Cancer Research

Analysis of more than 8,000 women who participated in the world's largest study of two treatments for HER2-positive breast cancer reinforces clinical trial findings showing that trastuzumab (Herceptin) should remain the standard of care for this cancer. The phase III clinical trial, which tested combinations of the two drugs or use of the drugs by themselves — in addition to standard chemotherapy — enrolled 8,381 participants at 946 medical centers in 44 countries. A key finding from ALTTO, released in June, showed that lapatinib, when used in addition to trastuzumab as part of dual therapy,…

Rolapitant reduces nausea and vomiting in patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy, according to the results of a phase III trial presented for the first time today at the ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid, Spain. 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…

Within the first 5 years after the birth of a child, women are considered at an increased risk of developing metastatic breast cancer. Why that happens has been considered a puzzle but the fact remains that women diagnosed with postpartum breast cancer have a decreased disease free survival time compared to women that have never given birth. The aggressive tendency of postpartum breast cancer suggests that the post-birth breast environment promotes tumor metastasis. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggests that dying tumor cells in postpartum breast tissue promote…

Ovarian cancer is the most deadly gynecological kind, it claims the lives of more than 50% of women who are diagnosed Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed late and develops a resistance to chemotherapy but new insight into why may lead to better diagnosis and treatment. "What we've discovered will help clinicians to better treat women with ovarian cancer," says Dr. Ben Tsang, senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and professor at the University of Ottawa. "The key is understanding the role of a protein called gelsolin. With our colleagues from National Cheng Kung…

Retinoblastoma is a childhood retinal tumor usually affecting children ages one to two and the most common malignant tumor of the eye in children. Left untreated, retinoblastoma can be fatal or result in blindness. Retinoblastomas have been found to develop in response to the mutation of a single gene, the RB1 gene, demonstrating that some cells are only a step away from developing into a life-threatening malignancy. David E. Cobrinik, MD, PhD, of The Vision Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), together with colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have answered the…

Researchers have developed two new anticancer peptide vaccines and two peptide inhibitors as part of a larger peptide immunotherapy effort, according to two studies published in  OncoImmunology.  Researchers from  at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center identify new peptide vaccines and inhibitors that target the HER-3 and IGF-1R receptors. All four agents elicited significant anti-tumor responses in human cancer cell lines and in animal models.  IGF-1R – the insulin-like growth factor receptor 1R – plays a crucial role in cell growth, proliferation,…

Head and neck cancer underway. Credit: Akira Kouchiyama, CC BY-SA By Emma King, University of Southampton and Christian Ottensmeier, University of Southampton Immune cells in the blood primarily defend us against infection. But we’re now learning that these cells can also keep us free from cancer. Patients with less efficient immune systems such as organ transplant recipients or those with untreated HIV, for example, are more susceptible to cancers. It is also becoming increasingly apparent that we can use immune cells to predict survival in people who do develop cancer. And that, in fact,…

An international research consortium has found that longer telomeres increase the risk of melanoma. Telomeres are a part of the genome that function like the plastic caps of your shoelaces, which prevent the laces from fraying. Instead they protect the ends of chromosomes from environmental damage, such as exposure to smoke or sunlight, which can harm them. The GenoMEL study, conducted at the University of Leeds, looked at 11,108 melanoma cases and 13,933 control cases from Europe, Israel, United States, and Australia. It is the largest study to date to trace the genetic basis of telomere…

Men who had moderate baldness affecting both the front and the crown of their head by age 45 were at a 40% increased risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer than men with no baldness, according to a new, large cohort analysis from the prospective Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men. Aggressive prostate cancer usually indicates a faster growing tumor resulting in poorer prognosis relative to non-aggressive prostate cancer later in life. There was no significant link between other patterns of…

The genetic mutation BRAFV600E secretes a protein that promotes the growth of melanoma tumor cells and modify the network of normal cells around the tumor to support the disease's progression, according to a new paper. Targeting this mutation with Vemurafenib reduces this interaction, and suggests possible new treatment options for melanoma therapy. BRAFV600E is common present in metastatic melanoma.  "This work supports the importance of the tumor cells "talking" with the normal cells present in the tumor microenvironment," said Dr. Chery A. Whipple, research associate at the Geisel…