Google DeepMind is going to try and help the NHS Cancer

DeepMind, a Google-owned AI research lab in London, has announced its plans to explore whether its technology can be used to help the NHS treat head and neck cancers.
Through a new partnership with University College London Hospital, the company's third with an NHS organization, Google DeepMind will aim to establish whether machine learning techniques could reduce the amount of time it takes to plan radiotherapy treatment for such cancers
Treating cancers that are found in the head and neck with readiotherapy requires a great deal of precision. Clinicians must "segment" the tumor from healthy tissue and feed this information into a radiotherapy machine which then kills off the harmful cells.
Producing these detailed outlines can take clinicians up to four hours but Google DeepMind thinks that this time could be slashed to around an hour.

Gene tests identify Breast Cancer patients who can skip Chemo

A new study helps answer that question, based on a test of gene activity in tumors. It found that nearly half of women with early-stage breast cancer who would traditionally receive chemo can avoid it, with little risk of the cancer coming back or spreading in the next five years.

The so-called genomic test measures the activity of genes that control the growth and spread of cancer, and can identify women with a low risk of recurrence and therefore little to gain from chemo.

“More and more evidence is mounting that there is a substantial number of women with breast cancer who will not need chemotherapy to do well,” said Dr. Rachel A. Freedman, a breast cancer oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

A decade of obesity raises your Cancer risk

The longer a woman is overweight or obese, the more her risk of cancer may increase along with the time.

A new longitudinal study on postmenopausal women, published in the journal PLOS Medicine on Tuesday, reveals that the duration of having a high body mass index is linked to a higher risk of developing several types of cancer, from breast to endometrial.

It's the first study to explore the relationship between overweight duration and cancer risk in a large cohort of women, said Melina Arnold, a scientist at the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer and lead author of the study.

"Given the result from previous studies supporting the overall link between obesity and cancer, our results are in line with what we know about this relationship," Arnold said. "Yet it adds to current scientific evidence by suggesting that there seems to be a cumulative effect of obesity on cancer risk."

New Lupus Treatment

Sometimes in medicine, a drug originally created to serve one purpose finds success in treating another condition. Such is the case in a recent study which found that a drug originally developed to boost the immune system in cancer patients is now showing promise as a potential treatment for lupus, a serious autoimmune disease where the body attacks its own organs and tissues.
Using much smaller doses of a natural immune system protein called IL-2 than needed to treat cancer patients, researchers saw that the drug was able to restore balance to the overactive immune system of lupus patients. IL-2 proved to be both safe and effective and could be involved in clinical trials for lupus treatment very soon.
For the study, IL-2 was given to people whose lupus wasn’t responding well to standard treatments. The drug was able to calm the patients’ hyperactive immune systems “through multiple mechanisms,” Professor Eric Morand, co-author of the study, explained.

Outdated assessment of treatment response makes good Cancer drugs look bad

Tumor shrinkage is not the only measure of a successful anti-cancer therapy. A University of Colorado Cancer Center article published in the journal Frontiers in Oncology describes a promising alternative: metabolic imaging. Tumors rush their metabolism to grow and proliferate. By recognizing a drug's ability to stop this energy overuse, doctors may be able to determine a patient's response to a new, targeted therapy far earlier and with far more precision than watching and waiting for a tumor to shrink.
"What we have been using for decades is called RECIST - it measures the dimensions of a tumor and it does a good job of showing a patient's response to chemotherapy and radiation. These therapies (called cytotoxic) kill cells and so if they are working, we see the tumor shrink," says Natalie Serkova, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
However, many modern targeted therapies do not immediately kill cancer cells. Instead, they interrupt a cancer cell's ability to grow and proliferate, often by immediate cessation of metabolic rates. Eventually these cells "interrupted" by targeted therapies die, but cell death and tumor shrinkage are not immediate, direct markers of a therapy's usefulness. Serkova points out that a recent article published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that 15 percent of patients who are taken off clinical trials due to perceived lack of response to a trial medication aren't in fact non-responders - the drug may be working for these people in a way that is not captured by RECIST.
One possible solution is to image a tumor's metabolic rate, such as glucose uptake. "Cancer are gluttons for glucose," Eckhardt says, meaning that in order to drive their growth, cancers burn glucose at many times the rate of healthy cells. Drugs including anti-EGFR therapies stop cancer cells' ability to over-use glucose.
"These new therapies stop a cancer cell's glucose uptake within 24 hours after the first dose, but changes in tumor volume happen months later," Eckhardt says. Is the drug working? Watching for changes in a tumor's use of glucose could answer this question months earlier than current RECIST criteria.

Bristol-Myers drug fails Lung Cancer study

A blockbuster cancer treatment failed in a key study as the drug's maker, Bristol-Myers Squibb, attempts to extend its usage for lung cancer patients.

Shares of the New York company plunged 16 percent Friday, its biggest one-day drop in 14 years. Shares of rival Merck & Co., which makes a rival cancer drug, spiked 10 percent to reach an 18-year high.

Bristol's drug, Opdivo, and Merck's drug Keytruda are immunotherapies, which bolster the immune system so that patients can better fight cancer. Both drugs are already approved to treat melanoma and lung cancer, but only after chemotherapy.

In June, Merck reported positive results from a key study focusing on Keytruda as a lone treatment for lung cancer. The negative results from Bristol appear to put Merck in the lead for treating cancer patients without resorting to chemotherapy and its drastic side effects.

The latest late-stage study for Opdivo involved 541 patients who had received no prior treatment for lung cancer.

CVS cuts coverage of Cancer drugs in exclusion expansion

CVS Health Corp. will add 35 products to its lists of excluded drugs in 2017 and no longer cover some treatments for cancer and diabetes, in an aggressive move to favor lower-priced treatments and target what the company called “hyperinflation” of some other products.
The drug benefit manager will remove coverage for Novartis AG’s leukemia treatment Tasigna, Medivation Inc.’s prostate cancer drug Xtandi, and Sanofi’s insulin Lantus, expanding the company’s strategy of excluding expensive products when alternatives are available. The total number of excluded drugs for 2017 will be 131, spokeswoman Carolyn Castel said Tuesday.
It’s the first time that brand-name cancer drugs have been taken off CVS’s standard formula.
Cancer has been one area where pharmacy benefit managers have been reluctant to push exclusions. Yet the rise in prices for pills to treat forms of the disease, combined with the availability of good alternatives, drove CVS to remove some brand-name medications for the first time.

The 2016 Cancer Drugs Fund in England

A ‘new’ version of the English Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) will come into force on July 29, 2016, later than the anticipated April 2016 start. This is the latest evolution of a fund that was first put forward in 2010.
The CDF pays for those cancer drugs that NICE says are not cost effective, or that NICE hasn’t looked at, or those that are in limbo, waiting for NICE’s recommendation.
Reading between the lines it’s clear that companies will need to discount, probably quite heavily, to achieve market access with the prospect of providing rebates too. In return, they’ll potentially get faster NICE appraisal and interim funding from the point of marketing authorization.
With no change to the threshold on cost effectiveness, £20,000 to £30,000 ($26,000-$40,000) cost per Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYS) in most cases, or up to £50,000 ($66,000) for end of life drugs  the discount required could be significant. (And as an aside, NICE has accepted drugs at a higher cost effectiveness threshold and it seems to have been brought down to the maximum of £50,000($66,000) cost per QALY).
Re-appraisal will likely take place in two years, or perhaps longer, depending on how long data needs to be collected for. Reflecting the fragmented nature of the NHS these days, the discussion for those companies given a maybe NICE recommendation also needs to be with NICE on what evidence will be good enough to inform their re-appraisal in future and Public Health England (PHE) who have the responsibility for the key dataset that is expected to be used, the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy dataset (SACT).

