Chemotherapy News and Research

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Breast cancer death rate continues to drop

A report from the American Cancer Society finds the breast cancer death rate in the United States continues to drop more than two percent per year, a trend that began in 1990 and is credited to progress in early detection and treatment.

25 Sep 2007

Some cancer cells mimic stem cells to evade chemotherapy

Anti-cancer treatments often effectively shrink the size of tumors, but some might have an opposite effect, actually expanding the small population of cancer stem cells believed to drive the disease, according to findings presented Sept. 19 by Vasyl Vasko, M.D. Ph.D., a pathologist at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) at the American Association for Cancer Research's second International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development.

25 Sep 2007

Novel strategy to tackle acute myelogenous leukemia

A novel strategy to hopefully beat into oblivion one of the most aggressive forms of acute myelogenous leukemia combines the strengths of some of the newest leukemia agents, researchers say.

25 Sep 2007

New topical lotion safely treats nail fungus without side effects

A new topical lotion that penetrates the skin deeply enough to target and eliminate serious skin infections, but without being systemically absorbed, has shown a high degree of safety and tolerability in patients with onychomycosis, or toenail fungus, a new study has shown.

25 Sep 2007

Molecular fingerprint of breast cancer drug resistance can predict response to treatment

A way of predicting which patients will respond well to treatment with a common chemotherapy drug used in breast cancer was unveiled at the European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14).

25 Sep 2007

Cancer cells in blood can identify risk of recurrence in breast cancer

Cancer cells circulating in the blood, or circulating tumour cells (CTCs), are known to be associated with a bad prognosis in women with metastatic breast cancer.

25 Sep 2007

Cancer cells in blood can identify risk of recurrence in breast cancer

Cancer cells circulating in the blood, or circulating tumour cells (CTCs), are known to be associated with a bad prognosis in women with metastatic breast cancer. Now, for the first time, a group of scientists have shown that they can also detect CTCs before and after chemotherapy treatment and hence may be able to identify those patients likely to have a recurrence of their cancer after such treatment in future.

24 Sep 2007

Soap and warm water best for battling Clostridium difficile

Hospitals world-wide battle nosocomial infections on a daily basis.

21 Sep 2007

New discovery on blood doping and anemia

A stunning discovery by German scientists may make blood doping and the treatment of severe anemia as easy as washing your hair.

21 Sep 2007

Some cancer cells mimic stem cells to evade chemotherapy

Anti-cancer treatments often effectively shrink the size of tumors, but some might have an opposite effect, actually expanding the small population of cancer stem cells believed to drive the disease, according to findings presented in Atlanta, Georgia at the American Association for Cancer Research's second International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development.

20 Sep 2007

DNA microarray chips improved therapy in some patients with incurable cancer

Like many oncologists, Eric P. Lester, M.D., was faced with a dilemma: seven patients with advanced, incurable cancer, an arsenal of drugs that may or may not help them, and not enough solid proof about treatment efficacy to guide him.

20 Sep 2007

Drug resistance gene has spread from East Coast to Midwest

A resistance gene that allows bacteria to beat an important class of antibiotics has started to appear in microorganisms taken from Midwestern patients, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

20 Sep 2007

Rapid test to screen blood approved by the FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given it's approval for the first rapid test to detect bacterial contamination in blood platelets prior to transfusion.

20 Sep 2007

Risedronate prevents bone loss after breast cancer treatment

Breast cancer survivors who took a weekly dose of risedronate, sold as Actonel, lost significantly less bone than those who did not take the drug, according to a two-year study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine presented this week at the 29th annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

18 Sep 2007

Re-engineered human T cells effectively target and kill cancerous B cells

Human white blood cells, engineered to recognize other malignant immune cells, could provide a novel therapy for patients with highly lethal B cell cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).

18 Sep 2007

Sexual function affected by stem cell transplant according to long-term study

A long-term study found that a type of stem cell transplant used for patients with life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia and lymphoma, results in decreased sexual function and activity for recipients.

18 Sep 2007

Moxifloxacin drug combo speeds up treatment of tuberculosis

A team of tuberculosis (TB) experts at Johns Hopkins and in Brazil have evidence that substituting the antibiotic moxifloxacin in the regimen of drugs used to treat the highly contagious form of lung disease could dramatically shorten the time needed to cure the illness from six months to four.

18 Sep 2007

Helix BioPharma awarded U.S. patent for adjunct chemotherapy applications

Helix BioPharma Corp. has announced the issuance of its second DOS47 patent (U.S. Patent # 7,264,800) from the United States Patent & Trademark Office, describing a method and composition for combining targeted DOS47 therapeutics with weakly basic chemotherapeutic drugs in adjunct treatment applications.

18 Sep 2007

Gene profiling can single out the worst cases of multiple myeloma and guide therapy

Multiple myeloma patients vary widely in how they respond to treatment, but now researchers at the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have identified a small subset of genes whose activity could predict high-risk cases and potentially guide therapy in the future.

18 Sep 2007

FDA clears for marketing rapid test to screen for bacterial contamination in blood platelets

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing the first rapid test to detect bacterial contamination in blood platelets prior to transfusion.

18 Sep 2007