New synthetic tumor environments make Cancer research more realistic

Tumors are notoriously difficult to study in their natural habitat, body tissues,
but a new synthetic tissue environment may give cancer researchers the next-best look at tumor growth and behavior.
University of Illinois researchers have developed a new technique to create a cell habitat of squishy fluids, called hydrogels, which can realistically and quickly recreate micro-environments found across biology.
To illustrate the potential of their technique, the Illinois team mixed breast cancer cells and cells called macrophages that signal cancer cells to spread and grow into a tumor. They were able to observe how differently cells act in the three-dimensional, gel-like environment, which is much more like body tissues than the current research standard: a flat, hard plastic plate.

Biotech to start selling 'breakthrough' Stem Cells

A Waltham developer of stem cell technologies, Minerva Biotechnologies, will begin selling what it calls "breakthrough" stem cells to researchers and biotechnology companies thanks to two recent licensing agreements with Japanese companies.

The deal opens up the possibility for researchers to grow human organs in animals that can then be transplanted.

“This whole field is moving quickly,” said Dr. Cynthia Bamdad, CEO of Minerva Biotechnologies. “It’s a huge breakthrough that we discovered this primitive growth factor, the natural growth factor, and we’ve negotiated these two licenses that have allowed us to commercialize… and distribute our technology to all the other stem cell researchers.”

The Waltham-based biotech has been developing its stem cell technology since 1999. Its aim is to discover a way to create stem cells from adult cells that are in an even more embryonic-like stage than current stem cell creation methods (called pluripotent stem cells) by using a primitive growth function that brings the cell back to an even earlier stage of development.

Bamdad said the difference is in how efficient the stem cells are when used to create other cells, such as those that make up organs. She said that using existing pluripotent stem cells, only as much as 40 percent would be able to be successfully made into heart cells, for example. Using what Minerva is called "naïve" stem cells, the rate of success is 85-100 percent.

Lexicon meets expected results in Phase 3 Trial

Over the past week shares of Lexicon have risen 14% as a continuation move from the early August announcement that telotristat etiprate, an oral treatment for cancer patients with carcinoid syndrome that isn't adequately controlled by the current standard of care, met its primary endpoint in the phase 3 TELESTAR trial. Both doses of the experimental drug (250 mg and 500 mg) led to a statistically significant decline in the number of average daily bowel movements over the course of the 12-week study.
The news was fantastic for Lexicon, which currently lacks a marketed product. Although the Food and Drug Administration will have the final say.

RISK, Older Cancer patients flock to Alternative Treatments

A significant number of older Americans with cancer are flocking to alternative treatments, new research shows. According to a comprehensive review of medications taken by senior oncology patients, as many as 26 percent are using alternative or complementary therapies.
The study, published in the Journal of Geriatric Oncology, also indicates in many cases patients aren’t telling their doctors about the non-conventional medicines they may be taking, in part because mainstream physicians tend to take a dim view of such therapies.
That can cause problems because some alternative treatments contain active ingredients that can react chemically and biologically with other therapies. "Currently, few oncologists are aware of the alternative medicines their patients take," said Ginah Nightingale, an assistant professor with the Jefferson College of Pharmacy at Thomas Jefferson University. "Patients often fail to disclose the [alternative medicines] they take because they think they are safe, natural, nontoxic, and not relevant to their cancer care, because they think their doctor will disapprove, or because the doctor doesn't specifically ask."
The researchers said it’s critical for patients to detail their treatments to their doctors, and for physicians to be aware so many of their patients are using them.

Blood test detects Cancer Relapse

Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in London found traces of breast cancer eight months before doctors would normally have noticed.
In the trial, the test found 12 Cancers out of the 15 women who relapsed.
Experts said there was still some way to go before there was a test that could be used in hospitals.
Surgery to remove a tumor is one of the core treatments for Cancer.
However, a tumour starts from a single cancerous cell. If parts of the tumor have already spread to another part of the body or the surgeon did not remove it all then the Cancer can return.
Fifty-five patients who were at high risk of relapse because of the size of the tumor were followed in the study published in Science Translational Medicine. The scientists analyzed the mutated DNA of the tumor and then continued to search the blood for those mutations. Fifteen patients relapsed and the blood test gave advanced warning of 12 of them. The other three patients all had cancers that had spread to the brain where the protective blood-brain barrier could have stopped the fragments of the cancer entering the bloodstream. The test detected cancerous DNA in one patient who has not relapsed. Dr Nick Peel, from Cancer Research UK, said: "Finding less invasive ways of diagnosing and monitoring cancer is really important and blood samples have emerged as one possible way of gathering crucial information about a patient's disease by fishing for fragments of tumor DNA or rogue cancer cells released into their bloodstream.
"But there is some way to go before this could be developed into a test that doctors could use routinely, and doing so is never simple."

Mayo Clinic research discovers how to switch Tumor forming process Off

US researchers have made an incredible discovery about the process of cell division that has moved medicine closer to finding a cure for cancer. The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota said the key to switching off cancerous cells lies with a small molecule known as miRNA, which effectively works like a red traffic light. Its main function is to enable cells form a type of protein, PLEKHA7, that sends a message to stop cell division, a perfectly normal process that becomes dangerous and forms tumors in the absence of a miRNA stop sign.
According to the researchers, when cells touch each other in the body they form pathways that somehow allows miRNA to shut down the division process.
By artificially injecting a red traffic light molecule into tumors, scientists were able to feed the cells with enough PLEKHA7 to stop cell division.
While the breakthrough provides a useful window into how tumors form, scientists warn that it could be a long time before we see the research translate into clinical treatment.

Threshold Pharmaceuticals initiates Phase 2 Clinical Trial of Tarloxotinib

Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc.announced that the company has initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial of tarloxotinib bromide, or "Tarloxotinib" (TH-4000), for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) or skin (SCCS). Tarloxotinib is Threshold's proprietary, hypoxia-activated, irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor licensed from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
"New and effective treatment options are urgently needed for patients with squamous cell carcinomas," said Danny Rischin, M.D., Co-Director, Division of Cancer Medicine at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Principal Investigator of the Phase 2 trial. "Tarloxotinib represents a novel treatment approach that may allow effective inhibition of EGFR signaling in the tumor microenvironment with relative sparing of normal tissues." "We are pleased that tarloxotinib is actively being investigated in two monotherapy Phase 2 proof-of-concept trials, the other being in patients with non-small cell lung cancer," said Tillman Pearce, M.D.
About the Phase 2 Clinical Trial The Phase 2 clinical trial is a single-arm, open label study that will enroll up to 68 patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) or skin (SCCS). Eligible patients will receive tarloxotinib (150 mg/m2 by intravenous infusion) on Days 1, 8, 15 and 22 of a 28-day cycle.  The study is planned to be opened at 10 sites in the U.S. and Australia. For additional information, please visit their website (www.thresholdpharm.com).

Colorful potatoes have powerful Cancer prevention punch

Compounds found in purple potatoes may help kill colon cancer stem cells and limit the spread of the cancer, according to a team of researchers. Baked purple-fleshed potatoes suppressed the growth of colon cancer tumors in petri dishes and in mice by targeting the cancer's stem cells. Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. and responsible for more than 50,000 deaths annually, according to the American Cancer Society. Attacking stem cells is an effective way to counter cancer, according to Jairam K.P. Vanamala, associate professor of food sciences, Penn State and faculty member at the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute.
"You might want to compare cancer stem cells to roots of the weeds," Vanamala said. "You may cut the weed, but as long as the roots are still there, the weeds will keep growing back and, likewise, if the cancer stem cells are still present, the cancer can still grow and spread."
In the initial laboratory study, the researchers found that the baked potato extract suppressed the spread of colon cancer stem cells while increasing their deaths. Researchers then tested the effect of whole baked purple potatoes on mice with colon cancer and found similar results. The portion size for a human would be about the same as eating a medium size purple-fleshed potato for lunch and dinner, or one large purple-fleshed potato per day.
According to the researchers, there may be several substances in purple potatoes that work simultaneously on multiple pathways to help kill the colon cancer stem cells, including anthocyanins and chlorogenic acid, and resistant starch.