More accurate Prostate Cancer prognosis

Men diagnosed with prostate cancer can be provided with a more accurate estimate of their risk of death from the disease, and treatment planned accordingly, according to a Research Article published by Vincent J. Gnanapragasam, of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK and colleagues in PLOS Medicine.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting men, and the risk of disease progression and death is very variable when the disease is diagnosed while it is localized to the prostate gland. Providing as accurate an estimate as possible of the individual risk is important in planning appropriate treatment, which could range from surgery to management by regular observation, as well as in providing advice and support to patients.
Based on data from more than 10,000 UK men with prostate cancer, Gnanapragasam and colleagues developed a scheme in which men were grouped into 5 strata with different levels of risk of prostate cancer death, based on straightforward, routinely available, clinical measurements such as prostate specific antigen (PSA) level, disease stage, and tumor grade as judged by biopsy. In two large groups of men with prostate cancer analyzed separately, this scheme performed better in predicting the risk of cancer death compared to the current 3 risk strata system endorsed by most national and international guidelines.

UPDATE: Cuban researchers battle Lung Cancer with a Vaccine

It is called CIMAvax, and while CIM calls it a vaccine, it is important to note the drug does not prevent disease like a traditional vaccine, at least in its current form. It instead keeps diagnosed tumors in check by inhibiting their growth, acting more as a treatment. This is known as a therapeutic vaccine.

Rather than target the cancer cells directly, the vaccine acts as a form of immunotherapy, harnessing the body's own immune system to fight the cancer instead.

Other countries are participating in clinical trials for CIMAvax, including Japan and some in Europe. The United States is also interested. As the two countries continue to normalize relations after half a century of dispute, FDA clinical trials could start this year and will run in partnership with the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

A range of clinical trials have enabled the vaccine to be tested in 5000 patients worldwide, including 1000 in Cuba. In one small trial, patients younger than 60 lived on average 11 months longer than those who did not receive the vaccination.

New approach for treating Skin Cancer

University of California, Irvine molecular biologists and their colleagues have identified an effective way to combat metastatic melanoma. Led by Alexander D. Boiko, UCI assistant professor of molecular biology & biochemistry at the Ayala School of Biological Sciences and the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Center, the researchers discovered that blocking the cell surface protein, CD47 (known as a "don't eat me" signal), on melanoma cells, increased the degree by which these cells were phagocytosed, or "eaten," by macrophages. The team further discovered that blocking CD47 in combination with targeting a second cell surface protein, CD271, previously found to be expressed on melanoma initiating cells, resulted in virtually complete inhibition of metastases arising from human melanoma.

Prostate Cancer breakthrough

Prostate cancer patients have been offered hope after scientists at Newcastle University, UK, have identified a new group of molecules that could be targeted to slow tumor growth.

Experts used an advanced screening technique which found hundreds of genes were affected by the male hormone testosterone. It is believed this could lead to new diagnostic tests and treatments.
Among the 700 genes identified was an important set that add sugar groups, known as glycans, to the surface of prostate cancer cells. This group has never been investigated before.
Results of the research, published in EBioMedicine, suggest that testosterone changes glycans to make cancer cells more likely to survive, grow and spread to other parts of the body.
Scientists say there is the potential to target these glycans which could stop the growth and spread of tumors and save lives.
Dr Jennifer Munkley, Research Associate at the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University, co-led the three-year research project with Professor David Elliott.

New approach to Brain Cancer radiation

A new approach to brain radiation may spare critical thinking skills in thousands of patients with brain cancer.
Doctors often treat patients with brain lesions or metastases with whole brain radiation.
It can be effective, but can also lead to troubling short-term memory deficits.
Now doctors at Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte have found patients who got targeted radiation, pinpointing those brain lesions, have fewer memory problems and better quality of life.
Dr. Anthony Asher compared the outcomes of treating advanced cancer patients with whole brain radiation plus focused radiation versus only focused therapy.
The addition of whole brain radiation did not extend patient survival and actually had greater toxic effects on the brain.
“If we cannot extend survival, then we have to make sure that we are not worsening patients’ quality of life,” Dr. Asher says.

New gene therapy prevents muscle wasting associated with Cancer

Australian researchers have demonstrated a new gene therapy-based strategy that could be used to prevent the loss of muscle mass and physical strength associated with advanced cancer. Up to 80 per cent of patients with advanced cancer suffer from "cachexia", a condition of pronounced weight loss, frailty and fatigue, associated with severe wasting of muscle and fat. For these individuals, muscle wasting is a predictor of poor outcomes and reduced survival, as debilitating frailty leads to loss of independent movement, impaired respiratory function, and reduced tolerance for aggressive chemotherapy regimens.
By targeting the processes that take place inside the muscle cells themselves, researchers from Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Monash University, and The University of Melbourne have identified a way to treat the frailty of cachexia in a pre-clinical model without side-effect risks.
Taking advantage of the processes by which viruses introduce genetic material into cells, the team developed purpose-built "viral vectors"; tiny particles that deliver a therapeutic gene to muscles and the heart. Once inside the muscle and heart cells, the therapeutic gene produces a protein that prevents cachexia-causing factors in the blood stream from switching on the signalling responsible for muscle wasting. 

BRCA1 mutations in Breast, Ovarian Cancer can predict treatment resistance

This month, two studies in the JCI investigated the mechanisms underlying the treatment resistance associated with some BRCA1 mutations, and the findings provide information that may help predict which treatments will be effective in women with breast and ovarian cancer.
Neil Johnson's lab at the Fox Chase Cancer Center examined treatment resistance in breast cancer cells expressing the same BRCA1185delAG mutation and determined that the RING-deficient BRCA1 protein was also responsible for loss of sensitivity to certain types of cancer treatments.
These findings identify specific BRCA1 mutations that are more likely to develop therapy resistance, which may lead to more accurate predictions and personalized treatments for breast and ovarian cancers.

Higher dose, shorter radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer

A new treatment approach for prostate cancer with higher radiotherapy doses over a shorter time works as well as current methods, but with fewer side effects according to a study. Cancer Research UK says the NHS needs to plan for the new approach that will also save it money.
The trial is reported in the journal Lancet Oncology and followed more than 3,200 men who were treated for prostate cancer between 2002 and 2011 at more than 70 UK centers.
The current standard radiotherapy schedule is 37 doses of 2 Gray (a measure of radiation) a day. This was compared with two alternative approaches, 19 doses of 3 Gray per day, and 20 doses of 3 Gray per day.
Five years later, the 20-dose schedule was no less effective than the current system.
The good news for men having prostate cancer treatment was that fewer but higher doses of intensity-modulated radiotherapy meant half the rate of side-effects than older NHS methods.

Clinical trials show success for new Cancer Treatment

Patients with advanced bladder, head and neck cancer, and classical Hodgkin lymphoma were among those whose lives were extended by immunotherapy.
Unlike surgery, radio or chemo, immunotherapy doesn’t directly target cancer cells. Instead, it retrains the immune system, which finds pathogens but doesn’t see cancer cells, to fight them.
Some cancer cells, for instance, multiply aggressively because they produce a signal called PD-L1 which deactivates the immune cells around them. Immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors block that signal and free immune cells for the cancer-fighting cause.
In two trials of previously treated metastatic bladder cancer patients, the immunotherapy drugs atezolizumab (brand name Tecentriq), which was FDA approved last month, and nivolumab (brand name Opdivo), shrunk tumours by 30% in at least a fifth of patients.
On nivolumab, 45.6% of bladder cancer patients survived for at least a year, a follow-up study showed, “better than anything we’ve seen in the past”, according to oncologist Padmanee Sharma, who was involved in the trial.
Another checkpoint inhibitor called pembrolizumab (brand name Keytruda) was tested on heavily pre-treated patients with reoccurring or metastatic head and neck cancer.
In this study, 18% of 192 patients responded with either partial or full remission of tumours, and 65% of the responders continued to respond for 30 months. 

