Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, is the treatment of disease by chemicals especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into a cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen.

What is Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy literally refers to the treatment of certain diseases using specific chemicals that are destructive to malignant cells or to the causative agent of a disease such as a bacteria or virus. Therefore, the treatment can be broadly divided into two categories - cancer chemotherapy and antimicrobial chemotherapy.

History of Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy Principles

Chemotherapy Treatment Schemes

Chemotherapy Types

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

How Chemotherapy Affects Daily Living

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Study investigates combined effects of cancer therapy and inherited genetics

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital are studying the combined effect of cancer treatments and inherited mutations in DNA-repair genes.

5 Jun 2020

New leukemia immune profiles predict drug resistance, positive responses to immunotherapy

By analyzing 442 samples from three groups of children and adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), researchers have identified new immune classes of the disease that predict the likelihood of drug resistance and positive responses to immunotherapy.

5 Jun 2020

Diet and gut microbiome affect outcomes of chemotherapy

What we eat can affect the outcome of chemotherapy – and likely many other medical treatments – because of ripple effects that begin in our gut, new research from the University of Virginia suggests.

4 Jun 2020

Trastuzumab emtansine as a preferred second-line choice after horizontal dual blockade

Volume 11, Issue 22 of Oncotarget reported that despite relevant medical advancements, metastatic breast cancer remains an incurable disease.

3 Jun 2020

Phase III clinical trial shows benefit of rituximab for pediatric Burkitt lymphoma

Results of the phase III Inter-B-NHL-ritux 2010 clinical trial reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine show 95 percent three-year survival for pediatric patients with advanced B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with the addition of anti-cancer immunotherapy rituximab to standard chemotherapy.

3 Jun 2020

New guidelines improve outcomes in colon cancer patients

A new University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center study finds that many Kentucky patients with colon cancer are not receiving the recommended standard of care therapy for their disease.

3 Jun 2020

New drug can prevent life-threatening anaphylaxis, shows study

For someone with a food or drug allergy, the risk of life-threatening anaphylactic shock lurks around every corner. A new Northwestern Medicine study shows there might be a pill that can be taken proactively to prevent mild to life-threatening anaphylaxis, no matter the cause.

3 Jun 2020

Mini tumors predict how cancer responds to heat treatment

Hyperthermia has shown promise in the treatment of cancer in previous studies. Now, in a new study by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, the researchers tested the effects of a combination of heat and radiation on mini tumors grown in a spheroid, where cells are placed in a three-dimensional structure. The research is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

3 Jun 2020

Bacteria lurking in cancer cells may affect treatment

Cancer cells are comfy havens for bacteria. That conclusion arises from a rigorous study of over 1,000 tumor samples of different human cancers.

2 Jun 2020

New advance addresses a big challenge with using CRISPR in cancer patients

A mutation unique to certain cancer tumors is a potential homing beacon for safely deploying CRISPR gene editing enzymes to disarm DNA that makes cancer cells resistant to treatment, while ignoring the gene in normal cells where it's critical to healthy function, according to a new study from ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute in the journal Molecular Cancer Research.

2 Jun 2020

Study resolves contradictions surrounding p53 gene's role in pluripotent stem cell differentiation

The gene p53 is extremely important in cell biology and, hence, the world of cell replacement therapy. Its role is to regulate the cell cycle and halt the formation of tumors, leading to its nickname the "tumor suppressor gene."

1 Jun 2020

Cancer clusters' resistance to natural killer cell immunosurveillance favors metastasis

Scientific evidence suggests that cancer can metastasize to other organs when either a single cell or a cluster of cells detaches from the original tumor and travels through the blood to another location, where it grows into a new tumor.

1 Jun 2020

Oral antidiabetics improve outcomes in diabetics with colorectal cancer

Bottom Line: Among patients with both colorectal cancer and diabetes in Korea, those who had a high adherence to their oral diabetes medication had a significantly reduced risk of overall mortality compared with those with lower adherence.