Nanoparticles hit Cancer’s moving target

Though most cancer therapies treat tumors as monoliths, the cells evolve and change their behavior over time. For example, they can alter their gene expression pattern to escape from the primary tumor and spread throughout the body. Now, researchers have developed a nanoparticle that targets cancer cells at two different stages of metastasis, which could make it possible to prevent the disease from spreading. About 90% of cancer deaths are caused not by the initial tumor but by secondary tumors, or metastases, that often take root in the lungs, bone, liver, or brain. These metastatic cells commonly survive chemotherapy and are “buried in the large population of healthy cells in the body.
The team decorated a 100-nm-diameter liposome with ligands that target two surface proteins expressed on metastatic cancer cells after they have escaped from a tumor and are circulating in the bloodstream. Both proteins help circulating tumor cells exit the bloodstream at a new site so that they can establish a new tumor. One protein, selectin, helps cancer cells circulating in the blood start to roll along the inside surface of a blood vessel. The second protein, integrin, helps these rolling cells firmly attach to the blood vessel before exiting and seeding a new tumor. They injected fluorescently or radioactively labeled nanoparticles into the mice and saw that the nanoparticles hit the mark. They caught about 90% of the micrometastatic sites, small clusters of cancer cells 10 to 30 μm in size, Karathanasis says. It recognizes that tumors are not monolithic and that, within each tumor or within each patient, one might have tumors at different stages of development or metastatic spread,” he says. That brings nanotherapy design into better alignment with the current understanding of cancer biology.

Childhood Cancer survivors have high-risk of recurrent stroke

A new study from the UC San Francisco Pediatric Brain Center shows that childhood cancer survivors suffering one stroke have double the risk of suffering a second stroke, when compared with non-cancer stroke survivors. The study found that the main predictors of recurrent stroke were cranial radiation therapy, hypertension and older age at first stroke - factors that could help physicians identify high-risk patients.
The findings provide strong evidence for adjusting secondary stroke prevention strategies in these patients, and to aggressively detect and treat modifiable stroke risk factors, such as hypertension.
"We are at a point where more children are surviving cancer because of life-saving interventions," said Sabine Mueller, MD, PhD, director of the UCSF Pediatric Brain Tumor Center in UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco and co-author of the study. " Now, we are facing long-term problems associated with these interventions."The researchers analyzed retrospective data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), which has followed 14,358 survivors diagnosed between 1970 and 1986 in the United States and Canada to track long-term outcomes of cancer treatment.
Of the 271 respondents who reported having had a stroke, 70 also reported a second one. Overall, the rate of recurrence within the first 10 years after an initial stroke was 21% , which is double the rate of the general population of stroke survivors. The rate was even higher, 33% , for patients who had received cranial radiation therapy.

Exelixis' Cancer Drug gets breakthrough therapy status

Exelixis, Inc. announced that its oncology drug, Cometriq (cabozantinib) has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA as a potential treatment for patients with advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) who have received one prior therapy.
Breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA is expected to expedite the development and review of drugs that are intended to treat serious diseases and to provide access to patients as soon as possible.
Cometriq is already approved in the U.S. for the treatment of progressive, metastatic Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC). Additionally, it has been granted conditional approval in the EU for the treatment of adult patients with progressive, unresectable locally advanced or metastatic MTC.

Promising target for new drugs for Pancreatic Cancer

University of Houston researchers are on a mission to develop drugs that will allow physicians to prolong patient survival and, possibly, even eradicate this deadliest of cancers.
"Our research on the role of liver X receptors, or LXRs, in Pancreatic Cancer cells points to a promising target and strategy in the treatment of pancreatic cancer," said cancer biologist Chin-Yo Lin, an assistant professor with the UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS). "We examined the levels of LXRs in patient tumor samples and studied the effects of candidate drug compounds targeting LXRs on cultured pancreatic cancer cells."
Liver X receptors are important regulators of cholesterol, glucose metabolism and inflammatory response modulation. Collaborating with CNRCS director Dr. Jan-Åke Gustafsson, a pioneer in the discovery of LXRs and the Robert A. Welch Professor in Biology and Biochemistry in the UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Lin said there is now enough evidence to support the involvement of LXRs in a variety of malignancies.
Lin and his colleagues anticipate their ongoing studies will help determine whether LXRs are expressed in all tumors or a specific subset of tumors that might be more sensitive to drugs targeting LXRs. Another goal is to test the effects of the drugs on Pancreatic tumors in murine models that are very similar to those found in humans. Ultimately, they plan to use the knowledge from these studies to develop better drugs to target LXRs in pancreatic cancer, as well as other types of malignancies.
The research team has already carried out some preliminary studies of LXR expression in patient tumor samples and is preparing to analyze more samples. Recent studies showed that chemical compounds targeting LXRs can slow the growth of tumors in murine models transplanted with human tumor cells.

Heart Drugs offer promise against Ovarian Cancer

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found patients with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (EOC) treated with heard medicines known as beta-blockers lived longer.For the study, researchers examined the medical records of 1,425 women with ovarian cancer treated between 2000 and 2010. Those given beta-blockers along with chemotherapy survived up to three times longer than those who didn’t receive the drugs.
"Beta-blockers treat a variety of conditions, such as heart disease, high-blood pressure, glaucoma and migraines. They target a receptor protein in heart muscle that causes the heart to beat harder and faster when activated by stress hormones," said Anil Sood, M.D., a cancer specialist at MD Anderson who led the study. "Our research has shown that the same stress mechanisms impact ovarian cancer progression, so these drugs could play a new role in cancer treatment."
This study adds to past research showing that stress hormones fuel the progression of ovarian and other cancers, and that beta-blockers can stifle that effect.

Alternative way to treat Early-Stage Breast Cancer

The technique, known as Intraoperative Radiation Therapy, or IORT, involves administering a single dose of radiation at the same time a patient is having lumpectomy surgery to remove a tumor. A large, randomized controlled trial concluded that IORT has fewer side effects and appears to prevent the return of cancer nearly as well as traditional treatment, in which patients undergo radiation sessions five days a week for up to seven weeks.
Oncologists with opposing opinions have been debating that conclusion in letters and editorials in major medical journals, including the Lancet and BMJ. Some critics point out that the study found women who had IORT face twice the risk of a cancer recurrence compared with traditional radiation (3.3% versus 1.3% over five years). Some also criticize the design of the IORT study and say patients haven’t been followed long enough to draw conclusions. “A lot of us are scratching our heads as to why [IORT] would be appropriate,” says David Wazer, chair of radiation oncology at Brown and Tufts.
Yet proponents of IORT say the risk of recurrence with either radiation treatment over five years is tiny, and IORT’s advantages could outweigh the higher risk of recurrence for some patients.
“A lot of women who hear about this option make an informed decision to use it,” says Stephen Grobmyer, director of the breast center at the Cleveland Clinic, which is collecting data on nearly 1,000 patients who have had the treatment at 19 U.S. centers.

RedHill Biopharma releases YELIVA for Prostate Cancer

RedHill Biopharma Ltd., an Israeli biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on late clinical-stage, proprietary, orally-administered, small molecule drugs for inflammatory and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, including gastrointestinal cancers, today announced the publication of an article evaluating the therapeutic potential of ABC294640, the Company's orally-administered first-in-class Sphingosine kinase 2 (SK2) selective inhibitor, in the treatment of Prostate Cancer. The article, authored by scientists from Apogee Biotechnology Corporation ("Apogee") and from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, will be published in Molecular Cancer Research and is available online on the journal's website. RedHill acquired the rights to YELIVA (ABC294640) in March 2015 from U.S.-based Apogee.
RedHill has also filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the new brand name YELIVA™ for ABC294640. Subject to USPTO and FDA approval, the new brand name for the potential commercial product will be YELIVA.