Brain Cancer treatment taps into sound waves

Brain cancer patients might benefit from an implantable ultrasound device that appears to enhance chemotherapy treatment. Researchers from the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris and other French institutions tested the experimental device on 15 patients with recurrent glioblastoma, a particularly deadly brain cancer. When the so-called SonoCloud was activated, sound waves opened the blood-brain barrier, letting in more chemotherapy. While this blood-brain barrier protects the brain from toxins, "it means a challenge for treating brain diseases and disorders, as 99 percent of potential therapeutic drugs are blocked by it." "This is significant," said Dr. Ekokobe Fonkem, a neuro-oncologist at Baylor Scott and White's Vasicek Cancer Treatment Center, in Temple, Texas. "One of the reasons glioblastoma, which is one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer, is very difficult to treat is because the blood-brain barrier prevents medications from getting across."

Tumor vaccine latest breakthrough in Cancer treatment

A step towards the revolutionary new cancer treatment has already been taken by researchers who tested it on three patients with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
In each case, strong immune responses against the cancer were seen, although the early stage trial was not designed to measure the treatment’s effectiveness.The approach involves taking the genetic instructions for a specific cancer protein, encoded in a molecule of RNA, and using it to stimulate the immune system.
The RNA triggers the kind of immune response normally employed to see off viruses,
only in this case, the targets are cancer cells.
The German research raises the possibility of a vaccine that can be tailored for any kind of cancer, or even new versions of a disease that evolve as it progresses within the same patient.
‘This nano-medicine platform may give a strong boost to the vaccine field, and the results of forthcoming clinical studies will be of great interest.’

Hope for patients with hard-to-treat Breast Cancer

The team from Oxford University and the University of Nottingham found that using a drug called JQ1 can alter how cancer cells respond to hypoxia, or low oxygen, found in more than 50 per cent of breast tumors overall and most commonly in triple negative breast cancer, the form of the disease that is hardest to treat.
JQ1 works by stopping cancer cells adapting to the lack of oxygen. The study results showed that JQ1 slowed tumor growth and limited the number of blood vessels that were produced.
The study explains how the family of drugs to which JQ1 belongs works. Although this group of drugs, called bromodomain and extraterminal inhibitors or BETI, has been used to treat cancer before, this study sheds light on the role these drugs could play in hypoxia, which could prove vital for patients with hard-to-treat breast cancers.

New compound shows potential for triple-negative Breast Cancer

Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified a promising new compound for targeting one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer.

The compound, currently called UM-164, goes after a kinase known to play a role in the growth and spread of triple-negative breast cancer. UM-164 blocks the kinase c-Src and inhibits another pathway, p38, involved in this subtype. The researchers also found that the compound had very few side effects in mice.
"Triple-negative breast cancer is in dire need of new drugs. The treatments that have dramatically improved breast cancer outcomes don't apply to patients with this type of disease," says senior study author Sofia Merajver, M.D., Ph.D., scientific director of the breast oncology program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The U-M team took a different approach. While other c-Src inhibitors merely try to block the kinase, UM-164 binds to it and forces the kinase to turn off. Results of their study are published in Clinical Cancer Research.
"The reason our compound works is that we have a novel mechanism for binding the kinase. It has a response similar to removing the protein entirely from the cell, as opposed to only inhibiting the activity," says senior study author Matthew B. Soellner, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Michigan.

Two companies to pay MassHealth $200k for misleading marketing of Cancer drug

Two pharmaceutical companies pay more than $200,000 to the state’s Medicaid program, settling claims they provided misleading marketing to physicians and health care providers about the effectiveness of a lung cancer drug, according to Attorney General Maura Healey’s office.
Genentech and OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was converted to a Delaware limited liability company, OSI Pharmaceuticals, LLC in 2011, manufactured, distributed, and marketed the drug Tarceva from 2006-2011.
The drug, which treats non-small cell lung cancer, was allegedly marketed and promoted to be effective in treating patients who were current or former smokers, according to the AG’s office. The treatment was not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nor was there evidence by the company to support these claims, the AG’s office said.

New drug to fight Aggressive Bladder Cancer

A new drug that harnesses the immune system to attack tumors is highly effective against advanced bladder cancer, according to the results of an international clinical trial. Injections of the experimental agent Atezolizumab were found to shrink tumors by at least 30 percent and stall new tumor growth in 28 of 119 (or 24 percent of) patients. All had received the medication as their initial therapy for the disease. Part of a new class of drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors, atezolizumab, also known by its brand name, Tecentriq, was last month approved by the Food and Drug Administration based on recent research from a related clinical trial presented in 2015. "Our new study results argue that atezolizumab represents a major advance in the treatment of bladder cancer," says lead study investigator and medical oncologist Arjun Balar, MD, an assistant professor at NYU Langone Medical Center.
"Atezolizumab is the first therapy to be approved in more three decades for this disease, and it is the new standard of care for patients whose initial therapy with platinum-based chemotherapy drugs has failed," says Balar. "Indeed, it may be the only therapy some patients need."

Antibody-based therapy shows promise against Stomach Cancer

An experimental therapy based on immune-system antibodies is helping some people with advanced stomach cancer live longer, a new study finds.
The phase 2 clinical trial, involving 161 patients, focused on an antibody called IMAB362.
The median survival of people using the treatment plus standard chemotherapy was more than 13 months, compared with 8.4 months for those who received chemotherapy alone, the researchers reported. One specialist in gastric (stomach) cancer care believes therapeutic advances are sorely needed.
“Metastatic gastric cancer carries a poor prognosis and the treatment effectiveness of current chemotherapeutic agents leave a lot to be desired,” said Dr. David Bernstein, chief of hepatology at Northwell Health in Manhasset, N.Y.
The IMAB362 antibody employed in this new treatment targets a protein on cancer cells called claudin 18.2. German researchers found that study patients who had the highest levels of this protein in tumors prior to receiving the new treatment had an even longer median overall survival, at almost 17 months. IMAB362 is the first antibody to target claudin 18.2, which is also found in a number of other cancers, including pancreatic, lung, esophageal and ovarian tumors. Because of this, the same research team said it plans a phase 2 study of IMAB362 in patients with pancreatic cancers.
According to the researchers, a larger, phase 3 study in stomach cancer patients is scheduled to begin in early 2017.

Promising treatment for invasive Breast Cancer

Various antibodies such as trastuzumab and pertuzumab, which recognize the HER2 receptor, have been used in breast cancer therapy for many years now. However, these antibodies do not kill off the cancer cells. Instead, they render them dormant, and the cancer cells can become active again at any time.
The team led by Andreas Plückthun, Director of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Zurich, involving postdoc Rastik Tamaskovic and PhD student Martin Schwill, has now found out why these antibodies merely slow tumor growth rather than killing off the cancer cells. The receptor HER2 uses several signaling pathways at the same time to inform the cell that it should grow and divide. But the antibodies available thus far only block one of those signaling pathways, while the others remain active. The most important of these open paths leads through the central hub called RAS. "It is this protein that is responsible for reactivating the growth signal emitted by the HER2 receptor. The antibodies lose effect and the cancer cells continue to proliferate." This is how Andreas Plückthun explains the mechanism, which has been understood in detail for the first time.
The UZH scientists have now discovered an astonishingly effective solution to switch off all signals emanating from HER2 in the cancer cells at the same time. They have designed a protein compound that binds itself simultaneously to two HER2 receptors in a targeted manner and changes their spatial structure. This "receptor bending" prevents any growth signals from being transmitted into the cell interior, and the cancer cells die off. Another advantage is the very selective effect of the substance, which ensures that the cancer cells are killed off efficiently but healthy body cells remain unharmed.

Enzyme with high potential for new Cancer treatment

A team of researchers from the Biology department at the TU Darmstadt has identified an enzyme that separates DNA replication from repair. This discovery could be of tremendous significance in the treatment of tumors. Biologists at the TU Darmstadt under Prof. Dr. Markus Löbrich and Dr. Julian Spies have collaborated with their colleagues at the University of California in Davis and identified a protein kinase called Nek1 that promotes the repair of DNA double-strand breaks and separates this repair from replication. Nek1 switches on the motor protein Rad54 only after the completion of replication in order to finalize the repair process. This is of physiological relevance because during replication, Rad54 possesses additional functions at the replication fork, and premature activation of Rad54 results in a major disturbance of the replication process. This discovery has a very high potential for use in the development of entirely new kinds of cancer treatments. Finding inhibitors that block the function of Nek1 would lead to a loss in the repair function. Tumor cells in particular would suffer from this loss of function in Nek1, since they experience a tremendous amount of DNA damage during their uncontrolled growth. The scientists suspect that the inhibition of Nek1 could be associated with an accumulation of unrepaired DNA damage in these cells that could cause the tumor cells to die. The team of researchers plans to continue to investigate these assumptions over the coming years.

