Gemcitabine News and Research

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Gemcitabine is the active ingredient in a drug that is used to treat pancreatic cancer that is advanced or has spread. It is also used together with other drugs to treat breast cancer that has spread, advanced ovarian cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer that is advanced or has spread. It is also being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer. Gemcitabine blocks the cell from making DNA and may kill cancer cells. It is a type of antimetabolite

Scientists identify pathway for treatment-resistant lung cancer

A big way chemotherapy works is by prompting cancer cells to commit suicide, and scientists have found a pathway the most common lung cancer walks to avoid death.

20 Sep 2019

Study opens a promising new front in the fight against pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy that most often is resistant to chemotherapy. Researchers have been searching for ways to increase the sensitivity of the tumors to cancer-fighting drugs.

19 Sep 2019

New drug may enhance efficacy of chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer

One of the major obstacles in the treatment of pancreatic cancer is the 'defense wall' that is formed around the tumor.

5 Sep 2019

The gift of longevity for a pancreatic cancer patient

While weeding in her north Seattle garden, Miggie Olsson discusses how she, as a patient, became a unicorn.

30 Aug 2019

Study shows synergistic effects of drugs that inhibit cell division in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, with patients surviving on average less than a year once the disease has spread.

19 Aug 2019

Targeted pancreatic cancer drug shows promise in clinical trials

Researchers have conducted clinical trials with a new drug targeting pancreatic cancer and the initial results are promising.

16 Aug 2019

New drug to treat pancreatic cancer shows promising results in clinical trial

A clinical trial testing a new drug in pancreatic cancer had promising initial results, report researchers from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center.

14 Aug 2019

Longer-lived, but less toxic drug may work better for pancreatic cancer

Unlike many other cancers, most pancreatic tumors are rock hard.

9 Aug 2019

Promising antibody therapy reduces tumor growth, increases survival in mice with pancreatic cancer

Scientists have found a way to target and knock out a single protein that they have discovered is widely involved in pancreatic cancer cell growth, survival and invasion.

31 Jul 2019

Scientists identify new way to target bottleneck for cancer cell growth

The enzyme ribonucleotide reductase is a bottleneck for cancer cell growth. Scientists at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have identified a way of targeting ribonucleotide reductase that may avoid the toxicity of previous approaches, informing focused drug discovery efforts.

23 Jul 2019

Prior radioprotection via EGLN inhibitor improves survival in mouse model of pancreatic cancer

Administration of the EGLN inhibitor FG-4592 prior to ablative radiotherapy provided protection against fatal gastrointestinal bleeding and improved survival in a mouse model of unresectable pancreatic cancer.

30 Apr 2019

Tumor-associated macrophages block activity of chemotherapy drug in pancreatic cancer

A frontline chemotherapy drug given to patients with pancreatic cancer is made less effective because similar compounds released by tumor-associated immune cells block the drug's action, research led by the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center found.

27 Mar 2019

Researchers identify marker protein that offers both diagnostic and therapeutic function

Of all gastrointestinal cancers, pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive. Because of this, it has a very low 5-year survival rate of just 5% and a median survival time below 6 months. Additionally, treatment is difficult, with only surgery shown to provide a cure. However, the vast majority of patients have tumors that cannot be removed surgically or their cancer is too advanced or spread too far to be treatable.

24 Jan 2019

Study assesses safety and efficacy of new treatment for pancreatic cancer

Gemcitabine given in combination with nab-paclitaxel is the standard of care for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. This practice, however, rests on data obtained from several recent clinical trials enrolling patients with pancreatic cancer who skewed younger and in better overall condition than most.

13 Dec 2018

Toxic effects of drugs in the lungs 'more widespread than thought'

A systematic review of research has revealed that the toxic effects on the lung of drugs commonly taken to treat a range of common conditions is much more widespread than thought.

29 Oct 2018

Study: Erlotinib improves progression-free survival in EGFR mutated NSCLC

Neoadjuvant erlotinib benefits selected epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated patients who undergo complete resection of stage IIIA-N2 stage non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC), shows a randomized study comparing erlotinib with gemcitabine plus cisplatin as neoadjuvant treatment, presented at the ESMO 2018 Congress in Munich.

22 Oct 2018

Study: Sarcoma patients poorly informed about risk of interactions with anti-cancer drugs

Sarcoma patients show great openness to the use of complementary alternative medicines (CAMs) for supportive care, but they are poorly informed about safety issues and risk of interactions with anti-cancer drugs, a study to be presented at ESMO 2018 reported.

10 Oct 2018

Researchers design new medicine to treat highly aggressive pancreatic cancer

A treatment for highly aggressive and commonly fatal pancreatic cancer is being developed, reports a University of Houston researcher who has designed a new medicine that can inhibit two of the major pathways of the deadly disease.

12 Sep 2018

Finding which chemotherapy regimen is associated with best outcomes for patients with bladder cancer

Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer have been shown to benefit from chemotherapy prior to surgical removal of the bladder.

31 Aug 2018

Trial shows PARP inhibitor as novel treatment option for patients with advanced breast cancers

In a randomized, Phase III trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the PARP inhibitor talazoparib extended progression-free survival (PFS) and improved quality-of-life measures over available chemotherapies for patients with metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer and mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes.

16 Aug 2018