Chemotherapy News and Research

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Objective response rate promising after crizotinib for NSCLC

More than half of the latest evaluated participants from the ongoing phase II PROFILE 1005 trial of crizotinib against ALK-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, achieved an objective tumor response, report researchers.

14 Sep 2012

ASN's top five recommendations to avoid wasteful and harmful medical interventions

Earlier this year, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the world's leading kidney organization, joined other groups in a campaign to help health care professionals and patients avoid wasteful and sometimes harmful medical interventions. A new article in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN) outlines the ASN's top five recommendations for the campaign and the rationale behind them.

14 Sep 2012

HIF-1a protein of hypoxia creates CD24 overexpression in many tumors

It seems as if a tumor deprived of oxygen would shrink. However, numerous studies have shown that tumor hypoxia, in which portions of the tumor have significantly low oxygen concentrations, is in fact linked with more aggressive tumor behavior and poorer prognosis.

14 Sep 2012

Platinum tissue concentrations predict NSCLC treatment response

Reduced tissue platinum accumulation might explain why some patients with non-small-cell lung cancer fail to respond to platinum-based chemotherapy, research shows.

13 Sep 2012

Crizotinib may be effective treatment option for NSCLC subtype

Phase I trial results show that the chemotherapy drug crizotinib may be fast-acting and produce long-lasting treatment responses in patients with anaplastic lymphoma receptor tyrosine kinase-positive non-small-cell lung cancer.

13 Sep 2012

Solubilized curcumin shrinks lung tumors in mice

Belgian researchers report that orally administered curcumin can reduce the size of lung cancer tumors in mice.

13 Sep 2012

Addition of sorafenib to chemotherapy does not prolong survival

The addition of sorafenib to gemcitabine/cisplatin fails to provide any additional benefit in chemotherapy-naïve patients with nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer, research shows.

13 Sep 2012

Four new studies on the treatment of early breast cancer

Four new studies on the treatment of early breast cancer, spanning from diagnosis through surgery, were released today in advance of the 2012 Breast Cancer Symposium.

13 Sep 2012

Case Western Reserve researcher discovers new antivirulence drugs against MRSA and strep

Menachem Shoham, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has discovered novel antivirulence drugs that, without killing the bacteria, render Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Streptococcus pyogenes, commonly referred to as strep, harmless by preventing the production of toxins that cause disease.

13 Sep 2012

Changes in physical characteristics of regulatory T cell can predict MDS progression risk

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have discovered that changes in the physical characteristics of the effector memory regulatory T cell can predict the progression risk of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) to acute myeloid leukemia. The finding could improve prognostication for patients with MDS and better inform therapeutic decision making.

13 Sep 2012

Positive data from Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals’ eravacycline Phase 2 trial on cIAI

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage life science company developing novel antibiotics effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, presented new, positive Phase 2 clinical data on its lead drug candidate, eravacycline (TP-434), on September 11, 2012, at the 52nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in San Francisco, CA.

13 Sep 2012

Combination chemotherapy confirmed viable for penile cancer

A combination of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil is an effective and well-tolerated regimen for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the penis, show study findings.

12 Sep 2012

Transcept completes enrollment in TO-2061 Phase 2 trial for obsessive compulsive disorder

Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has completed enrollment in its Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating TO-2061 added as adjunctive therapy for patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) who have not adequately responded to first-line treatment with an approved OCD medication.

12 Sep 2012

MD Anderson joins API’s Actimab-A Phase I/II trial in acute myeloid leukemia

Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (API), a biopharmaceutical company that develops innovative targeted payload immunotherapeutics, announced that MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas has joined the Company's ongoing Phase I/II trial in newly diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

12 Sep 2012

Gene therapy regimen can safely restore immune systems to children with Bubble Boy disease

UCLA stem cell researchers have found that a gene therapy regimen can safely restore immune systems to children with so-called "Bubble Boy" disease, a life threatening condition that if left untreated can be fatal within one to two years.

12 Sep 2012

Diet could avert toxic effects of quinine in patients with malaria

Scientists at The University of Nottingham say adverse side-effects caused by the anti-parasitic drug quinine in the treatment of malaria could be controlled by what we eat.

12 Sep 2012

Bioengineers design nanoparticles that can safely and predictably infiltrate deep into the brain

The brain is a notoriously difficult organ to treat, but Johns Hopkins researchers report they are one step closer to having a drug-delivery system flexible enough to overcome some key challenges posed by brain cancer and perhaps other maladies affecting that organ.

12 Sep 2012

New model reveals how immune system functions under conditions of neutropenia

Cancer chemotherapy can be a life-saver, but it is fraught with severe side effects, among them an increased risk of infection. Until now, the major criterion for assessing this risk has been the blood cell count: if the number of white blood cells falls below a critical threshold, the risk of infection is thought to be high.

12 Sep 2012

Durata Therapeutics completes dalbavancin Phase 3 trials on ABSSSI

Durata Therapeutics today announced results from its QT study of the company's lead product candidate, dalbavancin. Dalbavancin is currently under investigation in two ongoing, global, Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI).

11 Sep 2012

Mount Sinai scientists identify cancer’s Achilles heel

Scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered a subpopulation of cells that display cancer stem cell properties and resistance to chemotherapy, and participate in tumor progression. This breakthrough could lead to the development of new tests for early cancer diagnosis, prognostic tests, and innovative therapeutic strategies, as reported in Cancer Cell.

11 Sep 2012