'Trojan horse' Cancer-fighting injection sparks hope in human trials

German researchers presented a “Trojan horse” method of attacking cancer, sneaking virus impersonators into the human body which prompt an immune response that attacks tumors.
Tested in only three people so far, the treatment claims to be the latest advance in immunotherapy, which aims to rouse the body’s own immune system against disease.
Made in the lab, the Trojan horse is composed of nanoparticles containing cancer RNA, a form of genetic coding, enclosed by a fatty acid membrane.
The particles are injected into patients to simulate a viral infection, and infiltrate specialised immune cells. These dendritic cells decode the RNA embedded in the nanoparticles, triggering, in turn, the production of cancer antigens. The new treatment is called an RNA vaccine, it works just like a preventive vaccine by mimicking an infectious agent and training the body to respond to it.
If further trials find the therapy works, they added, the method could help pave the way to a treatment for all cancer types.

One gene, protein suppresses Cancer tumor formation

Pten (short for phosphatase and tensin homolog) is a tumor suppressor that is defective in about 20-25 percent of all patients with cancers. Mayo Clinic researchers now have discovered that Pten safeguards against tumor formation by keeping chromosome numbers intact when a cell splits into two daughter cells. In this study, the last three amino acids of the Pten protein, which are often missing in human cancers, were found to be critical. Pten is the most prominent human tumor suppressor after p53. The current thinking is that Pten's phosphatase activity counteracts PI3 kinase activity. Loss of this function causes tumor formation through uncontrolled stimulation of AKT, an enzyme that stimulates cell proliferation and survival and is often hyperactive in human tumors. "We found that Pten localizes to mitotic spindle poles to recruit the 'motor' protein EG5, which moves the poles apart to form a perfectly symmetrical bipolar spindle that accurately separates duplicated chromosomes," says senior author Jan van Deursen, Ph.D., a molecular biologist and cancer researcher at Mayo Clinic. The research team further found that the recruitment process involves Dlg1, an Eg5-binding protein that docks to the last three Pten amino acids at spindles poles. Importantly, mutant mice lacking these amino acids have abnormal chromosome numbers and form tumors at high frequency. The researchers say these new findings predict that a large proportion of Pten tumors will be hypersensitive to Eg5-inhibiting drugs, providing new opportunities for targeted cancer therapy.

Cancer survivors, a growing population

Cancer survivors in the United States reached record numbers this year, 15.5 million, and the American Cancer Society predicts they'll total more than 20 million in another decade.

But along with these success stories comes a growing demand for medical, emotional and psychological support to aid survivors' long-term recovery, according to a new cancer society report. 

"Many cancer survivors have to cope with long-term physical and psychological effects of their cancer treatment," said lead researcher Kimberly Miller, an American Cancer Society epidemiologist. "It's important for the public health community to have a better understanding of the current and future needs of these survivors."

Although cancer rates are declining for men and stable for women, survival numbers are up because of improved detection and treatment, as well as a growing and aging population, the study authors explained.

According to the report, nearly half of survivors are 70 and older, and 56 percent were diagnosed within the past 10 years. One-third were diagnosed less than five years ago.

"A lot of people go to their primary care physician after completing treatment for information, and that's an area where physicians may need more education and support," Miller said.

Primary doctors can help survivors with cancer screening and encourage good habits, such as quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet and exercising. In addition, they can make referrals to mental health experts if a patient is psychologically distressed. "They just need the tools to manage care efficiently," Miller said.

While most patients fare well emotionally, fears of cancer returning or a new cancer developing are common. Family and friends may find that many cancer survivors have "unmet psychosocial and medical needs," the study authors explained.

Statins could be valuable addition to Breast Cancer treatment

Scientists have raised the possibility of using statins, drugs used for reducing cholesterol, to stop some breast cancer tumors returning.
The most common form of breast cancer uses oestrogen to grow. Drugs such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors cut off the supply of oestrogen, reducing the chances that the cancer will return after surgery. Research has shown that some early breast cancer tumours can produce a molecule made from cholesterol called 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC). It can mimic oestrogen and encourage tumors to grow.The scientists grew cancer cells in the lab in the absence of oestrogen and found they produced an alternative fuel, in the form of the cholesterol molecule. They then interfered with production of the molecule and found it slowed the cancer cells’ growth by between 30% and 50%. “This study breaks new ground in uncovering how some breast cancers continue to survive without oestrogen and suggests that women could benefit from adding statins to standard anti-hormone treatments. But this is early research and greater clinical evidence is now needed to understand the potential risks and benefits of this approach.”“This early study raises an interesting question of whether cholesterol-reducing treatment, such as statins, could help lower the chances of breast cancer returning for some women who have developed a resistance to hormone therapy.”

Brain Cancer treatment shows promise in early trial

An experimental viral treatment may extend the lives of patients with a hard-to-treat brain cancer, researchers say.
For the phase 1 study, patients with recurrent glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive brain tumor, were injected with an engineered virus.
Survival was 13.6 months among 43 patients treated with the viral therapy, compared with 7.1 months for patients who did not receive the new therapy, according to the study.
"For the first time, this clinical data shows that this treatment, used in combination with an antifungal drug, kills cancer cells and appears to activate the immune system against them while sparing healthy cells," said study co-leader Dr. Timothy Cloughesy. He is director of the neuro-oncology program at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"This approach also has potential in additional types of the disease, such as metastatic colorectal and breast cancers."
Here's how the treatment works: Injectable Toca 511 infects actively dividing cancer cells and delivers a gene for an enzyme called cytosine deaminase to the cancer cells. Inside the tumor, Toca 511 programs the cancer cells to make cytosine deaminase to set them up for the second step of the treatment.
In that next phase, the patient takes the antifungal drug Toca FC. The genetic changes triggered by Toca 511 cause the cancer cells to convert Toca FC into the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).
This leads to the targeted death of infected cancer cells and cells that help tumors hide from the immune system, while leaving healthy cells unharmed, the researchers explained.
These are the first published clinical trial results of this new type of modified virus known as a retroviral replicating vector (RRV)

Treatment 'breakthrough' in man with advanced Skin Cancer

"Skin cancer cure hope for millions as major treatment breakthrough sees man's tumors disappear 'completely'."
The study was carried out by researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the University of Washington, and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, all in the US.
Funding was provided by the Cancer Research Institute and a "Stand Up To Cancer" Cancer Research Institute Cancer Immunology Dream Team Translational Research Grant.
The researchers aimed to transfuse melanoma-specific CTLs that were first "primed" by a signalling protein called interleukin-21 (IL-21), which would help boost the numbers of these T cells.
These enhanced CTLs were combined with anti-CTLA4 to see if this would help the skin cancer patient. "Combining CTLA4 blockade with the transfer of well-characterized, robust antitumor CTLs represents an encouraging strategy to enhance the activity of the adoptively transferred CTL and induce de novo antitumor responses.
"This strategy may hold broad promise for immune checkpoint blockade-resistant melanomas."
These seem to be extremely encouraging findings for metastatic melanoma, a cancer with notoriously poor prognosis.
However,it must be emphasized that this case report focuses on just one man.