According to Dr. Saltz, new cancer drugs “cost too much,” and physicians have a duty to discuss financial toxicity as well as side effects with patients. Historically, patients with health insurance were shielded from the high cost of medical care, but today, patients find themselves increasingly responsible for a larger proportion of their health care costs, in the form of higher premiums, deductibles and copays. “We have to discuss concerns regarding costs and finances. We have to understand and discuss the limitations of insurance. We need to understand their deductibles and copays,” Dr. Saltz said. “We need to be revealing this [financial] toxicity in our academic journals, just as we report on neutropenia, alopecia and nausea.” A 20% copay for a drug that costs $10,000 per month is an insurmountable hurdle for most individuals. On average, a new cancer drug costs roughly $10,000 per month for a single drug, with some costing more than $30,000.
Echoing the sentiment of many clinicians, Dr. Saltz said current drug pricing models are not rational, but simply reflect what the market will bear.
- See more at: http://www.pharmacypracticenews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=Policy&d_id=51&i=August+2015&i_id=1213&a_id=33296#sthash.d6Mu2XpZ.dpufRedHill Biopharma Ltd. RDHL, -7.74% (tase:RDHL) ("RedHill" or the "Company"), an Israeli biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on late clinical-stage, proprietary, orally-administered, small molecule drugs for inflammatory and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, including gastrointestinal cancers, today announced the publication of an article evaluating the therapeutic potential of ABC294640, the Company's orally-administered first-in-class Sphingosine kinase 2 (SK2) selective inhibitor, in the treatment of prostate cancer. The article, authored by scientists from Apogee Biotechnology Corporation ("Apogee") and from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, will be published in Molecular Cancer Research and is available online on the journal's website. RedHill acquired the rights to YELIVA™ (ABC294640) in March 2015 from U.S.-based Apogee.
RedHill has also filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the new brand name YELIVA™ for ABC294640. Subject to USPTO and FDA approval, the new brand name for the potential commercial product will be YELIVA™.

According to Dr. Saltz, new cancer drugs “cost too much,” and physicians have a duty to discuss financial toxicity as well as side effects with patients. Historically, patients with health insurance were shielded from the high cost of medical care, but today, patients find themselves increasingly responsible for a larger proportion of their health care costs, in the form of higher premiums, deductibles and copays. “We have to discuss concerns regarding costs and finances. We have to understand and discuss the limitations of insurance. We need to understand their deductibles and copays,” Dr. Saltz said. “We need to be revealing this [financial] toxicity in our academic journals, just as we report on neutropenia, alopecia and nausea.” A 20% copay for a drug that costs $10,000 per month is an insurmountable hurdle for most individuals. On average, a new cancer drug costs roughly $10,000 per month for a single drug, with some costing more than $30,000.
Echoing the sentiment of many clinicians, Dr. Saltz said current drug pricing models are not rational, but simply reflect what the market will bear.
- See more at: http://www.pharmacypracticenews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=Policy&d_id=51&i=August+2015&i_id=1213&a_id=33296#sthash.d6Mu2XpZ.dpuf

Fertility concerns impact Breast Cancer treatment decisions

Concerns about fertility kept a third of young women with breast cancer from taking Tamoxifen, despite its known benefit in reducing the risk of breast cancer coming back. The study found fertility concerns led a quarter of women who started Tamoxifen to stop taking it before the recommended treatment period ended. "Our study points toward the importance of fertility to young breast cancer patients. We need to find a way to bridge the gap between this patient survivorship goal and our concerns as physicians to facilitate the best treatment possible for our patients," says senior study author Jacqueline Jeruss, M.D., Ph.D.
Previous studies have shown that five years of Tamoxifen can reduce recurrence risk by 47 percent and mortality by 26 percent. More recent data suggests continuing tamoxifen for 10 years may be even more beneficial in preventing recurrence or death.
In the current study, researchers found that 13 percent of patients declined to take Tamoxifen and 16 percent stopped before the five years of recommended treatment were up. Of those who declined, the most common factors were a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ, declining radiation therapy, not receiving chemotherapy and expressing a desire for future fertility. A desire for future fertility was also significantly associated with the early discontinuation of Tamoxifen.

Second Cancers are on the rise

Second cancers are on the rise. Nearly 1 in 5 new cases in the U.S. now involves someone who has had the disease before. When doctors talk about second cancers, they mean a different tissue type or a different site, not a recurrence or spread of the original tumor. About 19 percent of cancers in the United States now are second-or-more cases, a recent study found. In the 1970s, it was only 9 percent. Over that period, the number of first cancers rose 70 percent while the number of second cancers rose 300 percent.
Medically, second cancers pose special challenges. Treatment choices may be more limited. For example, radiation usually isn't given to the same area of the body more than once. Some drugs also have lifetime dose limits to avoid nerve or heart damage.

Class of new Cancer drugs might cause memory loss

New findings from The Rockefeller University suggest that the original version of BET inhibitors causes molecular changes in mouse neurons, and can lead to memory loss in mice that receive it.
The findings will likely fuel more research into the brain effects of BET inhibitors, and could lead to the development of safer drugs that reduce the risk of potential side effects such as memory loss.  Many patients with hard-to-treat cancers have already received these experimental drugs. The Rockefeller scientists say their findings suggests more research is needed to determine whether the therapies can enter the brain, since that could potentially cause some unwanted side effects. "We found that if a drug blocks a BET protein throughout the body, and that drug can get into the brain, you could very well produce neurological side effects," says Korb. Allis, Korb and their colleagues decided to test BET inhibitors in the brain. BET proteins help regulate the process of transcribing genes into proteins, a key step in cell division. Since neurons divide less frequently than other cell types, scientists hadn't given much consideration to the role of BET proteins in the brain, says Korb.
During the study, the researchers used a compound that was designed to thwart the activity of a specific BET protein, called Brd4. They used the original version of the drug, called Jq1, says Korb, which they knew could cross the blood-brain barrier. The researchers took their findings one step further. If Jq1 reduces molecular activity in the brain, they asked, could it help in conditions marked by too much brain activity, such as epilepsy. "Extending the use of these drugs into non-cancer diseases, including neurological disorders, is a largely unexplored area with much potential." Allis adds.

The complex world of 3D-printed drugs

The prospect of tailor-made drugs that are customized to your individual needs has moved a step closer with the recent announcement of the first 3D-printed (3DP) drug to gain approval from the US food and drug administration (FDA). The vision behind 3DP is that medication will be customized to individuals in ways that make it safer and more effective. The size, dose, appearance and rate of delivery of a drug can be designed to suit an individual. FDA approved Spritam, for example, uses 3DP technology to create a more porous pill that is easier to swallow.
3DP technology is already up and running in many areas. It allows orthopedic surgeons to print artificial bone, using scans to mold surgical materials into exactly the required size and shaped piece to replace damaged or missing bone. They’ve created skull implants for people with head trauma and titanium heels to replace a bone eroded by cancer.
But these customized surgical implants and grafts, like the new drug Spritam, are fairly crude adaptations of existing materials. The really exciting innovation is yet to come!

HedgePath Pharmaceuticals launches Cancer clinical trial

HedgePath Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and plans to commercialize innovative therapeutics for patients with cancer, announced today enrollment has commenced in its Phase II(b) SCORING (SUBA-Cap Objective Response in Gorlin's) clinical trial.  HPPI will study the efficacy and safety of twice-daily dosing of SUBA-Itraconazole Oral Capsules as a potential therapy for basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in patients with basal cell carcinoma nevus syndrome (BCCNS), also known as Gorlin's Syndrome.
Nicholas J. Virca, HPPI's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are extremely pleased and enthused to launch our first clinical trial as a single arm, Phase II(b), multi-center, open-label, non-placebo-controlled study for which we plan to recruit up to 40 patients across three clinical trial sites in the US.  Based on our enrollment objectives and the first phase of our study plan, we expect to be able to assess interim results in over half of these patients during the first quarter next year."
Based on an Investigational New Drug Application previously cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, the primary endpoint of HPPI's study is the objective response rate of BCC lesions to SUBA-Itraconazole in subjects with BCCNS, under which a meaningful response will be defined as a 30% or greater reduction in the cumulative size of target tumors, with an appropriate sample size to be 33 of the 40 patients in order to maintain a 90% power.  A detailed description of the trial design and patient eligibility criteria can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov under the study identifier NCT02354261.

New tool will compare costs and benefits of Cancer treatments

As options for cancer patients become increasingly complicated, and expensive, the most influential source for U.S. oncology treatment guidelines will for the first time offer a tool to assess the costs versus benefits of available therapies.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) says its new tool will provide a clearer picture of the relative value of medication options, particularly in cases where a very expensive therapy does little to improve survival.
Doctors developing the measures expect them to shift demand away from less effective treatments, influencing the prices drugmakers are able to charge. They say they are responding to the needs of patients who are having to pay much more for their own care, with higher health insurance premiums, co-payments and deductibles, and want to know the value of their treatments.
The NCCN, an alliance of 26 cancer centers, envisions the new tool as a supplement to its widely followed guidelines for oncology care, which set out protocols for treating a range of cancers based on diagnosis, disease stage and other factors, such as age.

