Cancer Research

Bristol-Meyers Squibb has received the first drug regimen approved for mesothelioma in 16 years and the second FDA-approved systemic therapy for mesothelioma has gotten U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. The combination therapy is Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) for the first-line treatment of adults with malignant pleural mesothelioma that cannot be removed by surgery. Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a life-threatening cancer of the lungs’ lining strongly associated with inhalation of asbestos fibers. MPM accounts for most mesothelioma diagnoses, about 20,000…

The compound melittin, found in honeybee venom, rapidly destroyed triple-negative breast cancer and HER2-enriched breast cancer cells in a recent study. In the 1950s, bee venom was found to reduce the growth of tumors in plants and in the last two decades interest grew into the effects of honeybee venom on different cancers. For the study, 312 honeybees and bumblebees in Perth Western Australia, Ireland and England, were used to test the effect of the venom on the clinical subtypes of breast cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer, which has limited treatment options. Melittin can be…

Historically, lung cancer incidence rates have been higher in Black people than White people among men of all ages and among younger women, likely reflecting historically higher smoking rates in Black adults. That is no longer the case, and in women the trend has even reversed. That is a big win for science and health nonprofit groups like ours, which have warned about the perils of smoking for our entire existence. Smoking prevalence data and national lung cancer incidence rates by sex among contemporary young birth cohorts found that incidence decreased in both Black and White men born…

If you or someone you know have gotten a cancer diagnosis, you know one of the first tests is to see if it has spread to your lymph nodes. That is because they will often be a harbinger of spread to distant organs. Most cancer deaths happen after cancer spreads to other parts of the body through a process known as metastasis. This occurs when cancer cells from the primary tumor spread through blood vessels or migrate through lymphatic vessels before entering the blood. New research on melanoma provides insight into why this occurs and found that melanoma cells that pass through the lymph…

TP53 is a gene found in every cell. It produces a protein called p53 which acts as a cell's barrier, even suppressing genetic mutations in the cell. However, if p53 becomes damaged, it no longer protects the cell as well. Perhaps even the opposite, it may drive the cancer, helping tumors spread and grow. That may be why only 2 percent of such cancers take root in the small intestine, while 98 percent take place in the colon, even though the colon is a much smaller organ. A new paper speculates the root cause might be the microbiome. The authors argue that in certain micro-environments like…

Dermatopathologists, skin cancer specialists, may be ordering additional tests or second opinions out of caution but they may also be thinking about checking off boxes to prevent malpractice lawsuits. In the United States, with the existing "Wild Wild West" of litigation due to blocks of tort reform, it is routine for lawyers to sue doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies. Using claims that they "hold corporations accountable", malpractice lawsuits are so routine it's rare not to have one: 74 percent of obstetricians and gynecologists will face malpractice claims by age 45, which means…

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-i) or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) medications are prescribed for conditions such as heart failure, high blood pressure or heart disease. They inhibit or block angiotensin, a chemical that causes arteries to become narrow, so are commonly prescribed for people with high blood pressure to relax and open blood vessels, lowering blood pressure. They may also lower risk of colorectal cancer risk, the third most common cancer and second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Researchers reviewed health records of 187,897 adult patients in…

On May 5, 2020, the journal Cell Reports published an article on identifying tumor signatures to decide on appropriate targeted treatments. Researchers in a collaborative effort between the Francis Crick Institute, Roche Tissue Diagnostics, and the Royal Marsden Hospital, has devised a new way of studying a tumor in its entirety.

Clinical trials in the modern regulatory environment are so expensive that many companies with a product that is going into a phase III clinical trial will just sell out to a Big Pharma company that can afford it. It's a necessary, yet somehow despised, business. Academics have claimed bias in clinical studies conducted by industry sponsors. The belief is that scientists not in academia are controlled regarding the types of research questions to be answered by clinical trials, as well as their experimental design. Some papers suggest that even the results of some trials may be affected by…

Why are some prostate cancers are more aggressive and result in death when others can be treated? The answer could mean more optimal treatment; aggressive forms could still get the full treatment while less harmful forms can get a less damaging approach. A new study shows how the number of 'aggressive' cells in a tumor sample defines how quickly the disease will progress and spread and reveals three new subtypes of prostate cancer that could be used to stratify patients for different treatments. Prostate cancer can be a puzzle. The majority of them progress so slowly they will not…