung metastases, so inhibiting its expression gives a substantial reduction in lung metastases, according to a study published June 8 in the Journal of The National Cancer Institute.

11 Jun 2012

Promising results for dabrafenib in advanced melanoma

The BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib shows promising results for treatment of advanced melanoma, both alone and in combination with the MEK inhibitor trametinib, show results from two studies presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

8 Jun 2012

Erivedge drug shows promise against advanced basal cell carcinoma

It's the most common form of skin cancer, but in its advanced stages, basal cell carcinoma has the potential to become disfiguring and life threatening. An international phase 2 study headed by Mayo Clinic led to the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the first drug of its kind to help advanced basal cell carcinoma patients who have few treatment options.

8 Jun 2012

Clinical study demonstrates effectiveness of vismodegib in treating BCNS

A revolutionary clinical study has demonstrated the effectiveness of a new drug, vismodegib, in dramatically shrinking and preventing the formation of basal cell skin cancers - the most common cancer in the United States - in patients with basal cell nevus syndrome (BCNS), a rare genetic condition that causes hundreds to thousands of skin cancers primarily treated by surgical removal.

7 Jun 2012

Clinical data from Boston Scientific endoscopy studies to be presented at DDW

Boston Scientific Corporation announces that seven abstracts and additional clinical data analyses will be presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW), May 19 – 22 in San Diego.

19 May 2012

Screening lung cancer tumor samples for genetic mutations can help tailor personalized treatment

Screening lung cancer tumor samples for cancer-causing, or "driver," genetic mutations can help physicians tailor patients' treatments to target those specific mutations. While scientists have identified cancer-causing mutations for the majority of lung adenocarcinomas — the most common type of non-small cell lung cancer — and have developed drugs that can successfully address them, scientists have not yet identified targeted therapies for another type of non-small cell lung cancer known as squamous cell carcinoma.

19 May 2012

Poor women and African Americans with ovarian cancer less likely to receive care

Poor women and African Americans with ovarian cancer are less likely to receive the highest standards of care, leading to worse outcomes than among white and affluent patients, according to a study of 50,000 women presented by UC Irvine's Dr. Robert Bristow at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology's annual meeting March 27.

9 May 2012

Expression of tyrosine kinases may limit effectiveness of agents against sarcomas

To better understand the signaling pathways active in sarcomas, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center used state-of-the-art mass spectrometry-based proteomics to characterize a family of protein enzymes that act as "on" or "off" switches important in the biology of cancer. The tyrosine kinases they identified, the researchers said, could act as "drivers" for the growth and survival of sarcomas.

2 May 2012

Tyrosine kinases could act as drivers for growth and survival of sarcomas