Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

60,000 set to run in race for the cure

Participants at the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation National Race for the Cure® were among the first to view a new breast cancer ribbon today as they descended on the National Mall.

5 Jun 2004

Drug Tarceva improves survival chance for patients with advanced lung cancer

Roche OSI Pharmaceuticals and Genentech today announced that their investigational drug Tarceva(TM) (erlotinib) achieved a significant 42.5% improvement in median survival compared to placebo in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

5 Jun 2004

Diabetics could be up to three times more likely to get bowel cancer

People with diabetes could be up to three times more likely to get bowel cancer – according to a report from Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council published*(1) today.

5 Jun 2004

Cure for age-induced diabetes or cancer may be nearer than we think

Forget the drastic reduction in carbs and calories called for by diet dictators. The day when people can eat their favorite foods, stay thin and live to be 120 without getting age-induced diabetes or cancer may be nearer than we think.

5 Jun 2004

Socioeconomic gradients in stage and grade of breast cancer at diagnosis

Women living in deprived areas of the United Kingdom tend to have more advanced breast cancer at diagnosis than those living in affluent areas, finds new research on bmj.com.

5 Jun 2004

People with diabetes could be up to three times more likely to get bowel cancer

Scientists tested a marker of the sugar levels in blood samples*(2) taken from almost 10,000 men and women aged between 45-79 and then checked their medical condition six years later.

5 Jun 2004

New generation drug therapy targets the individual

The days of ‘one size fits all’ medicines may soon be a thing of the past for people undergoing radical drug therapies for chronic or serious illnesses.

5 Jun 2004

Cancer rates falling in the US

The nation's leading cancer organizations report that Americans' risk of getting and dying from cancer continues to decline and survival rates for many cancers continue to improve.

3 Jun 2004

New way to identify when a living cell begins to grow

In a discovery that has relevance in a variety of fields, including human health, UC Riverside Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Frank Sauer and colleagues at UC Riverside, in Germany, and in Wisconsin, have found a new way to identify when a living cell begins to grow.

3 Jun 2004

Fibroid tumors lack crucial structural protein

Fibroid tumors-the sometimes painful uterine growths affecting many American women-lack a key protein that plays a role in holding tissues together, according to a study by researchers from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health

3 Jun 2004

Drug helps patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

A drug designed to cut off a tumor’s blood supply, when paired with a chemotherapy combination, resulted in significant improvement in survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, the first time in decades that survival times have been extended in patients with this devastating form of advanced cancer.

3 Jun 2004

Uterine cancer, also called endometrial cancer, will strike more than 40,000 U.S. women annually

A Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) study, headed by Cornelia Trimble, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, has revealed that pathologists who evaluate uterine biopsies disagree 60 percent of the time on whether the specimens contain cancerous cells.

3 Jun 2004

Cigarettes damage women’s lungs more than men’s lungs

Noting that lung cancer is women’s number one cancer killer, Loyola medical oncologist Dr. Kathy S. Albain will speak on the molecular differences in lung cancer between men and women, June 4, at the annual meeting of Women Against Lung Cancer.

3 Jun 2004

Umbilical cord blood and bone marrow transplants slow the progression of many cancers

Umbilical cord blood and bone marrow transplants at Loyola University Health System, Maywood, Ill., are curing or slowing the progression of many cancers originating in the bone marrow (i.e., leukemia, myeloma) or lymphatic system (lymphoma).

3 Jun 2004

Drug to extend lives of colorectal cancer patients

A drug designed to cut off a tumor's blood supply, when paired with a chemotherapy combination, resulted in significant improvement in survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, the first time in decades that survival times have been extended in patients with this devastating form of advanced cancer.

2 Jun 2004

Positive benefits of sun exposure

There is no getting around the fact that sunlight is hard on your skin. But what about the positive benefits of sun exposure? The June Harvard Health Letter discusses the good and the bad of the sun.

2 Jun 2004

Avastin study shows significant improvement in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

Genentech, Inc. and Roche have announced that the New England Journal of Medicine published the first Phase III study of an anti-angiogenesis cancer therapy, showing that the addition of Avastin™ (bevacizumab) to the IFL chemotherapy regimen (5-FU/Leucovorin/ CPT-11) significantly extended survival in patients with first-line (previously untreated) metastatic colorectal cancer.

2 Jun 2004

Bone marrow stem cells exposed to damaged liver tissue quickly convert into healthy liver cells

Bone marrow stem cells, when exposed to damaged liver tissue, can quickly convert into healthy liver cells and help repair the damaged organ, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

2 Jun 2004

Fibroid tumors affecting many American women lack a key protein helps hold tissues together

Fibroid tumors — the sometimes painful uterine growths affecting many American women — lack a key protein that plays a role in holding tissues together, according to a study by researchers from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

2 Jun 2004

Study may help oncologists tailor chemotherapy to patients based on their genetic make-up

Genetic variations in an individual’s ability to repair DNA damage may help predict survival in lung cancer patients treated with the common chemotherapy drugs cisplatin or carboplatin, a new study shows.

2 Jun 2004