UK patients missing out on targeted Cancer drugs

Thousands of cancer patients are missing out on personalized treatments each year in England because they are not being given a test to see if they might benefit from them, according to a new report from Cancer Research UK.
The report looked at the NHS’s molecular diagnostic testing service for cancer patients in England. These are tests that can identify the genetic faults underpinning a patient’s cancer, some of which can be hit with targeted therapies. The report focused on patients with skin, lung and bowel cancer, where targeted drugs are already available on the NHS.
In 2014, it is estimated that more than 24,000 molecular diagnostic tests were not carried out in hospitals across England. In lung and bowel cancers alone, around 16,000 eligible patients weren’t offered these tests. And about a quarter of these patients could have been given targeted treatments, meaning an estimated 3,500 lung and bowel cancer patients missed out on medicines that could have changed the course of their disease.
The main reasons for missed tests are the cost, there is no dedicated funding available for them, and doctors’ poor awareness of targeted treatments and testing. But molecular diagnostic tests have been available since 2008, are routinely available in many other countries and the Government made a commitment in its 2011 cancer strategy to develop a national commissioning structure for the tests. This has still not been introduced!

Pfizer, Bristol revive Cancer drugs that rev up immune system

Some of the most heralded new cancer drugs fight the disease by removing brakes on the immune system. Now a few leading drug makers are paying attention to a second, opposing force: medicines that accelerate the immune system's attack.
Pfizer Inc, which is lagging rivals in the lucrative field of cancer immunotherapies, has been the first to report early data of an "accelerator" treatment that targets a protein called 4-1BB. It has at least five other Phase I studies underway or in planning stages in solid tumor cancers and lymphomas, which are blood cancers.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co is hot on Pfizer's heels with a handful of early-stage trials of its own 4-1BB antibody. Others, including Johnson & Johnson and AbbVie Inc are doing early testing of their antibodies prior to starting human trials.
4-1BB, also known as CD137, and its connection to the immune system was identified more than 20 years ago by scientists at the University of California San Diego. The approach was largely abandoned in 2008 after early clinical trials of a Bristol therapy showed dangerous signs of liver damage.
Scientists eventually realized that significantly lower doses of a 4-1BB antibody, given at the right time, could achieve the desired anti-cancer effect without the toxicity.
They now believe immune system accelerator therapies could work for many types of cancers, bolstering an arsenal of new medications that are changing the field of oncology.

UK team finds that MRI scans can deliver Cancer therapy

The UK team at Sheffield University deployed the magnetic power of MRI scans to control the movement of a specially designed injectable cancer therapy. Early trials in mice suggest the novel delivery method works. But years more of studies are needed before it could be used in patients.
The hope is it will revolutionize the way doctors treat cancers that are tricky or impossible to remove surgically, tumors in the brain and spine and cancers that have spread around the body, for example.
"An advantage of using MRI is that you can also track where the treatment is going. It could be really useful," she said.
Dr Nick Peel, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "Using viruses to kill tumor cells is one of many ways researchers are using the immune system to attack cancer. But getting the virus precisely on target is a real challenge.
"This early research in mice suggests that using a magnetic field from the MRI scanner could help propel the virus towards cancer tumors using metal nano-particles.

Study raises doubts about early-stage Breast Cancer treatments

Aggressive interventions to treat the earliest, “stage 0” breast cancers have no effect on whether a woman is still alive a decade later, according to a massive new study that tracked the trajectories of more than 100,000 women. The study found that the risk of dying from these early cancer lesions, called ductal carcinoma in situ, is very low, only around 3.3 percent of women in the study died of breast cancer over two decades. It is the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that suggests the ability to detect these lesions through mammograms may be leading to over treatment of breast cancer. Women faced with these noninvasive cancers, often referred to as stage 0, face a frightening array of options: Most undergo a lumpectomy to remove the abnormal cells, but they may also receive radiation treatment. Some may even take the extreme measure of removing one or both breasts completely. The study suggests that adding radiation to a lumpectomy may diminish the likelihood the cancer recurs but not whether women live or die.
Right now, two studies in Europe are beginning to examine what happens when women with the same diagnosis are given different treatments: for example, if the patients are simply observed vs. given the current standard treatment.
“I think the time has come to do trials where we back away from, for example, radiation in many women and we in a meaningful way look at the question as to whether radiation adds anything to surgery,” said Eric Winer, director of the breast cancer program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The problem with that may be convincing women to accept less care.
“There are going to be a lot of women who are simply not very comfortable with that approach.”

New molecule protects heart from toxic Breast Cancer drugs

“Cardiotoxicity of cancer drugs has become an increasing problem in the last decade due to the increasing success of anticancer therapy and aggressive use of these drugs. More people are now surviving cancer but it is estimated that 32% of them could die of heart disease caused by their treatment. This has led to a new field of medicine called cardio-oncology.” A new molecule has been found that protects the heart from toxic breast cancer drugs and also kills the cancerous tumor. The research from Italy addresses the burgeoning problem of heart disease in cancer survivors.  “Patients with some forms of breast cancer are at greater risk of dying from heart disease than from cancer. A number of breast cancer treatments are toxic for the heart notably chemotherapy with anthracyclines, such as doxorubicin, or with trastuzumab (Herceptin). Radiation therapy can make anthracyclines even more cardiotoxic, as can the sequence of anthracylines followed by trastuzumab. The latter combination for metastatic breast cancer can cause severe heart failure in up to 27% of patients.”
Dr Ghigo’s research focuses on the enzyme phosphoinositide 3-kinase gamma (PI3Kɣ) which regulates heart function. She previously showed that inhibiting the activity of PI3Kɣ protected mice with hypertension from developing heart failure.“The mechanisms underlying heart failure induced by anticancer therapies are different to those underlying heart failure from other causes such as hypertension. For this reason there are no effective drugs on the market to prevent this new kind of heart failure. Our study shows that PI3Kɣ could be a novel way to prevent heart failure caused by cancer drugs while also helping to kill the tumor itself.”

Google wants to Cure Diseases

Google’s life science efforts have been headed up by Andrew Conrad, previously the chief scientific officer at LabCorp and the co-founder of the National Genetics Institute. He leads more than 150 scientists who come from fields as wide-ranging as astrophysics, theoretical math, and oncology. “Our central thesis was that there’s clearly something amiss in Western medicine.”Sam Gambhir, a professor of radiology, bioengineering, and materials science at Stanford University who has collaborated with Conrad since before Google Life Sciences was a formal division within Google X, says the division isn’t just playing around. Gambhir says projects on which he’s partnered with Google’s life sciences team include the use of nanotechnology to improve diagnostics as well as devices to continuously monitor biomarkers. Google unveiled a smart contact lens diabetics can use to read blood sugar levels through the tears in their eyes. Pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced that it would license the smart lens tech from Google, and the two companies are exploring other uses for the tech. Just this month, Google announced it was partnering with Dexcom, a glucose-monitoring company, to focus on making a continuous glucose monitor that’s cheaper, more convenient than current solutions, and disposable, the company said. Work on the molecular level include a cancer-detecting pill that pairs with a wristband, all part of what Google called its “nanoparticle platform.” Part of getting the wearable to work correctly included understanding how light passed through skin, which led Conrad and his team to make artificial human skin.

BBC broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire diagnosed with Breast Cancer

Broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire has announced that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The award-winning radio and TV journalist, 46, announced on Twitter on Wednesday evening that she would undergo a mastectomy as part of her treatment in the coming weeks and that she hoped to continue broadcasting her Victoria Derbyshire TV programme “as much as possible” while she recovered.
She joined BBC Radio Five Live in 1998, going on to co-present the breakfast show with Nicky Campbell before taking over the station’s mid-morning show. In April, she began presenting a new current affairs television show that the BBC flagged as a new centrepiece for their daytime scheduling, airing on both BBC2 and BBC News.
Derbyshire said friends, family and colleagues were offering support and the NHS staff looking after her “were being brilliant”.
Derbyshire, who has also presented Newsnight, won a speech broadcaster of the year award in 2014. Her talent has been widely praised, with BBC bosses saying they wanted the immediacy she brought to her radio show to translate to TV. A BBC
spokesman said: “We wish Victoria a full and speedy recovery & look forward to having her back full time as soon as possible.”

Cancer crowdsourcing initiative winners selected

The Myeloma Crowd Research Initiative (MCRI), an unprecedented collaboration of cancer researchers and patient advocates, today announced the two winners of its first-ever crowdsourcing and patient-led initiative to fund research in high-risk multiple myeloma, a rare malignancy of plasma cells. MCRI has pledged up to $500,000 over two years for both grants combined.