French researchers develop new Skin Cancer drugs

Researchers from France's Inserm (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) have developed and synthesized new melanoma-fighting drugs that reduce the viability of cancer cells. An initial clinical trial should be launched soon to test the new compounds. As well as treating skin cancer, the drugs have been found effective in combating other types of tumor, such as breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer.
Researchers based in Nice, France, have discovered a new family of drugs, called Thiazole Benzensulfonamides (TZB), which have useful anti-cancer properties.
This family of drugs was initially identified in research surrounding type 2 diabetes, as it increases cells' sensitivity insulin. "If we wanted to use it against cancer, we had to be able to eliminate this proinsulin activity," explains research director, Stéphane Rocchi, in an Inserm news release. "Thus we started to modify its structure."
One of the new drugs, called HA15, reduces the viability of melanoma cells with no toxic effect on normal cells.The new drug was also found to be effective on other types of tumor, such as breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer, and in cases of leukemia.
A first clinical trial is expected to begin soon.

Quality of life meets cure for Prostate Cancer

The prostate is a tiny organ surrounded by critical structures. When radiation treatments deliver dose to any of these structures, it can sometimes lead to problems such as erectile dysfunction and bladder or rectal irritation.
"We always have to keep cure as our first priority, but quality of life is a major secondary concern for men with prostate cancer," says Patrick W. McLaughlin, M.D., professor of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School.
"In the past cure came at a steep price in lost quality of life, but with modern refinements it is increasingly possible to meet the new standard of successful prostate cancer treatment: cure with quality of life."
McLaughlin is the senior author of a paper published in Lancet Oncology that looks at how MRI and a clear understanding of the functional anatomy, and its variations from patient to patient, can allow radiation oncologists to plan a course of treatment that spares these critical structures.
The team started by defining the critical functions and structures that run through or near the prostate. These include the nerves, vessels and sphincters that control bladder function, erectile function and rectal function. They also found that MRI was a critical tool for accurately outlining the prostate anatomy and planning radiation therapy. They could easily and precisely see the borders of the prostate on MRI. Images from CT are much less clear, and it's common to overestimate the area that needs to be treated. With a clear outline of the prostate and other critical structures on MRI, radiation oncologists can precisely target treatment to the prostate while avoiding these critical erectile tissues. The technique is called vessel-sparing radiation.

Men with early Prostate Cancer are avoiding Treatment

The approach is called active surveillance. It means their cancers are left alone but regularly monitored to be sure they are not growing. Just 10 percent to 15 percent of early-stage prostate cancer patients were being treated by active surveillance several years ago. Now, national data from three independent sources consistently finds that 40 percent to 50 percent of them are making that choice.

In recent years, major research organizations have begun to recommend active surveillance, which for years had been promoted mostly by academic urologists in major medical centers, but not by urologists in private practice, who treat most men. In 2011, the National Institutes of Health held a consensus conference that concluded that it should be the preferred course for men with small and innocuous-looking tumors. Last year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued guidelines with the same advice. Preliminary 2016 data from the urology association indicates that the numbers are growing, with even more than 50 percent of patients choosing active surveillance.

Half of all men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer have low-risk tumors, which pathologists, using a scoring system that looks at the appearance of cells under a microscope, rate as Gleason 6 or less on a commonly used scale. Their risk of dying from prostate cancer in the next 10 years is less than 1 percent.

Sylvester researchers identify treatment for aggressive Breast Cancer

A recent study by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine revealed that triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC), which has generally been unresponsive to hormone receptor-targeted treatments, can indeed be treated using vitamin D and androgen receptor-targeted therapy. The discovery offers a new treatment option beyond chemotherapy for this aggressive type of breast cancer. They discovered that two-thirds of triple-negative breast cancers express vitamin D and androgen receptors, that then were able to treat the tumors using a hormone-receptor approach.
TNBC lacks the three receptors that fuel most breast cancers - estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, it does express androgen receptors (AR) and vitamin D receptors (VDR). This provided the basis for the study. The researchers showed that co-targeting AP and VDR with agonist hormones turned out to be an effective strategy to reduce the sustainability of the cancer cells. This could lead to the use of targeted receptor therapy in the treatment of TNBC and, in turn, to better patient outcomes.

UK Cancer clinical trials to be streamlined

Set up and delivery of UK cancer multi-center clinical trials will become more efficient and easier to get off the ground, thanks to a new agreement between UK cancer clinical trial centers.
The Experimental Cancer Medicines Center (ECMC) Collaboration Agreement will improve the network’s ability to carry out early phase clinical cancer trials, boosting research and development in the UK and bringing innovative new treatments to patients sooner.
Clinical trials in the UK often face delays because of the variation in how they are set up in each center. But under the new agreement all 18 ECMC locations will do this in the same way and will work to the same standards, cutting paperwork and helping researchers work more collaboratively.
This will help speed up approval of early phase clinical trials, making the UK a more attractive location for international pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. This means UK patients get access to innovative treatments sooner.

Scottish Breast Cancer drug offers new treatment

A new breast cancer treatment which destroys tumors more effectively than existing medicines could be on the horizon, according to a “promising” study.Edinburgh University scientists have pinpointed a chemical compound called eCF506 that is highly effective at blocking the growth of breast cancer cells in the laboratory.The compound targets a molecule called Src tyrosine kinase, which is vital for the growth and spread of breast cancer cells.
Drugs that target the same molecule are already being tested in clinical trials but researchers claim this compound could be more effective and produce fewer side effects as it is more selective in the molecules it targets.
Dr Asier Unciti-Broceta, who led the study at the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, said: “eCF506 is the first drug candidate of a second generation of Src inhibitors that will not only help to understand the complexity of some cancers but also the development of safer combination therapies.”

Novocure enrolls last patient in PANOVA trial

Novocure announced today that the last patient has been enrolled in the PANOVA trial, a phase 2 pilot trial testing Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) plus chemotherapy in 40 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The final data collection date will be six months after the last patient in.
The prospective, single-arm study includes two cohorts of 20 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer whose tumors could not be removed surgically and who had not received prior chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Novocure presented data from the first cohort of the trial at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in January 2016.
Data from the first cohort demonstrated the safety of the combined treatment, and also suggest improved survival and response rate among patients who received TTFields therapy with gemcitabine compared to a historical control of patients who received gemcitabine alone. PANOVA patients who received TTFields therapy plus first-line gemcitabine experienced a median progression free survival of 8.3 months compared to 3.7 months for a historical control of gemcitabine alone, and a median overall survival of 14.9 months compared to 6.7 months for a historical control. Median one-year survival was 55 percent compared to 22 percent for a historical control.
Novocure accelerated planning for a phase 3 clinical trial in pancreatic cancer after obtaining results for the first cohort of PANOVA. 

Proposal to reduce Medicare drug payments is widely criticized

Patients’ advocates have joined doctors and drug companies in warning that the federal plan could jeopardize access to important medications. Every member of the Senate Finance Committee,14 Republicans and 12 Democrats,

and more than 300 House members have expressed concern.

In a letter to Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society said the proposal “does not protect cancer patients’ access to the lifesaving drugs needed to treat their disease.” The plan “focuses more on the potential for cost savings” than on how to preserve and enhance the quality of care, it said.

The administration says Medicare’s current payment formula rewards doctors for prescribing expensive drugs. Ms. Burwell has proposed a five-year nationwide test to encourage doctors to prescribe less expensive therapies under Part B of Medicare.

In its proposal, the administration said “we intend to achieve savings,” but did not estimate the amount.

The first phase of the new “payment model” could begin as early Aug. 1. In the second phase, which could start as soon as January 2017, Medicare would link payment to a drug’s value.

FDA gives breakthrough status to Poliovirus Cancer treatment

A poliovirus cancer treatment designed by Duke medical researchers was awarded rare "breakthrough therapy" status by the Food and Drug Administration to speed up its approval for market use.The FDA's recognition follows Phase 1 clinical trials of the therapy, which have been occurring since 2012 and are held at Duke's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. Medical researchers have found a 20 percent three-year survival rate in patients with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer, who received the poliovirus therapy, compared to a historical 4% survival rate. Dr. Darell Bigner, director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, said that the team of researchers will meet with the FDA within 60 days to discuss the next steps for future trials, and that they hope to expand the trials to several hundred patients.