1 Jun 2020

Study compares cediranib plus olaparib and standard of care therapy for platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer

Results of the NRG Oncology phase III clinical trial NRG-GY004 indicated that the addition of the investigational agent cediranib to olaparib and standard platinum-based chemotherapy did not improve progression-free survival (PFS) outcomes for women with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer; however, activity between the treatments was similar in patients.

30 May 2020

Immunotherapy doubles progression-free survival time of patients with advanced bowel cancer

A large international trial involving UCL and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) has found that pembrolizumab, a form of immunotherapy, more than doubled the 'progression free survival' time of patients with a specific subtype of advanced bowel cancer, when compared with chemotherapy.

30 May 2020

Developing an international consortium to improve clinical decision-making in Hodgkin lymphoma

A harmonization of 'big data' in examining long-term outcomes with contemporary treatment for pediatric and adult Hodgkin lymphoma patients is yielding a new approach to inform future clinical trial design and enhance clinical decision-making.

30 May 2020

Scientists identify factors influencing outcomes in kidney cancer patients treated with immunotherapy

By analyzing tumors from patients treated with immunotherapy for advanced kidney cancer in three clinical trials, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have identified several features of the tumors that influence their response to immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs.

30 May 2020

Newer treatment approaches may reduce risk of therapy-related hematologic cancers

While breakthrough treatments have emerged for several cancers over the last two decades, driving striking improvements in survival and other clinical outcomes, too little is known about the risk of therapy-related hematologic cancers following targeted and immunotherapeutic approaches.

29 May 2020

Adoptive T-cell therapy targeting MAGE-A4 achieves responses in patients with multiple solid tumors

The adoptive T-cell therapy ADP-A2M4, which is engineered to express a T-cell receptor (TCR) directed against the MAGE-A4 cancer antigen, achieved responses in patients with multiple solid tumor types, including synovial sarcoma, head and neck cancer and lung cancer, according to results from a Phase I clinical trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

29 May 2020

Targeted therapy tepotinib shows durable response in NSCLC patients with METex14 skipping mutation

Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the MET exon 14 (METex14) skipping mutation had a 46.5% objective response rate to the targeted therapy drug tepotinib, as shown in a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting ASCO20 Virtual Meeting (Abstract 9556 - Poster 322) by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

29 May 2020

Chemotherapy

Overview

History of Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy Principles

Chemotherapy Treatment Schemes

Feature Articles

Chemotherapy Types

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

How Chemotherapy Affects Daily Living

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Study investigates combined effects of cancer therapy and inherited genetics

New leukemia immune profiles predict drug resistance, positive responses to immunotherapy

Diet and gut microbiome affect outcomes of chemotherapy

Trastuzumab emtansine as a preferred second-line choice after horizontal dual blockade

Phase III clinical trial shows benefit of rituximab for pediatric Burkitt lymphoma

New guidelines improve outcomes in colon cancer patients

New drug can prevent life-threatening anaphylaxis, shows study

Mini tumors predict how cancer responds to heat treatment

Bacteria lurking in cancer cells may affect treatment

New advance addresses a big challenge with using CRISPR in cancer patients

Study resolves contradictions surrounding p53 gene's role in pluripotent stem cell differentiation

Cancer clusters' resistance to natural killer cell immunosurveillance favors metastasis

Oral antidiabetics improve outcomes in diabetics with colorectal cancer

Study compares cediranib plus olaparib and standard of care therapy for platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer

Immunotherapy doubles progression-free survival time of patients with advanced bowel cancer

Developing an international consortium to improve clinical decision-making in Hodgkin lymphoma

Scientists identify factors influencing outcomes in kidney cancer patients treated with immunotherapy

Newer treatment approaches may reduce risk of therapy-related hematologic cancers

Adoptive T-cell therapy targeting MAGE-A4 achieves responses in patients with multiple solid tumors

Targeted therapy tepotinib shows durable response in NSCLC patients with METex14 skipping mutation

Silent hypoxia and its role in COVID-19 detection

Using Lung Simulators to Help Tackle COVID-19

Predicting How Contact Tracing Can Control the Spread of COVID-19

Chemotherapy

Overview

Feature Articles

Chemotherapy Types

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

How Chemotherapy Affects Daily Living

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

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