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''.

Vitamin E supplements speed up the development of latent cancers

Taking high-dose vitamin E supplements for an extended period doesn't protect against cancer; in fact, it may even speed up the development of latent cancers, according to a study by researchers from Hotel-Dieu de Quebec Research Centre and Universite Laval. Their results are published in the April issue of the prestigious Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

5 Apr 2005

Promising new therapy that prompts the immune system to aid in the fight against melanoma tumors

Melanoma is a particularly deadly form of skin cancer very resistant to treatment. Researchers at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute and the University of South Florida are testing a promising new therapy that prompts the immune system to aid in the fight against melanoma tumors.

5 Apr 2005

New ion channel drug targets to emerge in pharmaceutical discovery

The identification and structural determination of channel proteins, and their validation as therapeutic targets using high throughput cell based and multiplexed screening technologies, have furnished an increase role for ion channel targets in the drug discovery and development pipelines in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

4 Apr 2005

Hormonal treatment improves survival in high-risk prostate cancer patients

Administering hormonal treatment in addition to radiation therapy in patients with high-risk prostate cancer can improve survival rate, according to a new study published in the April 1, 2005, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology-Biology-Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

3 Apr 2005

Exposure to organochlorine compounds increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer

A team of researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, The Catalan Institute of Oncology and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) have published a study indicating that exposure to organochlorine compounds, which we ingest in our diets, increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer.

3 Apr 2005

cT3 prostate cancer is operable

New findings from Mayo Clinic indicate that cT3 prostate cancer, a disease in which the cancer has spread locally from inside the prostate to immediately outside it, is operable and has 15-year cancer survival rates of almost 80 percent.

3 Apr 2005

Herceptin - more powerful treatment for patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer

A new use of the drug Herceptin appears to offer a much more powerful treatment advantage than expected for patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

29 Mar 2005

Vaccine prevents deadly pneumonia in African children

Global health leaders today presented new research showing that vaccinating infants against Streptococcus pneumoniae -- a bacterium that causes deadly pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis -- could substantially reduce death and serious illness among children in the developing world. If used widely, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine could prevent hundreds of thousands of child deaths each year.

28 Mar 2005

Diffusion MRI gives early indication if brain cancer therapy is effective

A special type of MRI scan that measures the flow of water molecules through the brain can help doctors determine early in the course of brain cancer regimen if a patient's tumor will shrink, a new study shows.

28 Mar 2005

Women’s attitudes toward a potential cervical cancer vaccine

In a study of 200 women, a group of physicians has found that a vast majority of women would be willing to take a cervical cancer vaccine themselves and would allow it to be administered to their children.

23 Mar 2005

African-American women with advanced endometrial cancer have more aggressive tumors than Caucasian women

In two studies of African-American women with endometrial cancer, a group of investigators from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Cancer Institute has found that African-American women with advanced endometrial cancer have more aggressive tumors than Caucasian women, potentially leading to worse outcomes.

21 Mar 2005

Psychiatric diagnostic criteria fail to identify psychological suffering in oncology

A group of researchers of the University of Ferrara studied the psychological and psychosomatic distress associated with cancer in the march issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

21 Mar 2005

Approval for Temodar (temozolomide) capsules for newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme

Schering-Plough today reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for Temodar (temozolomide) Capsules for use in combination with radiotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a form of malignant brain cancer.

16 Mar 2005

Risk of cardiac death after radiation for breast cancer has dramatically decreased

In the largest and most comprehensive prospective study of its kind, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have concluded that the risk of ischemic heart disease and, ultimately, cardiac death following radiation treatment for breast cancer has steadily declined over the last quarter century.

16 Mar 2005

Cancer survival comes at its own price

Patients who hear the dreaded words "you have cancer" invariably look forward to the day the doctor tells them "you're cured." But University of Florida researchers say survival often comes at its own price -- the mind may need mending even after the body heals.

16 Mar 2005

Drug combo gives lung cancer patients longer life

Preliminary results from a large randomized clinical trial, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), by a network of researchers led by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Genentech, Inc., have shown that patients with previously untreated advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer who received bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with standard chemotherapy lived longer than patients who received the same chemotherapy without bevacizumab.

15 Mar 2005

Timing is everything when it comes to killing prostate cancer cells

"The window of opportunity is narrow for vaccination, designed to reinvigorate the immune system's attack on cancer cells, and it occurs right after hormonal therapy begins to wipe out the tumor and immune cells outnumber cancerous ones," according to Charles Drake, M.D., Ph.D.

15 Mar 2005

Bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with standard chemotherapy helps advanced lung cancer sufferers

Preliminary results from a large, randomized clinical trial for patients with previously untreated advanced non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer show that those patients who received bevacizumab (AvastinTM) in combination with standard chemotherapy lived longer than patients who received the same chemotherapy without bevacizumab.

15 Mar 2005

Good results in new lung cancer treatment

Interim analysis of a Phase III study of Avastin (bevacizumab) with paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapies in first-line non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) met its primary goal of improving overall survival, or a reduction in the risk of death, compared to chemotherapy alone.

15 Mar 2005

New chemotherapy gives hope to brain tumour patients

A large international study conducted by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) Clinical Trials Group demonstrated that the addition of a novel chemotherapy agent, Temozolomide (brand name: Temodal®) to radiation therapy increases survival in patients suffering from glioblastoma, a very aggressive form of a brain tumour.

9 Mar 2005

Oncology News and Research

Further Reading

Vitamin E supplements speed up the development of latent cancers

Promising new therapy that prompts the immune system to aid in the fight against melanoma tumors

New ion channel drug targets to emerge in pharmaceutical discovery

Hormonal treatment improves survival in high-risk prostate cancer patients

Exposure to organochlorine compounds increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer

cT3 prostate cancer is operable

Herceptin - more powerful treatment for patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer

Vaccine prevents deadly pneumonia in African children

Diffusion MRI gives early indication if brain cancer therapy is effective

Women’s attitudes toward a potential cervical cancer vaccine

African-American women with advanced endometrial cancer have more aggressive tumors than Caucasian women

Psychiatric diagnostic criteria fail to identify psychological suffering in oncology

Approval for Temodar (temozolomide) capsules for newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme

Risk of cardiac death after radiation for breast cancer has dramatically decreased

Cancer survival comes at its own price

Drug combo gives lung cancer patients longer life

Timing is everything when it comes to killing prostate cancer cells

Bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with standard chemotherapy helps advanced lung cancer sufferers

Good results in new lung cancer treatment

New chemotherapy gives hope to brain tumour patients

Cancer Research eBook

Innovations in baculovirus–insect cell expression systems

Compound Management and its Crucial Role in Early Pharmaceutical Research

Natural products: the next frontier in drug discovery

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