Tag Archives: division

Scientists pioneer new drug regimen that reduces toxicities for renal cancer patients

The seven-year study began in 2007 and the findings revolutionized the standard protocol for patient management in NCCS with an attenuated-dose regimen of sunitinib for patients with mRCC. The new treatment regimen for sunitinib has been accepted by oncologists in Singapore. For the patients, this would mean an estimated 30 per cent reduction in fees because of the lower dosage. …

Palbociclib shows promise in patients with hormone-resistant breast cancer

“The FDA approval has expanded treatments options for many metastatic breast cancer patients, but these new results are showing how effective the drug can also be for breast cancer patients who have already tried endocrine therapies and may be running out of options,” said lead investigator Angela DeMichele, MD, MSCE, associate professor in the division of Hematology/Oncology and Epidemiology and co-leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the Abramson Cancer Center. “Combined with the promising results from other trials looking at the effectiveness of this drug, our results indicate that palbociclib can extend the duration of disease control and produce tumor shrinkage in patients with estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer, without the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy.” The newly-published phase II trial primarily sought to evaluate disease response and control, while monitoring for the presence of side effects such as neutropenia, an abnormally low white blood cell count. Patients enrolled in the trial had previously undergone several prior chemotherapy and hormonal regimens for metastatic disease…

Nonsmokers in automobiles are exposed to significant secondhand smoke

The nonsmoking passengers showed elevated levels of butadiene, acrylonitrile, benzene, methylating agents and ethylene oxide. This group of toxic chemicals is “thought to be the most important among the thousands in tobacco smoke that cause smoking-related disease,” said senior investigator Neal L. Benowitz, MD, a UCSF professor of medicine and bioengineering and therapeutic sciences and chief of the division of clinical pharmacology at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. …

Molecular breakthrough could halt spread of prostate cancer — ScienceDaily

Pioneering research, by academics at the Universities of Bristol, Nottingham and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), shows that a specific compound can inhibit the activity of a molecule which is key to how tumours form new blood vessels. The vessels are essential for the cancer cells to survive and multiply. The findings, published in the journal Oncogene, show that targeting a molecule called SRPK1 could stop progression of prostate cancer…

Oral cancer-causing HPV may spread through oral, genital routes

“HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world, and is a risk factor for several cancers, including cervical, vaginal, vulvar, oropharyngeal [throat/tonsil], anal, and penile cancer,” says Eduardo L. Franco, Professor and Director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology at McGill University. “Understanding how HPV is transmitted is important because it will help us identify who is most at risk for HPV infection and how we can help them protect themselves and their partners,” adds Franco, who is also the Chairman of the Department of Oncology in the Faculty of Medicine. “Our work provides additional evidence that HPV is sexually transmitted to the oral tract through oral-oral and oral-genital contact.” Infection rates higher for male smokers A research team led by Franco looked at HPV infections in 222 men and their female partners and found that among men in the study, the prevalence of oral HPV was 7.2 percent…

National Cancer Institute supports next-generation Austrian HPV vaccine

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is supporting further clinical development of a new, improved, next-generation HPV vaccine. The vaccine was developed by a team led by Reinhard Kirnbauer from the Division of Immunodermatology at the MedUni Vienna in collaboration with Christina Schellenbacher and support from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF). The new vaccine had already demonstrated its excellent efficacy in a pre-clinical study in 2013…

Why targeted drug doesn’t benefit patients with early-stage lung cancer

Oncologists use erlotinib to treat lung cancers that have a mutation in a gene called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The gene mutation causes EGFR to run like it has a stuck accelerator, and erlotinib blocks the overactive molecule. The study shows that while erlotinib effectively causes tumors to shrink — suggesting that the drug is helping — this drug also increases the aggressiveness of the tumor so that growth is accelerated when therapy ends. This study finds that this is due to a secondary and previously unknown effect of inhibiting EGFR…

Tumor registry data find acadiana colon cancer rates among America’s highest

The study was led by Dr. Jordan Karlitz, Division of Gastroenterology at Tulane University School of Medicine who is also adjunct faculty at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, Dr. Xiao-Cheng Wu, Professor of Public Health and Director of the LSU Health New Orleans Louisiana Tumor Registry, Dr…