Chemotherapy News and Research

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

New data demonstrates how CA4P has anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic activity

Anti-angiogenic agents have been successful in the clinic for blocking the growth of solid tumors. However, these agents used in combination with chemotherapy have improved the survival of patients with cancers by only several months.

9 Oct 2005

Reflexology popular amongst women receiving chemotherapy

Researchers at Michigan State University are finding that many women who are receiving chemotherapy while in the late stages of breast cancer are turning to a complementary therapy known as reflexology to help them cope.

9 Oct 2005

Call to stop exposing women to breast cancer risk by needlessly using radiation therapy as a component of Hodgkin disease treatment

Young women who are treated for Hodgkin lymphoma with chest radiation therapy have a high cumulative absolute risk of developing breast cancer later in life. This risk increases with age at end of follow-up, time since diagnosis, and radiation dose, according to a new study in the October 5 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

4 Oct 2005

Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to decline

The nation's leading cancer organizations report that Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to decline and that the rate of new cancers is holding steady. The "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2002," published in the Oct. 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, shows observed cancer death rates from all cancers combined dropped 1.1 percent per year from 1993 to 2002.

4 Oct 2005

Researchers look at pharmacogenomics

When patients receive chemotherapy, 15 percent will have severe side effects while 85 percent will not - even though they're given the same relative dose.

28 Sep 2005

Nanoparticles as an invisible diet

Utah State University researchers are in the early stages of scientifically tricking the body into eating less and finding a treatment for obesity without dangerous side effects.

28 Sep 2005

Salivary antimicrobial peptide expression and dental caries experience in children

A study comparing antimicrobial peptides, or AMPs, a group of small proteins that occur naturally in human saliva and act like antibiotics against oral bacteria, could lead to new ways to screen children for risk of tooth decay and protect them against this common, chronic problem.

28 Sep 2005

Work absence after breast cancer diagnosis

Breast cancer is a very common malignancy with serious health effects that often involves women in the prime of their lives. Drolet and colleagues report on the work experience of women recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

27 Sep 2005

A new, less toxic way to treat malignant melanoma

A new, less toxic way to treat malignant melanoma (skin cancer) is being developed by medicinal chemists at Reading University. They have produced a range of prodrugs: compounds that offer the potential to be converted to toxic molecules only within the vicinity of tumours. These prodrugs aim to reduce the toxicity of treatment.

26 Sep 2005

State-of-the-art treatment program increases survival from the aggressive uterine papillary serous carcinoma

"Our study defines a standard of care for this aggressive and growing form of uterine cancer," said Schwartz, who is also assistant chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. The procedure more accurately determines the complete stage and appropriate treatment and reduces the recurrence of the cancer.

26 Sep 2005

Researchers have uncovered a significant contributing factor to interferon resistance of malignant melanoma cells

The finding represents a step forward in understanding the molecular events that govern the growth of this type of cancer and the changes in gene expression and cellular signaling that underlie resistance to established therapies.

26 Sep 2005

Suppression of FOXO1a gene might kill resistant alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) tumors

FOXO1a caused death of tumor cells in laboratory study by triggering expression of caspase-3, which blocks cell division and causes cells to undergo apoptosis, according to St. Jude.

20 Sep 2005

PUMA protein offers critical insights for developing new anti-cancer drugs

The discovery of how the activities of the protein p53 initiate signals that trigger cell suicide offers critical insights for developing new anti-cancer drugs, according to investigators from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

20 Sep 2005

Snail, a molecule normally important in embryonic development, can promote breast cancer recurrence

Using a recently developed mouse model of breast cancer, a team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown that Snail, a molecule normally important in embryonic development, can promote breast cancer recurrence.

20 Sep 2005

Acute-leukemia sign may signal need for different therapy

A type of chromosome change that was thought to predict a good response to treatment in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) might actually signal the need for a different therapy to achieve the best outcome.

19 Sep 2005

Tarceva should be tested as front-line therapy for older lung cancer patients

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib (Tarceva) showed encouraging activity with relatively tolerable side effects in elderly, previously untreated patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), reports a team led by investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

19 Sep 2005

Scientists have discovered a new and potent anti-cancer compound in beans

Scientists have discovered a new and potent anti-cancer compound in everyday food. The collaborative study led by UCL (University College London) shows that the compound - inositol pentakisphosphate - found in beans, nuts and cereals inhibits a key enzyme (phosphoinositide 3-kinase) involved in tumour growth.

19 Sep 2005

Drug AMD-3100 may help cancer patients who need stem cell transplants

A new drug may help cancer patients mobilize the cells necessary to restore their blood-forming system after high-dose chemotherapy, according to results from a clinical trial at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and at other centers across the nation.

19 Sep 2005

Does surgery induce angiogenesis in dormant breast cancer?

Analysis of breast-cancer relapse patterns from two independent databases provides indirect evidence for the theory that surgery to remove the primary tumor may initiate formation of a new blood supply (angiogenesis) in formerly dormant metastases, accounting for a pattern of early relapse in younger women.

12 Sep 2005

Combining radiation, chemotherapy and liver transplantation increases survival in bile duct cancer patients

A new treatment for patients with a type of bile duct cancer promises a greater chance at survival by combining radiation, chemotherapy and liver transplantation, Mayo Clinic physicians report in the September issue of the Annals of Surgery.

12 Sep 2005