"High-risk myeloma should be one of the top priorities for myeloma researchers," said Dr. Rafael Fonseca of the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale and a member of the MCRI panel. "New and radically different treatment approaches are needed." The recipients are a team of researchers at the University of Wurzburg, Germany and the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore, who will study two different ways of modifying immune system cells in the blood and bone marrow to develop personalized immunotherapies for myeloma patients with the worst prognoses.Research by Drs. Hermann Einsele and Michael Hudecek in Wurzburg will genetically engineer receptors on a type of white blood cells, called CAR T-Cells, to attack two specific targets found on myeloma cells and not found on normal cells. The therapy developed would be a one-time treatment and not used with transplant or other combination therapies.

"CAR therapy is at the same time cell therapy, gene therapy, and immunotherapy," according to Dr. Michael Sadelain of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. "It represents a radical departure from all forms of medicine in existence until now."

The second recipient is Dr. Ivan Borrello of Johns Hopkins who is working on enhancing white blood cells to create a patient-specific immunotherapy. Using the patients' own bone marrow, he expands the immune fighting cells a hundredfold in the presence of the tumor cells and then gives them back to the patient after stem cell transplant. When given back to the patient, the "training" helps to T-Cells go after hundreds of tumor-specific signatures and takes advantage of the body's natural immune cell regrowth post-transplant.

"Current treatments are generally used to extend survival curves but typically don't access the possible benefits of our own immune system," said 20 year myeloma survivor Jack Aiello, a member of the MCRI selection team. "I'm excited about these two proposals providing myeloma patients with even better treatment options than we have today."

Amgen settles for $71 Million for misleading consumers

Pharmaceutical company Amgen Inc. has settled with 48 states and the District of Columbia for $71 million after being accused of illegally promoting two drugs for “off-label” uses, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Tuesday.
The pharmaceutical company was accused of promoting its two brands, Aranesp and Enbrel, for uses not approved by the FDA.
“Pharmaceutical companies are prohibited from making unapproved and unsubstantiated claims about prescription drugs,” Schneiderman said in a press release. “Consumers need to have confidence in the accuracy of claims made by pharmaceutical companies.”
Aranesp is an anemia medication that works by stimulating bone marrow production of red blood cells. Enbrel is used to treat multiple conditions, notably chronic and severe plaque psoriasis.
A complaint filed against Amgen said Aranesp was promoted for longer dosing frequencies and for cancer-caused anemia, for which it had neither FDA approval nor scientific proof. Enbrel was promoted for mild cases of plaque psoriasis, despite being only approved for severe cases; it was also advertised to be far more effective than scientifically shown, according to the complaint.

Current Brain Cancer treatments cause brain shrinkage

Researchers have found that radiation and chemotherapy may be shrinking patients’ brains, leading researchers to search for new methods to treat brain tumors.

The study, to be published in the Aug. 25 issue of the journal Neurology, is the first to examine the effects of radiation and chemotherapy on the healthy brain tissue of a brain tumor patient.

“It is well known that whole brain radiation can have adverse, neurotoxic effects and causes loss of brain volume in some individuals,” said Dr. Jorg Dietrich, senior author of the paper who works in the Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “This is the first prospective and longitudinal study to characterize structural brain changes resulting from standard radiation and chemotherapy in patients with malignant brain tumors. Further studies with neuropsychological evaluation will be needed to characterize the functional consequences of these structural changes.”

FDA pushes back decision on Cancer drug Opdivo

The Food and Drug Administration pushed back the decision date on an expanded use of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. ’s cancer drug Opdivo to Nov. 27, Bristol-Myers said Wednesday.
Bristol-Myers, which initially said a decision was expected by Aug. 27, said it had submitted additional clinical-trial data, which amounts to a “Major amendment” that requires additional time to review.
Opdivo, also known as Nivolumab, was first approved for sale in December to treat patients with advanced melanoma, a skin cancer. In March, the FDA extended the use to treat advanced lung cancer. The current indication under review would be for patients with previously untreated advanced melanoma.
Opdivo and its rivals work by interfering with a molecular brake known as PD-1 that prevents the body’s immune system from attacking tumors.

Medicare will pay more for an expensive New Cancer Drug

The Obama administration has decided that Medicare will pay for one of the newest, most expensive cancer medications, which costs about $178,000 for a standard course of treatment.

Patients, doctors, hospital executives and insurers have expressed concern about the high cost of prescription drugs, especially new cancer medicines and treatments tailored to the genetic characteristics of individual patients. Medicare officials recognized the cost and value of one such product, the anticancer drug Blincyto, by agreeing to make additional payments for it starting Oct. 1. The drug is made by Amgen for patients with a particularly aggressive form of leukemia.

The decision suggests a new willingness by Medicare to help pay for promising therapies that are still being evaluated. It is also significant because Medicare officials reversed themselves on every major scientific issue involved. After receiving pleas from Amgen and a dossier of scientific evidence, the officials agreed that the drug was a substantial improvement over existing treatments for some patients.

UK government to cut number of Cancer drugs

UK government officials are planning cuts to the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). The fund allocates money to purchase drugs for National Health Service (NHS) patients that have not been approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and are not normally obtainable on the NHS in England. Prime Minister David Cameron declared, “Other European countries are doing better than us at giving people longer, happier lives with cancer.
“We want to get more drugs to people more quickly and in the UK today there are some people, thousands of people, who want a certain cancer drug, whose doctors tell them they should have a certain cancer drug, who don’t get it.” Cameron promised to bring in a new system of “value-based pricing,” rather than one based purely on cost. It was supposed to increase the availability of new drugs, lower their cost and encourage the pharmaceutical industry to carry out research it would otherwise not have done.
Over 50,000 patients have benefited from the fund since 2011, half of them in 2014. It has become a vital lifeline for patients allowing them to obtain the latest drugs, particularly in cases of terminal cancer. However, due to entirely predictable rising demand, the CDF’s original annual budget of £200 million has risen to £340 million. The government now wants to reduce the list of 65 cancer drugs by 37 items, severely depleting the capacity of oncologists in the fight against cancer and affecting the survival rates of an estimated 10,500 cancer patients next year.

7-year-old opens lemonade stand to help mom fight Cancer

Luke Engelman takes his responsibilities as the oldest of 4 children seriously. He decided to go to work to help his mother battle cancer.
Luke is 7.
His mom, Lisa Engelman, was diagnosed with follicular non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2013. As Luke said, “It’s a kind of cancer that’s not easy to get rid of. It’s not that powerful but not easy to get rid of.” This type of cancer forms tumors in the lymph nodes and elsewhere in the body.
Medical definitions say follicular non-Hodgkins lymphoma accounts for about 20% of all non-Hodgkins lymphomas. “Patients with advanced-stage follicular lymphoma are not cured with current therapeutic options,” WebMd.com states.
So Luke decided to have a lemonade stand at their Tigard home to help raise money “to pay for the treatment in Mexico.”
Lisa was diagnosed just 4 months after she gave birth to her and husband Stephen’s 4th child in 2013. She’s already done chemo and it didn’t work, so she and her family are looking at natural healing treatments in Mexico.
Luke said he’s not going to stop doing what he can until his mom is healthy.

Newly discovered cells restore liver damage

The liver is unique among organs in its ability to regenerate after being damaged. Exactly how it repairs itself remained a mystery until recently, when researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health discovered a type of cell in mice essential to the process. The researchers also found similar cells in humans.
When healthy liver cells are depleted by long-term exposure to toxic chemicals, the newly discovered cells, known as hybrid hepatocytes, generate new tissue more efficiently than normal liver cells. Importantly, they divide and grow without causing cancer, which tends to be a risk with rapid cell division.
“This is the first time anyone has shown how liver cells safely regenerate,” said William Suk, Ph.D., director of the Superfund Research Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of NIH.

