Category Archives: Cancer Treatment

Fertility preservation option for young boys with cancer

The research, conducted by the Medical Center’s Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) under the direction of Anthony Atala, M.D., institute director, gives boys who have a high risk of becoming sterile the option to “bank” a small piece of testicular tissue prior to treatment. “The average survival rates for childhood cancer are around 80 percent, but a side effect of some treatments can be permanent sterility,” said Thomas W. McLean, M.D., a pediatric cancer specialist, who co-leads the experimental biological bank with Hooman Sadri-Ardekani, M.D., Ph.D., a male infertility specialist at WFIRM. …

New discovery approach accelerates identification of potential cancer treatments

They used the platform to identify a novel antibody that is undergoing further investigation as a potential treatment for breast, ovarian and other cancers. In research published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in the lab of Stephen Weiss at the U-M Life Sciences Institute detail an approach that replicates the native environment of cancer cells and increases the likelihood that drugs effective against the growth of tumor cells in test tube models will also stop cancer from growing in humans. The researchers have used their method to identify an antibody that stops breast cancer tumor growth in animal models, and they are investigating the antibody as a potential treatment in humans. “Discovering new targets for cancer therapeutics is a long and tedious undertaking, and identifying and developing a potential drug to specifically hit that target without harming healthy cells is a daunting task,” Weiss said. …

New discovery approach accelerates identification of potential cancer treatments — ScienceDaily

They used the platform to identify a novel antibody that is undergoing further investigation as a potential treatment for breast, ovarian and other cancers. In research published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in the lab of Stephen Weiss at the U-M Life Sciences Institute detail an approach that replicates the native environment of cancer cells and increases the likelihood that drugs effective against the growth of tumor cells in test tube models will also stop cancer from growing in humans. The researchers have used their method to identify an antibody that stops breast cancer tumor growth in animal models, and they are investigating the antibody as a potential treatment in humans. …

new role for estrogen in pathology of breast cancer discovered — ScienceDaily

The University of Illinois team reports its findings in the journal Oncogene. Estrogen pre-activates the unfolded-protein response (UPR), a pathway that normally protects cells from stress, the researchers report. The UPR spurs the production of molecular chaperones that prepare cells to divide and grow. Without chaperone proteins to do the work of folding and packaging other proteins, cells — including cancer cells — cannot divide. …

Cancer during pregnancy: chemotherapy and radiotherapy are safe for babies, studies suggest

“When chemotherapy is administered after the first trimester of pregnancy, we cannot discern any problems in the children,” says lead author Dr Frederic Amant, KU Leuven and University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium. “Fear about the risks of chemotherapy administration should not be a reason to terminate a pregnancy, delay cancer treatment for the mother, or to deliver a baby prematurely.” Concerns about the potential impact of cancer treatment on unborn children has until recently left some oncologists hesitant to administer treatments to pregnant cancer patients, says Amant. To address these concerns, his group has led three new studies presented at ESMO 2014. …

Anamorelin shown to improve appetite and body mass in patients with cancer anorexia-cachexia

“Anorexia and cachexia are among the most troubling and distressing symptoms of advanced cancer, for both patients and their families,” says the study’s principal investigator, Dr Jennifer Temel from the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. Symptoms of the wasting syndrome can include a loss of weight and muscles, together with fatigue, weakness, and loss of appetite. The condition is very common in patients with advanced lung cancer. Anamorelin aims to address the symptoms by mimicking the effects of the so-called “hunger hormone” ghrelin, which is secreted by the stomach…

Chemotherapy: Rolapitant reduces nausea and vomiting in phase III trial

Dr Martin Chasen, lead author and medical director, Palliative Care, Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, Canada, said: “This agent makes a significant difference in the way people tolerate their chemotherapy. Patients experienced no loss in quality of life and, in fact, many saw meaningful improvements. One of the patients in the rolapitant cohort reported that he had just finished 18 holes of golf one week after receiving chemotherapy…

Discrepancies in access to new cancer drugs revealed

Researchers say the results demonstrate the need for better collaboration between doctors and health authorities on an international scale, to ensure patients have access to the best treatments. Coordinated action is needed at an international level to ensure new cancer-fighting drugs are approved in a timely manner, oncologists said at the Congress. Their call came after a survey revealed that patients in some regions sometimes wait years longer than their counterparts elsewhere for new drugs to be approved. The drug approval process is important to ensure that safe and effective therapies are made available for patients, explains study senior author Dr Sunil Verma from Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Center, Toronto, Canada. …