Category Archives: Cancer Treatment

Antibody-drug conjugate may provide new treatment option for pancreatic cancer patients

Antibody-drug conjugates are a new type of targeted anticancer therapy, which use an antibody to deliver an attached drug directly to those cells that display the antibody’s target on their surfaces. This precision reduces the side effects of the attached drug compared with conventional systemic administration. Currently, there are two U.S…

Shining the soothing light to reduce canker sores in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

No effective preventative strategy is currently available for canker sore, but prospective trials of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) done in HNSCC patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy showed promising results. However, additional trials detected a high incidence of canker sore among patients, leaving the question of whether LLLT can effectively prevent canker sore still open. Now, a group of scientists led by Dr. Heliton Spindola Antunes at the National Cancer Institute (INCA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has successfully performed a definitive trial showing that LLLT reduces the occurrence of canker sore in HNSCC patients undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy and improves patient’s quality of life…

Skid row cancer study has implications for treatment

In papers published in the American Journal of Public Health and the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Aronowitz, professor and chair of Penn’s Department of History and Sociology of Science, characterizes the events then and screenings for prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, in more recent years as "part of one continuous story of how medical and lay people came to believe in the efficacy of population screening followed by aggressive treatment without solid supporting scientific evidence." "This is a call to reflection about how we deal with medical knowledge production and medical technological innovation," Aronowitz said. …

Cancer cells’ communication path blocked

The Lund University research team has looked at how cancer cells communicate with surrounding cells and how this encourages the development of malignant tumours. The idea is to try and inhibit tumours by disrupting this communication. The focus of their research is ‘exosomes’, small virus-like particles that serve as ‘transport packages’ for genetic material and proteins transmitted between cells. …

Two-drug combination improves survival in pancreatic cancer

The new drug is set to become a reference in advanced pancreatic cancer treatment A multicentre phase III study, with centers participating from 11 countries in North America, Europe and Australia, shows that the drug combination nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine is more effective in the treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer than gemcitabine alone, which has been the standard treatment for these patients up until now. The clinical trial, sponsored by Celgene Corporation, involved 861 patients, half of whom were administered the nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination, while the other half received gemcitabine alone. …

Compound derived from vegetables shields rodents from lethal radiation doses

Their study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests the compound, already shown to be safe for humans, may protect normal tissues during radiation therapy for cancer treatment and prevent or mitigate sickness caused by radiation exposure. The compound, known as DIM (3,3′-diindolylmethane), previously has been found to have cancer preventive properties. "DIM has been studied as a cancer prevention agent for years, but this is the first indication that DIM can also act as a radiation protector," says the study’s corresponding author, Eliot Rosen, MD, PhD, of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. For the study, the researchers irradiated rats with lethal doses of gamma ray radiation…