Stronger doses of Radiation over a shorter period for Breast Cancer patients

The studies found that breast cancer patients who were given higher doses of radiation over a shorter period of time, as compared to the conventional treatment schedule, were much less likely to complain of severe pain and fatigue afterwards. Even better, the shortened schedule appeared to be less acutely toxic for the patient and just as effective as the latter. Together, the two studies could signify a new approach to breast cancer treatment. In the more experimental of the two studies, the authors recruited 287 women over the age of 40 who were already meant to receive additional radiation therapy after they had their breast tumors removed via surgery. The women were randomly assigned to one of two treatment schedules: conventionally fractionated whole-breast irradiation (CF-WBI), which spaces out its doses over a longer period of time; and hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation (HF-WBI), which provides higher, quicker doses, both groups were similarly given a boost dose of radiation at the end to the area where the original tumor was located.The two groups of women were then measured for their toxicity levels and interviewed about their quality of life both immediately after the last treatment and six months later. At the time, only half of the HF-WBI group suffered from any effects of acute radiation toxicity, compared to around two-thirds of the CF-WBI group, including lower rates of skin inflammation (dermatitis), breast pain, and darkening skin. Six months later, though the physical side-effects of the treatments had balanced out, there was still a noticeable improvement seen in the HF-WBI group.
“Patients who received the shorter course reported less difficulty in caring for their families’ needs. This is a major priority for women undergoing breast cancer radiation,” said lead author Dr. Simona Shaitelman.

NICE plots takeover of England's Cancer Drugs Fund

England's Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) has been sliding down a slippery slope lately, dealing with budget overruns and backlash from drugmakers and patients unhappy with the fund's decision to ax certain meds from its list. Now, in light of these problems, the country's cost watchdogs are planning to take the reins and give the fund a much-needed makeover.
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will turn the CDF into a "managed access" fund for cancer drugs, setting out "clear entry and exit criteria" to determine which meds should be funded, according to a recent NHS England board meeting paper. Instead of simply rejecting a drug outright, like the CDF does now, NICE will give "conditional approval" to a med while it weighs evidence. At the end of a waiting period, the drug will go through a shortened approval process. A cancer med will either get a positive recommendation, moving into mainstream use, or a negative recommendation, which would restrict the drug to individual patients.
NHS England will release its plans for a new CDF model to the public in September 2015, it said in its board meeting paper. The current CDF fund is set to end in March 2016, and if everything goes accordingly, a new model should be in place by next April, it added.

NHS England Cancer treatment wait time target Missed

The waiting times for patients with breast symptoms, where cancer was not initially suspected, were below the standard, as 92.9% of patients were seen by a consultant within 14 days from an urgent GP referral. Charity Breast Cancer Care said the missed targets were "concerning".
Danni Manzi, head of policy and campaigns at the charity, said: "Waiting to find out if you have breast cancer can cause severe anxiety and distress, so it is very concerning that NHS waiting time targets have not been met.
"Although reassuring that the overall figure was just below the 93% target, this is down from 94.5% in May. Some 44 trusts missed the target, with the lowest performance at only 50%."
She added: "A delay in diagnosing breast cancer can adversely affect how successful treatment is, so we must address these inconsistencies in how quickly patients are seen across the country and ensure standards do not slip."
Data released by NHS England also showed that the target for beginning treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral for cancer was missed.
In 2010/11, 87% of patients were treated within 62 days, above the 85% target. But so far this year, the figure has fallen to 81.9%.

An international research team led by the University of Aberdeen, Wuhan University, China and University of Ghana, Legon, has discovered important new compounds found deep in Ghanaian soil which could unlock our understanding of a group of naturally-occurring chemicals known to have cancer-fighting properties.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-08-team-cancer-fighting-compounds.html#jCp The waiting times for patients with breast symptoms - where cancer was not initially suspected - were below the standard, as 92.9% of patients were seen by a consultant within 14 days from an urgent GP referral.

• Share
  • 
    
  • 
    
  • 
    
  • 
    
• Go To
  • 
    

Charity Breast Cancer Care said the missed targets were "concerning".
Danni Manzi, head of policy and campaigns at the charity, said: "Waiting to find out if you have breast cancer can cause severe anxiety and distress, so it is very concerning that NHS waiting time targets have not been met.
"Although reassuring that the overall figure was just below the 93% target, this is down from 94.5% in May. Some 44 trusts missed the target, with the lowest performance at only 50%."
She added: "A delay in diagnosing breast cancer can adversely affect how successful treatment is, so we must address these inconsistencies in how quickly patients are seen across the country and ensure standards do not slip."
Data released by NHS England also showed that the target for beginning treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral for cancer was missed.
In 2010/11, 87% of patients were treated within 62 days, above the 85% target. But so far this year, the figure has fallen to 81.9%.

Nascent Biotech readies for Clinical Trials

Nascent Biotech, Inc.has raised $2.1 million which has been used to advance the development of their core product, Pritumumab, for eventual filing of an Investigation New Drug exemption (IND).  Pritumumab is a human monoclonal antibody that is being developed for the treatment of malignant and non malignant Gliomas.  One of the biggest challenges in the development of any antibody product is to show that it can be manufactured at appropriate scale, to clinical grade and in sufficient quantity for human trials.  "We have completed this and manufactured more than enough product to complete our initial Phase 1/Phase 2 human trials on Brain Cancer with more than adequate amounts left over to initiate trials in other epithelial cancers such as colon and pancreas." 

Advaxis Inc has research in works for Prostate Cancer

Advaxis, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing cancer immunotherapies, last week announced two research projects involving the company's Lm Technology(TM) immunotherapy candidate ADXS-PSA, which is being developed for Prostate Cancer, have been selected as 2015 Movember Foundation-PCF Challenge Awards, sponsored by the Movember Foundation and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF). Grants amounting to $1 million each have been awarded to two ADXS-PSA teams conducting innovative large-scale research projects concerning metastatic, treatment-resistant prostate cancer, an advanced form of the disease with often-lethal outcomes.

What's next for former President Jimmy Carter

Surgery, drugs, radiation, comfort care. What's next for Jimmy Carter depends on how widely his cancer has spread and where, and how aggressively the 90-year-old former president wants to fight it.
Carter said Wednesday that surgery on Aug. 3 to remove a mass in his liver revealed cancer that had spread to other parts of his body. He did not say whether the cancer started in his liver, or even if the origin is known. His father, brother and two sisters died of pancreatic cancer, and his mother had it, too.
"There is clearly a family history of cancer, but we don't know if that plays a role in his current situation," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body," Carter said in the statement. "I will be rearranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment by physicians at Emory Healthcare."

Stem cells cause and can cure Cancer?

Finding out what causes that genetic mutation has been the holy grail of medical science for decades. Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology believe they may have found one of the reasons why these genes mutate and it all has to do with how stem cells talk to each other.The landmark studies by Texas A&M researchers Fen Wang, Ph.D., and Wallace McKeehan, Ph.D.,  studied a family of proteins that communicate between cells called fibroblast growth factor (FGF). This new research shows that errors in the way FGF is transmitted and received by cells can activate previously dormant stem cells in an organ, which can cause cancer.
"FGF is truly the Cinderella of cancer research. For decades it has been overlooked by big pharmaceutical companies because its role in cells is so complex. Now that we are starting to understand it, everyone is rushing to pay attention to the new star," said Wang, director of the Texas A&M Center for Cancer and Stem Cell Biology. Nearly every cell in the body expresses the FGF protein, but there are 22 different types, so researchers have struggled to understand their role in cell communication. Until recently it has been a mystery as to how one of the 22 different types of FGF were sent out by cell expressers and taken in by cell receivers.
Recent research has shown that FGF appears to play a major role in breast and prostate cancer, which is why the duo decided to focus on the protein's role. Wang and McKeehan discovered the specific pathways FGF uses to activate stem cells or to keep them dormant. This discovery has major implications for future cancer therapies."Current cancer therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation only target actively proliferating cancer cells," Wang explained. "If we can control how cancerous stem cells remain dormant and how they are activated, we can cure cancer. The research is still in the very early stages but we have hope."

Tell-tale biomarker detects early Breast Cancer

Researchers have shown that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect the earliest signs of breast cancer recurrence and fast-growing tumors. Their approach detects micromestastases, breakaway tumor cells with the potential to develop into dangerous secondary breast cancer tumors elsewhere in the body. The approach may offer an improved way to detect early recurrence of breast cancer in women and men. The work was completed at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland and was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health.

"MRI has a wide array of diagnostic applications and shows promise in breast cancer detection and treatment monitoring," said Richard Conroy, Ph.D., director of NIBIB Division of Applied Science and Technology. "The technique used by researchers in this study enables very early detection of metastatic spread, which would allow adaptation of treatment more quickly and hopefully lead to better outcomes in the future." Dr. Lu's team used a biochemical approach combined with MRI to detect molecular changes that signal micrometastases. To detect micromestastases, Lu and his team used MRI imaging, which uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images and combined it with a special chemical contrast solution. The contrast solution that the team developed contains a short piece of protein, or peptide, tagged with a minuscule magnet. They chose the peptide, a chain of just five amino acids,for its inclination to bind to protein matrix structures around cancer cells.