Reversing chemotherapy resistance in Ovarian Cancer

Inside each ovarian tumor, there are good cells and bad cells. A new paper explains their roles:

• The bad cells are fibroblasts. They work to block chemotherapy, which is why nearly every woman with ovarian cancer becomes resistant to treatment.
• The good cells are immune T cells. They can reverse that resistance.

These findings, reported in Cell, suggest a whole different way of thinking about chemotherapy resistance, and the potential to harness immunotherapy drugs to treat ovarian cancer.
"Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at late stages, so chemotherapy is a key part of treatment. Most patients will respond to it at first, but everybody develops chemoresistance. And that's when ovarian cancer becomes deadly," says study author J. Rebecca Liu, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan.
"In the past, we've thought the resistance was caused by genetic changes in tumor cells. But we found that's not the whole story," she says. Ovarian cancer is typically treated with cisplatin, a platinum-based chemotherapy. The researchers found that fibroblasts blocked platinum. These cells prevented platinum from accumulating in the tumor and protected tumor cells from being killed off by cisplatin. Immune T cells, on the other hand, overruled the protection of the fibroblasts. When researchers added the immune T cells to the fibroblasts, the tumor cells began to die off.
This approach requires additional clinical testing and is not currently available to patients. Patients seeking information about current ovarian cancer treatments can call the U-M Cancer AnswerLine at 800-865-1125.

FDA OKs immunotherapy drugs for Bladder, Blood Cancers

FDA has approved the first drug for bladder cancer that harnesses the body's immune system, the first major advance in three decades against the most common type of bladder cancer.
Tecentriq won accelerated approval Wednesday from the Food and Drug Administration for treating patients with advanced urothelial cancer after chemotherapy stops helping them, a point when most usually die within about six months.
Such conditional approval is granted based on promising initial test results for disorders where patients have few or no options. Testing on many more patients to confirm the early results, which is required to obtain full approval from the FDA, is in progress.
Tecentriq, developed by the Roche Group's Genentech unit, blocks a protein found on many tumor cells that deactivates T-cells, the key immune-system cells that hunt down and destroy cancer cells.
A similar drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Opdivo, was approved by the FDA late Tuesday for treating Hodgkin lymphoma, the fourth cancer type for which it's been approved in the U.S.
Both drugs are part of a promising new class of injected cancer medicines that work with the patient's own immune system, helping it find and kill tumor cells that might otherwise multiply by using mechanisms to hide from immune-system sentinels.

Scientists have determined how to prevent half of all Cancer Deaths

In the age of $10,000-a-month cancer drugs that often extend life by the thinnest margins, a few precious months before the cancer rages back, the idea of such a potent effect sounds like a fantasy.
A new study published in the journal JAMA Oncology estimates that by applying insights we've had for decades, no smoking, drinking in moderation, maintaining a healthy body weight and exercising, more than half of cancer deaths could be prevented and new cases of cancer could drop by 40 percent to 60 percent. Even as science gains powerful insights into many types of cancer, there's still a lot that scientists don't yet fully understand about its sinister biology. Meanwhile, the new study drives home an important point: Scientists already know how to prevent a large swath of cancer deaths.
"There sort of are two worlds, one world focused on therapy and another world focused on prevention, and I do think those two worlds are coming together now," said Tyler Jacks, director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"There's room for both. Let’s not ignore the power of therapy and its applications for people who have cancer. We simply cannot ignore that," Jacks said. "But why can’t we also include, as we think about cancer control more broadly, the lifestyle issues, the human behavior issues, that can lower overall risk."

How 'second skin' could help in prevention of Skin Cancer

Scientists have developed a “second skin” that can mimic the properties of youthful skin, according to a report in the journal Nature Materials. Better yet, the chemicals used to make this elastic, wearable crosslinked polymer layer (XPL) are considered safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The XPL may play a pivotal role in pharmaceutical, skin care and beauty products. The unique aspect of this product is that it forms 3-D crosslinking structure that can’t be washed away by sweat or water, and doesn’t transfer to clothing or sheets. XPL can be used for more than just cosmetic purposes. It has been shown to work better than current moisturizers available on the market, which are often used to treat conditions like psoriasis, ichthyosis and eczema. Many of these moisturizers must be used multiple times a day and can transfer onto surfaces like sheets and clothing. Research indicates that XPL would be able to provide moisture to the skin without the mess of transfer.
Another use of “second skin is to keep in place skin medications, like corticosteroids. These medications are used to treat many skin conditions, but again, because of transfer, the body only ends up absorbing about 10 percent of it. The thought is that XPL can be used to seal in skin medications so the body will absorb more.
Skin cancer is another area where XPL could potentially help.
While sunblock is the leading form of prevention against the sun’s damaging rays, it only lasts a short amount of time and can become even less effective if a person is sweating or swimming. According to the report, XPL has the potential to last 24 hours, sealing in sunblock, which could potentially help reduce the rate of skin cancer.

Colombia battles world's biggest drugmaker over Cancer drug

Colombia's government is giving pharmaceutical giant Novartis a few weeks to lower prices on a popular cancer drug or see its monopoly on production of the medicine broken and competition thrown open to generic rivals.
Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria's remarks in an interview Tuesday are the strongest yet in an increasingly public fight with the world's biggest drugmaker that could set a precedent for middle-income countries grappling to contain rising prices for complex drugs.
Memos leaked last week to a nonprofit group, written from the Colombian Embassy in Washington, describe intense lobbying pressure on Colombia, a staunch U.S. ally, from the pharmaceutical industry and its allies in the U.S. Congress.
In one memo, the embassy warns that breaking Novartis' patent for the leukemia drug Gleevec could hurt U.S. support for Colombia's bid to join the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade zone and even jeopardize $450 million in U.S. assistance for a peace deal with leftist rebels. The memos followed meetings between Colombian diplomats and officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and a Republican staffer on the Senate Finance Committee whose chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, has close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
"They're very afraid that Colombia could become an example that spreads across the region."

Proton-Beam Therapy for Cancer gets renewed attention

Ion Beam Applications SA, the Belgian company that leads the global market for huge proton-beam machines, is selling so many systems lately that it needs to boost its 1,200-strong workforce by 400 workers. It launched a big recruitment drive across the country this year, featuring radio and newspaper spots along with dozens of billboards and posters. A breakthrough in 2012 by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania also helped spur demand for the technology, IBA’s Mr. Legrain said. The researchers used a technique known as pencil-beam scanning, which programs the proton so that it fills the three-dimensional shape of the tumor. Previously, radiation oncologists used a less precise method to direct the beam toward the roughly two-dimensional outline of the tumor.
A 2013 study estimated that for prostate cancer patients, proton therapy cost $32,428 per treatment, versus $18,575 for traditional radiotherapy. But advocates believe proton therapy could prove less expensive than traditional radiotherapy in the long term by cutting costs for treatment of side effects from traditional radiotherapy.

First Penis Transplant in the United States

A cancer patient received the first penis transplant in the United States, a Boston hospital said.
Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed Monday that the transplanted penis was done in a 15-hour procedure last week. The organ was transplanted from a deceased donor.
"We're cautiously optimistic," said Cetrulo, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, adding that "it's uncharted waters for us."
The surgery is experimental, part of a research program with the ultimate goal of helping combat veterans with severe pelvic injuries, as well as cancer patients and accident victims.
His team is working on ways to minimize or even eliminate the need for anti-rejection medicines, which transplant patients typically have to take. That research is especially important for veterans, he said, because many are young and will risk serious adverse effects, like cancer and kidney damage, if they have to take the drugs for decades.

