Chemotherapy News and Research

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Study shows immunotherapy improves survival rate in children with neuroblastoma

Using immunotherapy biologic agents that stimulate the body's immune system pediatric oncologists have achieved the first substantial increase in over a decade in cure rates for the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. A newly released study shows that the new treatment improved two-year survival rates by 20 percent, compared to standard treatment for an aggressive form of neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system.

30 Sep 2010

New miRNA screening assay to detect early-stage colorectal cancer

A new microRNA (miRNA) screening assay detected the majority of early-stage colorectal cancers with good specificity and sensitivity. Our test has the potential to be safe, cheap, robust, accurate and of little or no inconvenience to the individual, and could, therefore, easily be integrated into national screening programs as part of an annual checkup,said Søren Jensby Nielsen, Ph.D., scientific manager, Diagnostic Product Development, Exiqon A/S

30 Sep 2010

Triple negative breast cancer patients with BRCA gene mutations have low risk of recurrence: Research

Patients with triple negative breast cancer that also have mutations in the BRCA gene appear to have a lower risk of recurrence, compared to those with the same disease without the deleterious genetic mutation, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

30 Sep 2010

Researchers discover treatment improves overall survival in pregnant women with breast cancer

Long associated with a worse outcome, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that women treated for breast cancer while pregnant, in fact, have improved disease free survival and a trend for improved overall survival compared to non-pregnant women treated for the disease.

30 Sep 2010

New form of immunotherapy increases survival in children with neuroblastoma

Administering a new form of immunotherapy to children with neuroblastoma, a nervous system cancer, increased the percentage of those who were alive and free of disease progression after two years, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and fellow institutions. The percentage rose from 46 percent for children receiving a standard therapy to 66 percent for children receiving immunotherapy plus standard therapy, according to the study published in the Sept. 30, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

30 Sep 2010

Researchers report chemotherapy affects gray matter in breast cancer patients

Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center have published the first report using imaging to show that changes in brain tissue can occur in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

30 Sep 2010

SCT transplantation benefits in Hodgkin's lymphoma is unclear

It remains an unresolved question whether adult patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a certain type of lymph node cancer, benefit from allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) with an unrelated donor. This is due to the fact that studies are lacking that compare this therapy with autologous transplantation or conventional chemotherapy without SCT.

30 Sep 2010

Scientists discover gut stem cells replacement mechanism

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have discovered that gut stem cells replace each other in a 'one in, one out' system, which is completely different to previously accepted theories.

30 Sep 2010

New immunotherapy regimen improves survival rate in children with neuroblastoma: Research

30 Sep 2010

Breakthrough neuroblastoma treatment

According to a new study the addition of an experimental immunotherapy drug to the standard regimen of care extended the lives and decreased the risk of a disease recurrence in children with high-risk neuroblastoma. This tumor most frequently originates in one of the adrenal glands, but can also develop in nerve tissues in the neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis. It forms 12 percent of cancer-related deaths in children under the age of 15 and half of patients with this type of malignancy have the high-risk form.

29 Sep 2010

Medivation and Astellas commence MDV3100 second Phase 3 clinical trial in advanced prostate cancer

Medivation, Inc. and Astellas Pharma Inc. today announced treatment of the first patient in a second Phase 3 clinical trial of the investigational drug MDV3100, which expands the Phase 3 development of the novel, triple-acting oral androgen receptor antagonist into an earlier-stage patient population. Known as PREVAIL, the trial will evaluate MDV3100 in men with advanced prostate cancer who have not yet received chemotherapy. Initiation of the PREVAIL trial triggers a milestone payment to Medivation under its collaboration agreement with Astellas.

29 Sep 2010

Sanford-Burnham receives five-year core grant renewal from NCI

The Cancer Center at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) has received a five-year core grant renewal from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

29 Sep 2010

Researchers unveil mechanism of candida infections

More than half of all people are hosts to Candida albicans in their bodies. This species might be located on their skin or mucous membranes or in the intestines frequently without causing any symptoms. However, it can be dangerous to patients whose immunological system has been weakened such as after organ transplants or chemotherapy with cancer. Then, this fungus penetrates into deeper layers of tissue and uses the blood system to spread throughout the body. In Germany alone, several thousand people die from systemic candida infections every year.

29 Sep 2010

Intrauterine devices for treatment of endometrial cancer

Intrauterine devices, originally developed as contraceptives, can also be used to treat and cure cancer of the endometrium according to new research published online in the cancer journal, Annals of Oncology today (Wednesday 29 September). The finding opens the way for young women with the disease, which affects the lining of the womb, to be treated without the need for a hysterectomy, thus preserving their fertility until they have had all the children they want.

29 Sep 2010

Scientists use turmeric extract to target cancer cells

Scientists at the University of Leicester, funded by Hope Against Cancer, are pioneering the use of a common curry cooking ingredient to target cancer cells. The research in the University Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine is making use of actual tissue from tumours extracted from patients undergoing surgery.

29 Sep 2010

Triple-negative breast cancer patients may have unique biomarker to receive targeted therapy: Research

Patients with triple negative breast cancer, one of the hardest subtypes to treat, may have a unique biomarker that would enable them to receive more targeted therapy, according to data presented at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development.

29 Sep 2010

Clinical study results for patient-specific vaccine therapy to treat metastatic melanoma announced

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian recently announced encouraging clinical study results for patient-specific vaccine therapy to treat metastatic melanoma. The study is ongoing, but the report concludes that patient-specific vaccines can sometimes induce durable complete regression of progressing soft-tissue melanoma metastases, as demonstrated in one particular patient who participated in the trial.

28 Sep 2010

Pfizer ceases SUN 1120 Phase 3 trial of SUTENT in men with CRPC

Pfizer Inc. announced today the discontinuation of the SUN 1120 Phase 3 trial evaluating SUTENT (sunitinib malate) in combination with prednisone for men with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer that had progressed despite treatment with a docetaxel-based chemotherapy regimen. During a scheduled interim analysis, an independent Data Monitoring Committee found that the combination of sunitinib with prednisone was unlikely to improve overall survival when compared to prednisone alone.

28 Sep 2010

Rockland receives Phase I SBIR grant to develop assay for monitoring Akt pathway activity

Rockland Immunochemicals Inc., a biotechnology company focusing on antibodies and antibody based tools for basic research, assay development and preclinical studies, today announced that it has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a pharmacodynamic assay to monitor the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

28 Sep 2010

S*BIO initiates SB939 Phase 2 clinical trial for metastatic prostate cancer

S*BIO Pte Ltd today announced the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical trial of SB939, its novel orally-active HDAC inhibitor, in patients with recurrent or metastatic prostate cancer (HRPC).

27 Sep 2010