Radiation costs vary among Medicare Cancer patients

Cost of radiation therapy among Medicare patients varied most widely because of factors unrelated to a patient or that person's cancer, report University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers in the Journal of Oncology Practice. Year of diagnosis, location of treatment, clinic type and individual radiation provider accounted for 44 to 61 percent of the variation in cost for patients with breast, lung and prostate cancer therapies, according to the study published August 11 online. Factors associated with the patient or patient's tumor accounted for less than 3 percent of the variation in the cost of radiation therapy.
"We found that variability in Medicare reimbursement for radiotherapy does not depend on individual characteristics of patients or their cancers," said James Murphy, MD, assistant professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and radiation therapist at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health. "Rather, reimbursement was tied to the provider, geography and technology used to treat patients. This strongly suggests inefficiency within the current Medicare reimbursement framework for radiation therapy." Up to two-thirds of patients with cancer receive radiation therapy. Researchers focused on breast, prostate and lung cancers because they represent the most common malignancies treated with radiotherapy.
The cost of radiation therapy was estimated from Medicare reimbursements for outpatient radiation treatment. The total cost of radiation therapy for the 55,288 patients in the study was estimated to be more than $831 million.

Hope for Leukemia Cure

The discovery breaks brand new ground in the search for a cure for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) the most common adult leukemia in the developed world. It affects B cells,white blood cells that in healthy people are responsible for producing antibodies to fight off infections. Most CLL patients die of other diseases because their bodies can no longer protect itself against them.
Lead researcher Professor Fabienne Mackay, from the Department of Immunology, said current leukemia treatments involve killing all B cells, both cancerous and healthy, leaving patients even more vulnerable to secondary infections than they were due to the cancer.
"It turns out that cancer cells are very good at sabotaging the immune system, using various tricks that confuse immune cells and 'smoke screens' preventing immune cells from recognizing the cancer," said Professor Mackay. B cells rely on a particular protein, called 'B cell Activating Factor of the TNF Family', or 'BAFF' to survive. Each B cell has three different kinds of receptor that detect the presence of BAFF in the blood, called TACI, BAFF-R and BCMA.
Researchers discovered that in CLL patients, the TACI receptors of cancerous B cells over-produce a protein called Interleukin-10 (IL-10), which tricks the immune system into thinking nothing is wrong with the body, allowing the cancer to thrive undetected."We found that when the receptor called TACI was blocked, it prevented the secretion of IL-10 without eliminating normal B cells," said Professor Mackay."Without IL-10, the tumor can no longer keep the immune system at bay, which means the patient's immune system can be 'kick-started' again to fight infections and cancers.
This is very exciting, because it means that the B cells stay alive and well to do their job in the immune system fighting other infections. It also means the over production of IL-10 is stopped, and the CLL tumour cells are now exposed to immune cells specialized in fighting cancers," Professor Mackay said.

New 'Sticky' Microgel could revolutionize Bladder Cancer Treatment

Researchers at the University of Reading have designed a new super-efficient way of delivering an anti-cancer drug which could extend and improve the quality of life for bladder cancer patients and perhaps save lives. The team developed a unique microgel that is potentially eight times ‘stickier' than conventional methods keeping the drug in the bladder for longer. The microgel can also release the drug in a more controlled manner, and for a longer period of time, than alternative delivery methods.  This could mean fewer uncomfortable hospital appointments for patients while increasing their chances of recovery.
About 10,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer every year in the UK which affects mostly people aged 50 and over. With around 50 percent of patients succumbing to the disease, bladder cancer is one of the more deadly forms.
However there has been very little progress in bladder cancer therapy since the 1980s. Anti-cancer drugs, such as Doxorubicin, are effective but there is an urgent need to make them more efficient. The location of the cancer means that much of the drug is lost through the washout effect with urine.

Cancer treatment models get real

Researchers at Rice Univ. and Univ. of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a way to mimic the conditions under which cancer tumors grow in bones.
By placing cancer cells in a 3-D scaffold and subjecting them to the forces that push, pull and continually flow through the body, the researchers are better able to test the efficiency of cancer-fighting drugs.
The scientists discovered that bone tumors exposed to normal forces express more of a protein, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), than detected in static cultures. The IGF-1 signaling pathway plays a critical role in resistance to current chemotherapy. The experiments were performed in a custom-made bioreactor by the Rice lab of bioengineer Antonios Mikos in collaboration with the MD Anderson lab of Joseph Ludwig.
“Mechanical forces are present in our bodies even though we are not always aware of them,” he said. “Our cells are sensitive to the forces around them and change their behavior accordingly. Tumor cells behave the same way, changing their function depending on the forces they sense.”

Black men much more likely to get Prostate Cancer

A new study published in the journal BMC Medicine reports that black men are twice as likely to suffer from prostate cancer than their white counterparts.
This finding comes in the wake of large breakthrough where researchers managed to split prostate cancer into five different types. Such a split has allowed researchers to find out more information on the disease, which could make finding future treatments much easier. Apart of that new understanding is also grasping just how prostate cancer grows, the best way to combat each type and, of course, who is the most likely to contract it.
Data from the study showed that 29.3 percent of black males were susceptible to prostate cancer compared to just 13.3 percent of white men. This information is very important, as it will give researchers new information to go on, and allow them more ways to try and understand who is at greater risk for the disease. Black and white men were at the forefront, with Asian men having the lowest risk for the disease at a mere 7.9 percent.

CMU developes "intelligent" training tool to treat Prostate Cancer

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new approach to improve training for cryosurgery, a procedure used to treat prostate cancer by freezing and destroying the diseased tissues. The new approach will shorten the learning curve and improve the quality of the minimally invasive treatment by reducing complications, shortening recovery times and lowering health care costs.

Yoed Rabin, a professor of mechanical engineering and a board member of the American College of Cryosurgery, has led the development of this first computerized training tool. This intelligent training tool provides feedback to the trainee and offers advice on how to maximize the freezing of cancer tumors while preserving the healthy tissues surrounding the site.

The computerized system, which runs about 100 times faster than the actual cryosurgery procedure, uses novel algorithms to create 3-D thermal images of tumors in patients in a variety of scenarios. This allows the trainees to see firsthand the effects of the tissue they are freezing. "Cryogenic technology today is far more advanced than the surgical treatment methods used by surgeons," Rabin explained. "As engineers and surgeons collaborate, we can improve the quality of the applied methods and advance the widespread use of cryotherapy."
 

PCA3 test now offered at Dr. Samadi's Prostate Cancer Center

Dr. David Samadi's Prostate Cancer Center is now offering the PCA3 test for prostate cancer screening.

The PCA3 test is a simple urine sample collected following a digital rectal exam for the determination of the PCA3 score. Specific for prostate cancer, and, unlike the PSA, this test is not affected by prostate enlargement or other non-cancerous prostate conditions. In combination with PSA and DRE results, the PCA3 score provides useful information to help decide if a biopsy is needed, or can be delayed. It's much more specific in giving additional information about the aggressiveness of the cancer if the patient has a positive biopsy.

"This new genetic test is a great next step for some men with an elevated PSA. The purpose of this tumor marker test is to reduce unnecessary biopsies. Not every elevated PSA translates to the need for a biopsy. The PCA3 test was specifically developed to address the criticisms of the PSA being non-specific to prostate cancer. Combined with the PSA and DRE, this new genetic test helps lead to a more optimized decision to perform the biopsy," stressed Dr. David Samadi, Chairman of Urology and Chief of Robotic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

The PCA3 test is not meant to replace the PSA test. It is simply an additional tool used to provide a more accurate picture and prediction of whether prostate cancer is present or not.

Two-drug combination boosts survival in metastatic Prostate Cancer

Newly diagnosed patients with metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer gained a dramatic survival benefit when started on two drugs simultaneously, rather than delaying the second drug until the cancer began to worsen, according to results of a clinical trial led by a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientist. Patients who underwent six cycles of treatment with the chemotherapy drug Docetaxel along with a hormone blocker survived for a median of 57.6 months, more than a year longer than the median 44-month survival for men who received only the hormone-blocker.
The multi-center, phase III trial, involving 790 patients, "is the first to identify a strategy that prolongs survival in men newly diagnosed with metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer," said Christopher J. Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber.
It has been standard practice for decades to treat this group of prostate cancer patients with hormone blockers, withholding chemotherapy until the hormone blockers become ineffective, which they do, on average, in about three years.