UK Cancer charities in desperate plea to Cameron

Leading cancer experts have pleaded with the Prime Minister to prevent NHS plans which they say could deny life-extending drugs to thousands of dying patients.
Fifteen major charities have written to David Cameron, expressing "deep concern" and imploring him to order a review of changes to drugs rationing, which they say will set the country back almost two decades.
Under the plans, due to be introduced in July, only drugs authorized by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) will receive NHS funding.
A separate Cancer Drugs Fund, launched following a Tory 2010 manifesto pledge, has ensured treatment for thousands more patients whose treatments were rejected by Nice.
Charities say the new system will mean a return wholesale rationing, with patients “cruelly denied” treatment which is routinely funded in much of the Western world.
“Not a single breast cancer drug has been considered cost-effective by Nice in the last seven years!”

Oracle’s Larry Ellison gives $200M to USC for Cancer research

Oracle founder Larry Ellison has donated $200 million to fund a new center at the University of Southern California that will combine interdisciplinary research with the holistic prevention and treatment of cancer.

The gift, among the largest made to cancer research and treatment in recent years, will establish the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC. David B. Agus, professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and USC Viterbi School of Engineering, will lead the institute.

USC said institute will draw collaborators from across conventional health and wellness fields, as well as from a broad range of other disciplines such as physics, biology, math and engineering to study cancer and potential ways to prevent, detect and treat the disease. The institute will complement and integrate cancer research being conducted by faculty physicians and scientists across the university. Ellison’s gift will provide the lead investment for a state-of-the-art facility in west Los Angeles that will serve as the Ellison Institute’s home. The building will house interdisciplinary cancer research laboratories and an interactive care clinic. The institute will include a think tank, education and outreach, and a wellness program. “This investment by Larry Ellison in USC is as inspirational as it is momentous, and it will serve as a dynamic force for change in how we approach cancer treatment and prevention,” USC President C. L. Max Nikias said in a statement. “It is a concrete endorsement of USC’s vision to invest in the promise and potential of new technologies, and to support a bold push forward in how we achieve wellness.”

Polio virus to fight Brain Cancer

The Food and Drug Administration has given "breakthrough" status to a treatment that uses the once-feared polio virus to target aggressive forms of brain cancer, in the hope of speeding it to market.
The therapy, developed at Duke University, hopes to use the virus’ debilitating properties to help fight cancer instead of harming its host. The experimental treatment was the brainchild of molecular biologist Matthias Gromeier. By removing a certain genetic sequence and replacing it with material from the common cold virus, the polio would not be able to cause the incapacitating symptoms.
The altered version of polio could still reproduce in cancer cells, therefore making the cancer susceptible to Lipscomb’s and other patients’ immune systems.
“All human cancers develop a shield of protective measures that make them invisible to this immune system,”  “By infecting the tumor, we are actually removing this protective shield and enabling the immune system to attack."

Mitoxantrone linked to increased risk of Colorectal Cancer

The multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Mitoxantrone may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.  Mitoxantrone suppresses the immune system. It was first developed as a chemotherapy drug for certain cancers.

Mitoxantrone is used for aggressive types of relapsing-remitting or progressive MS that do not respond to other MS drugs. But its use is limited because previous studies have shown an increased risk of leukemia and heart damage.
The current study examined whether the drug increases the risk of other types of cancer. For the study, German researchers looked at all people with MS who were treated with mitoxantrone from 1994 to 2007 and followed them until 2010.
Out of the 676 people, 37 people, or 5.5 percent, were diagnosed with cancer after taking the drug, including nine people with breast cancer, seven with colorectal cancer and four with acute myeloid leukemia, which has been associated with mitoxantrone.
The rate of leukemia was 10 times higher in the people treated with mitoxantrone than in the general population in Germany. The rate of colorectal cancer, which is cancer of the colon and rectum, was three times higher than that of the general population. For breast cancer and all other types of cancer, people who had taken mitoxantrone were no more likely to develop the diseases than those in the general population.

New look at Testosterone therapy

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has surged in popularity over the past decade. Millions of older men have turned to TRT to restore hormone levels in hopes of refueling energy and reigniting their sex drive.
Dr. Frances Hayes, a reproductive endocrinologist with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, points out that some of these studies had limitations.
“For instance, in one study, TRT doses were much higher than what would usually be prescribed, and the subjects tended to be more frail, with other health problems,” she says. “Other studies showed no evidence of increased risk.” Recent research has supported this position. A study reported at the 2015 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions involved 1,472 men ages 52 to 63 with low testosterone levels and no history of heart disease. Researchers found that healthy men who received TRT did not have a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, or death.
The bottom line is that the long-term risks of TRT are still unknown, as many of these studies have limited follow-ups. That does not mean you should avoid TRT. For a selected subgroup of men, the therapy can be a viable option.
The No. 1 contributor to falling levels is weight gain. “Weight has a bigger impact on testosterone levels than aging. As weight goes up, testosterone levels go down,” she says. A five-point increase on the body mass index scale, for instance, going from 30 to 35, is equivalent to adding 10 years to your age in terms of testosterone levels.

Breast Cancer drug found to reduce seizures

A class of drug that inhibits estrogen production and is used to treat breast cancer has been found to quickly and effectively suppress dangerous brain seizures, according to a new Northwestern University study.
"The effect was profound and very clear," said Catherine S. Woolley, senior author of the study.
"This shows that clinically available drugs could be effective therapies for suppressing seizures in humans."
Woolley and postdoctoral fellow Satoru M. Sato also discovered, to their surprise, that seizures stimulate the production of estrogens in the brain of both males and females and that this plays a previously unknown role in the escalation of seizure activity. Estrogen synthesis during a seizure fuels the seizure, making it worse.

Testosterone therapy does not raise risk of aggressive Prostate Cancer

Men with low levels of the male sex hormone testosterone need not fear that testosterone replacement therapy will increase their risk of prostate cancer.

This is the finding of an analysis of more than a quarter-million medical records of mostly white men in Sweden, research led by investigators at NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. The international team of study authors will present these results on May 9 at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in San Diego, Calif.
In the study, researchers found that, as a group, men prescribed testosterone for longer than a year had no overall increase in risk of prostate cancer and, in fact, had their risk of aggressive disease reduced by 50 percent.
"Based on our findings, physicians should still be watching for prostate cancer risk factors, such as being over the age of 40, having African-American ancestry, or having a family history of the disease in men taking testosterone therapy, but should not hesitate to prescribe it to appropriate patients for fear of increasing prostate cancer risk," says lead study investigator and NYU Langone urologist Stacy Loeb, MD, MSc.

More Breast Cancer genes found leading way to New Treatments

In an exciting new discovery that could lead to new breast cancer treatments, scientists have identified five new genes linked to the disease, as well as 13 new “mutational signatures” that influence tumor development. The discovery, by a team of scientists led by Dr. Serena Nik-Zainal, with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, was based on an analysis of 560 breast cancer genomes of 556 female and four male patients from around the world. The researchers found that breast cancer genomes are highly individual, noting that women who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, known to increase the risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer, had completely different genomes.
This discovery could lead to a much more specific classification of patients, and more effective personalized treatments tailored to individuals with the disease, the researchers said.
"This huge study, examining in great detail the many thousands of mutations present in each of the genomes of 560 cases brings us much closer to a complete description of the changes in DNA in breast cancer and thus to a comprehensive understanding of the causes of the disease and the opportunities for new treatments.”

New discovery of precision medicine for treating Cancer

An international team of scientists, including those at the Translational Genomic Research Institute (TGen), have discovered new avenues of potential treatments for a rare and deadly cancer known as Adrenocortical Carcinoma, or ACC. "This is one of the most comprehensive genomic characterizations ever done of this rare tumor type," said Dr. Timothy Whitsett, an Assistant Professor in TGen's Cancer and Cell Biology Division, and one of the study's authors. "This study should provide rationale and validation for new therapeutic strategies and clinical studies, providing potentially better treatments for ACC patients." The study is part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a program overseen by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that aims to generate comprehensive, multi-dimensional maps of the key molecular changes in major types of cancer.
The ACC study examined 91 tumor samples from six countries across four continents, providing a global look at this disease.
One of the major findings of this study is the identification of a third class, or subtype, of ACC. The study showed that the three subtypes of ACC hold significantly different outcomes for patients, and, based on their distinct molecular biomarkers, could help determine the best course of treatment for each patient.
"Clinical implementation of this three-class grading system would represent a true advance for patient care."

