Chemotherapy

News • HER2 breast cancer

‘Soft’ chemotherapy plus targeted treatment spell new hope for elderly patients

Avoidance of side-effects of chemotherapy is particularly important in the elderly, but finding the balance between reduced toxicity and maximum effectiveness is not always easy. A trial carried out by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, published in The Lancet Oncology, shows that, in older patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer (an aggressive breast…

News • Enzyme discovery

Epigenetic agitator of pancreatic cancer cells identified

Genentech researchers have identified an enzyme that shifts pancreatic cancer cells to a more aggressive, drug-resistant state by epigenetically modifying the cells’ chromatin. The study, which will be published in the Journal of Cell Biology, suggests that targeting this enzyme could make pancreatic cancer cells more vulnerable to existing therapies that currently have only limited effect…

News • Key in the stem cells

This is why testicular cancer is so responsive to chemo

Cornell researchers have taken a major step toward answering a key question in cancer research: Why is testicular cancer so responsive to chemotherapy, even after it metastasizes? Professional cyclist Lance Armstrong, for example, had testicular cancer that spread to his lung and brain, yet he made a full recovery after conventional chemotherapy. The key to such success appears to lie in the…

News • Colon cancer

Biomarkers identify aggressive Tumors

Early-stage colon cancer patients could benefit in the future from specific genetic tests that forecast their prognosis and help them make the right decision regarding chemotherapy.

News • Chemotherapy

Hair loss: FDA clears expanded use of cooling cap

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the expanded use of a cooling cap, DigniCap Cooling System, to reduce hair loss (alopecia) during chemotherapy. This is the first cooling cap cleared by the agency for use in cancer patients with solid tumors.

News • Cancer-related hair loss

Paxman helps launch global scalp cooling collaboration

Led by six globally-recognised experts in cancer care, the organisation known as CHILL, Cancer-related Hair Loss, International Leadership and Linkage, announced today an initiative to collect and track evidence-based patient information and clinical guidance. Data will be used to establish clinical best practices to ensure maximum effectiveness of scalp cooling to minimise chemotherapy-induced…

Sponsored • Alopecia

Scalp cooler to reduce hair loss in breast cancer patients

Paxman Coolers Limited announced today that The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the company to market the Paxman Scalp Cooling System, a scalp cooling technology that was developed by a British family to reduce hair loss (alopecia) in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Sponsored • Breast Cancer

Scalp cooler prevents hair loss in early stage breast cancer patients

A pioneering scalp cooling treatment that prevents alopecia in early stage breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy will be showcased at the 15th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference, Vienna.

News • Chemotherapy

Precision medicine test helps guide breast cancer patients’ decision

One of the earliest widespread applications of precision medicine in cancer care is helping patients and physicians decide whether chemotherapy is needed, a new study finds.

Overcoming multidrug-resistant cancer with smart nanoparticles

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is the mechanism by which many cancers develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs, resulting in minimal cell death and the expansion of drug-resistant tumors. To address the problem of resistance, researchers at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed nanoparticles that…

News • Small cell lung cancer

Clues to the cause of chemoresistance discovered

Small cell lung cancer is not usually detected until it is at an advanced stage, when metastases have already formed. Chemotherapy is very effective initially but, within a year, cancer recurs and this time does not respond to a course of chemotherapy. The research group headed by Gerhard Hamilton, University Department of Surgery at MedUni Vienna, has now managed to identify the reason for this…

News • Chemotherapy

Novel compounds could be less toxic

A novel class of compounds developed by a University of Saskatchewan (U of S)-led research team could yield more effective and less toxic chemotherapy drugs to treat cancer. Team leader Jonathan Dimmock, a medicinal chemistry researcher in the U of S College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, explained their compounds work by interacting with thiols, naturally occurring chemicals that perform several…

News • Fighting cancer

Stopping tumour cells killing surrounding tissue

Tumours kill off surrounding cells to make room to grow, according to new research from the University of Cambridge. Although the study was carried out using fruit flies, its findings suggest that drugs to prevent, rather than encourage, cell death might be effective at fighting cancer – contrary to how many of the current chemotherapy drugs work.

News • The Amazing Race

Cancer cells travel together to forge ‘successful’ metastases

There’s apparently safety in numbers, even for cancer cells. New research in mice suggests that cancer cells rarely form metastatic tumors on their own, preferring to travel in groups since collaboration seems to increase their collective chances of survival, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins.

News • Lung cancer

Immunotherapy superior to chemotherapy?

Researchers compared an immunotherapy and a chemotherapy drug in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease continued to progress after first-line chemotherapy. They found that nivolumab improved overall survival and was generally well tolerated. The results are significant because options for patients whose lung cancer progresses after initial treatment are…

Nanospheres deliver high chemotherapy doses

Scientists have designed nanoparticles that release drugs in the presence of a class of proteins that enable cancers to metastasize. That is, they have engineered a drug delivery system so that the very enzymes that make cancers dangerous could instead guide their destruction.

News • Chemotherapy

Intravenous nutrition source could reduce side effects

A single dose of an FDA-approved intravenous nutrition source may be able to significantly reduce the toxicity and increase the bioavailability of platinum-based cancer drugs, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University biologists published in Scientific Reports.

Article • Assessing chemotherapy

Ultrasound presents an alternative to radiation

Injecting toxic chemicals into the body to kill cancer cells is a physically and mentally brutal experience for patients. The treatment cost is equally brutal for healthcare systems. Yet, often after six months of difficult treatment, patients may hear that the chemotherapy did not stop or kill the cancer. There is now a way to find out, in just 30 days and at a cost of just €183, whether the…

eSMART: mobile phones help patients through chemotherapy treatment

Coping with the side effects of chemotherapy treatment is challenging for people with cancer. When fatigued or nauseous, it is not easy to assess if these conditions are acceptable treatment side effects or require medical assistance.

Liver tumors: 3-D MRI scans better predict survival after chemo

In a series of studies involving 140 American men and women with liver tumors, researchers at Johns Hopkins have used specialized 3-D MRI scans to precisely measure living and dying tumor tissue to quickly show whether highly toxic chemotherapy – delivered directly through a tumor’s blood supply – is working.

The role of the immune system in cancer therapy

Apart from tumour immunologists themselves, for a long time oncologists have underestimated the role of the immune system in cancer treatment. Nonetheless, in recent years increasing attention has been given to this aspect of cancer.

Epigenetic drugs

‘All human body cells contain the same DNA, but every type of cell – for example a muscle cell compared to that of a nerve – has a different gene expression pattern’, said Dr Sonja Stadler, speaking at the 2012 congress of DGKL (German Society for Clinical Chemistry).

The importance of MRI for gynaecological malignancies

Hedvig Hricak, Chair of the Radiology Department at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA, describes emerging applications and potential trends in gynaecological cancer treatment described at the 15th International Symposium Crossing Barriers

New method to personalize chemotherapy drug selection

In laboratory studies, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed a way to personalize chemotherapy drug selection for cancer patients by using cell lines created from their own tumors.

Advancing personalised medicine

BRAF is a protein that plays an important part in the transmission of growth signals. In a mutated state it can lead to uncontrolled cell growth. Around every second malignant melanoma – the deadliest and most aggressive form of skin cancer – has a certain mutation of the BRAF gene.