Implantable biosensor could monitor progress of cancer therapy

To monitor a cancer's response to treatment, doctors currently rely on the results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other scanning technologies, plus tissue analysis of biopsies.
But these methods can only offer a snapshot that is already history by the time the results are analyzed. Also, in the case of biopsies, there is a limit to how many times you can invade the body with a risky procedure to take a sample.
Now researchers from MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research have developed an implantable device that promises to provide readings about the state of a tumor
as it happens. Such a device would give doctors a chance to change therapy dosing, and potentially reduce unnecessary side effects.
One of the developers, Michael Cima, a professor in engineering and senior author of the study, says:
"We wanted to make a device that would give us a chemical signal about what's happening in the tumor. Rather than waiting months to see if the tumor is shrinking, you could get an early read to see if you're moving in the right direction."

New approach to decades old treatment yields increased Survival

For more than 60 years, the standard of care for patients with prostate cancer fueled by androgen hormones that has spread to other parts of the body has been androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). While the response rate is high, resistance to ADT often occurs. Generally, when ADT is no longer working, chemotherapy is administered for these patients. Research coordinated by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, supported in part by the National Cancer Institute, and published in the current online version of The New England Journal of Medicine, examined the outcomes of giving the chemotherapy drug Docetaxel at the start of ADT. Results showed an increased survival of 13.6 months for patients treated with ADT plus docetaxel than with ADT alone.

Marijuana,Mary Jane,Weed good for the bones

The compound cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD), which is a nonhallucinogenic chemical in marijuana plants, helps heal bone fractures, the research finds. The study was done in rats, but rodents have proven to be useful models for human bone treatments in the past, said Yankel Gabet, a bone researcher at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine.
"All the current clinical treatments for osteoporosis have been successfully tested in rodents prior to clinical settings," Gabet wrote in an email to Live Science. "While there is no certainty, these findings hold promise for the potential clinical applicability of using CBD for fracture healing in humans."
Marijuana produces its effects by triggering the receptors that respond to compounds called endocannabinoids, cannabislike molecules that the body synthesizes naturally. In the brain, pot acts on these receptors to cause mind-altering effects. But cannabinoid receptors are found all over the body, leading some researchers to think that pot compounds might have medical applications beyond helping cancer patients regain their appetites or get relief from pain.

Oasmia Pharmaceutical announces positive top-line results for Paclical

Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB, a developer of a new generation of drugs within human and veterinary oncology, announced today the topline findings from a head-to-head comparison study of its lead human cancer product Paclical and Celgene's Abraxane ,which show similar pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles. The study was conducted in women with metastatic breast cancer. 
"We believe our technology is superior to that of Abraxane because it increases the solubility of paclitaxel in water," commented Margareta Eriksson, Vice President of Clinical Development at Oasmia Pharmaceutical. "The benefits of using our treatment over those currently available on the market are simple: Paclical enables higher doses, shortens infusion time, eliminates the need for pre-medication and improves the safety profile for patients."

New Cancer drug cocktails testing limits of Cancer Drug pricing

New cancer drug cocktails set to reach the market in the next few years will test the limits of premium pricing for life-saving medicines, forcing company executives to consider fresh market strategies.
The growing reluctance of governments and private insurers to fund very expensive drugs, even remarkably effective ones, points to a showdown as manufacturers mix and match therapies that harness the immune system to fight tumors.Several companies acknowledge discounts will be needed when drugs costing more than $100,000 each are combined. That could give firms with multiple products in-house an edge over those having to negotiate pricing arrangements with partners.
Dozens of new cancer combinations will be launched over the next few years, with ones for lung cancer, melanoma and other solid tumors taking off strongly after 2018, drug company pipelines suggest.
Pricey immunotherapies, offering long-lasting responses, are already starting to change practice, as doctors use so-called checkpoint inhibitors like Merck's Keytruda and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo in melanoma and lung cancer.

Five subtypes of Prostate Cancer identified

Through genomic profiling of 259 men with prostate cancer, scientists have identified five groups of prostate cancer with distinct DNA signatures. The discovery represents a major advance as researchers can now begin trying to tailor therapies to those subtypes. The approach has worked well in breast cancer and helped millions avoid the unnecessary cost, pain and time spent on treatments that are destined to fail.
The prostate cancer study, reported in EBioMedicine, used samples from 482 tumors from those men, who were part of studies in Cambridge, Britain, and Stockholm. The scientists identified 100 genes associated with prostate cancer, including 94 that had not been previously associated with the disease.
Most importantly, they found that a small subset of the 100 genes predicted poor prognosis better than any other method that had been used in a clinic setting.
"For the first time in prostate cancer this study demonstrates the importance of integrated genomic analyses incorporating both benign and tumor tissue data in identifying molecular alterations leading to the generation of robust gene sets that are predictive of clinical outcome in independent patient cohorts," the researchers wrote.

Why a new treatment is resisted by Lung Cancer

A promising agent for the treatment of cancer has so far had little effect on the most common lung tumors, but new research from the University of Manchester has suggested how this resistance might be overcome. The research team examined factors which mean that the most common type of lung cancer, itself the most common cause of cancer deaths, is resistant to a cytokine called TRAIL that causes cell death in many other types of tumor. The researchers found that in non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for around 85 percent of cases, a small RNA molecule called miR-148a is suppressed in TRAIL resistant cells, but that when used together, miR-148a sensitizes tumor cells to TRAIL and results in the tumor shrinking.
Dr Michela Garofalo, from the CRUK Manchester Institute led the research. She said: "Discovering a potential reason why TRAIL is resisted by lung cancer could lead us to new treatments for this particularly deadly form of the disease. "miR-148a certainly seems to play a role in this resistance, so it's an avenue to explore alongside other factors which influence how the tumours respond to treatment." In related research also published in PNAS, Dr Garofalo's team discovered another mechanism which makes tumors resistant to TRAIL. NF-κB is a protein which TRAIL itself increases the supply of in resistant lung tumors. By supressing it in cells they found that TRAIL became much more effective at causing tumor cells to die. "TRAIL is currently in clinical trials for other cancer types," added Dr Garofalo. "But little is known about why non-small cell lung cancer is so resistant. These findings begin to shed light on those unique reasons, and suggest that by inhibiting the factors that cause resistance, TRAIL might become a useful treatment."

Pancreatic Cancer urine test hope

The scientists from the UK and Spain who developed the test hope that if its early promise is realized then it could be possible to diagnose patients much earlier and offer them treatment.
The research looked at almost 500 urine samples. Just under 200 were from patients with pancreatic cancer, 92 from patients with chronic pancreatitis and 87 from healthy volunteers.
The rest of the samples were from patients with benign and cancerous liver and gall bladder conditions. Out of 1,500 proteins found in the urine samples, three - LYVE1, REG1A and TFF1 - were seen to be at much higher levels in the pancreatic cancer patients, providing a "protein signature" that could identify the most common form of the disease.
The signature was found to be 90% accurate.
The Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund said this was "an exciting finding" and that an early diagnostic test was "much needed".
Fiona Osgun, of Cancer Research UK, said: "At the moment, we're a long way from knowing if this research could lead to a test that would help detect pancreatic cancer at an early stage, or who that test might benefit.
"But research like this is vital as there's been little progress in improving survival for pancreatic cancer, and innovative approaches are needed."

Effective Ovarian Cancer Treatment is underused

Fewer than half of ovarian cancer patients at American hospitals receive the type of treatment that has long been known to prolong survival the most, doctors reported on Monday.

The treatment involves pumping chemotherapy directly into the abdomen. In 2006, a major study found that compared with intravenous chemotherapy alone, a combination of intravenous and abdominal treatment could add 16 months or more to women’s lives.

But nearly 10 years later, the abdominal treatment is still underused. Experts suggest a variety of reasons: It is harder to administer than intravenous therapy, and some doctors may doubt its benefits or think it is too toxic. Some may also see it as a drain on their income, because it is time-consuming and uses generic drugs on which oncologists make little money.

“It’s very unfortunate, but it’s the real world,” said Dr. Maurie Markman, the president of medicine and science at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. He added, “The word ‘tragic’ would be fair.”

He said that for now, a woman’s best option is to ask whether her doctor offers the treatment, and if the answer is no, to find a doctor who does!!