New Cancer trial, triple-combination Cancer drug treatment

Pfizer plans to test a combination of three cancer drugs in humans next year. The trial will be one of the first to test three immunotherapies at the same time, and will involve giving a small group of patients a cocktail of drugs to determine whether the combination is safe, and whether it can shrink tumors in those suffering from solid cancers.

The Cancer therapy will add Avelumab, a checkpoint inhibitor to two other drugs, Utomilumab and another code-named OX40. These drugs cost roughly $150,000 per patient per year!

Scientists pioneer a breakthrough to Breast Cancer treatment

In a development that could lead to a new generation of drugs to precisely treat a range of diseases, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have for the first time designed a drug candidate that decreases the growth of tumor cells in animal models in one of the hardest to treat cancers, triple negative breast cancer.

"This is the first example of taking a genetic sequence and designing a drug candidate that works effectively in an animal model against triple negative breast cancer," said TSRI Professor Matthew Disney. "The study represents a clear breakthrough in precision medicine, as this molecule only kills the cancer cells that express the cancer-causing gene, not healthy cells. These studies may transform the way the lead drugs are identified, by using the genetic makeup of a disease." The lab's compound, known as Targaprimir-96, triggers breast cancer cells to kill themselves via programmed cell death by precisely targeting a specific RNA that ignites the cancer.
The drug candidate was tested in animal models over a 21-day course of treatment. Results showed decreased production of microRNA-96 and increased programmed cell death, significantly reducing tumor growth. Since targaprimir-96 was highly selective in its targeting, healthy cells were unaffected.

Cellect granted Canadian patent for its Stem Cell selection technology

TEL AVIV, Israel,  Cellect Biomed Ltd. a developer of innovative technology that enables the functional selection of stem cells, announced today that it has been granted a patent for its technology platform for cell selection from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

The patent protects the usage of apoptosis-inducing materials for the destruction of cells that inhibit the receipt of bone marrow grafts.  With patents already issued in the United States, Europe, India and Israel, this Canadian patent expands Cellect’s already formidable intellectual property estate.

Dr. Shai Yarkoni, the Company's CEO, noted: "Our business model is based not only on our internal development of new products for various medical needs, but also on collaborations and out-licenses of our technology to companies and research institutions in the field.  Accordingly, as awareness and acceptance of our ground-breaking technology platform continues to grow amongst physicians, patients, researchers and potential partners, it is vital this opportunity is well protected.”

Cellect is making final preparations for the planned launch of its first clinical trial in leukemia patients, following the receipt of IRB approval from the Rambam Hospital. The trial will be conducted in the bone marrow transplantation (“BMT”) unit and led by Clinical Assistant Professor Zila Zuckerman, the Director of the unit, subject to the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Health.

The trial is a first of its kind in leukemia patients in need of bone marrow transplantation. In the clinical trial, the BMT process will be performed at the Rambam Hospital in leukemia patients using Cellect's cell selection technology, "Cellect Inside".

Stand Up To Cancer offers nurse training for administering New Cancer Therapies

In recognition of Nurses Appreciation Week, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) announces the development of a series of Certification for Nursing Education (CNE) training modules by experts from Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing. The CNE modules will equip nurses with the skills and knowledge needed to manage the unique challenges and patient symptoms that accompany administration of emerging immunotherapies to treat cancer. The first of a series of the three web-based SU2C-Boston College Immunotherapy CNE modules will be available to nurses in July 2016.

"Nurses are essential collaborators in translational cancer research, bringing new and effective treatments from the research laboratory to the patient," stated SU2C President and CEO, Sung Poblete, RN, PhD who holds a PhD in Nursing from Rutgers University. "SU2C is at the forefront of immunoncology research and we recognize that an essential part of bringing these cutting-edge therapies to patients is the effective dissemination of information about the treatments. Nurses play an integral role in patient management and these modules will provide a new toolkit for patient care."

Experimental therapy halts treatment-resistant Brain Tumors

A multi-institutional team led by researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center publishes their results on May 9. Testing a multi-step therapeutic strategy, the scientists found a way to use a gene therapy to shut down a gene long-implicated in the formation of high-grade gliomas called Olig2. The protein encoded by Olig2 is expressed in the majority of gliomas. Removing the Olig2 gene halts tumor growth, while elimination of Olig2-producing cells blocks tumor formation.
"We find that elimination of dividing Olig2-expressing cells blocks initiation and progression of glioma in animal models and further show that Olig2 is the molecular arbiter of genetic adaptability that makes high-grade gliomas aggressive and treatment resistant," said Qing Richard Lu, PhD, lead investigator and scientific director of the Brain Tumor Center at Cincinnati Children's. "By finding a way to inhibit Olig2 in tumor forming cells, we were able to change the tumor cells' makeup and sensitize them to targeted molecular treatment. This suggests a proof of principle for stratified therapy in distinct subtypes of malignant gliomas." The current study may apply to high-grade brain gliomas and a fatal brainstem tumor called DIPG (Diffused Intrinsic Pontine Glioma), which expresses Olig2 and is inoperable because of its location in a brain region controlling vital functions. Even if these cancers do initially respond to a specific targeted treatment, they adapt by finding genetic/molecular workarounds, evade treatment and continue growing. Researchers caution the experimental therapeutic approach they describe requires extensive additional research and remains years away from possible clinical testing. Still, Dr. Lu said the data are a significant research breakthrough. The current study finds a potential chink in the molecular armor of these stubborn cancers.

Gender plays a role in determining Cancer Treatment choices

A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reviewed 13 cancer types and provided a molecular understanding of sex effects in diverse cancers. The research revealed two cancer-type groups associated with cancer incidence and mortality, suggesting a "pressing need" to develop sex-specific therapeutic strategies for some cancers.
Using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, a team led by Han Liang, Ph.D., associate professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, found more than half of the genes studied that were related to clinical practice of cancer treatment showed sex-biased signatures in certain cancer types.
"Our study helps elucidate the molecular basis for sex disparities in cancer and lays a critical foundation for the future development of precision cancer medicine that is sex-specific," said Liang. "This is a crucial finding as currently, male and female patients with many cancer types often are treated in a similar way without explicitly considering their gender.""Special consideration should be given to those in the strong sex-effect group in terms of both drug development and practice," said Liang. "For a therapeutic target with a strong sex-biased signature, sex-specific clinical trials may be more likely to succeed. This new information is vital as the fundamental issue of sex differences for cancer prevention and therapy has not been investigated systematically."

Researchers develop new approach to assess Cancer drug sensitivity in cells

"More than 90 percent of candidate Cancer drugs fail in late stage clinical trials, costing hundreds of millions of dollars," said Vito Quaranta, M.D., director of the Quantitative Systems Biology Center at Vanderbilt. "The flawed in vitro drug discovery metric may not be the only responsible factor, but it may be worth pursuing an estimate of its impact."
Quaranta and his colleagues have developed a new metric to evaluate a compound's effect on cell proliferation, called the DIP (drug-induced proliferation) rate, that overcomes the flawed bias in the traditional method. For more than 30 years, scientists have evaluated the ability of a compound to kill cells by adding the compound to cells and counting how many cells are alive after 72 hours. But these "proliferation assays" that measure cell number at a single time point don't take into account the bias introduced by exponential cell proliferation, even in the presence of the drug. The findings have particular importance in light of recent international efforts to generate data sets that include the responses of "thousands of cell lines to hundreds of compounds," Quaranta said. The Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) databases include drug response data along with genomic and proteomic data that detail each cell line's molecular makeup. The researchers evaluated the responses of four different melanoma cell lines to the drug Vemurafenib, currently used to treat melanoma, with the standard metric, used for the CCLE and GDSC databases, and with the DIP rate. In one cell line, they found a stark disagreement between the two metrics. A software package that will be available to other researchers through a hyperlink in the Nature Methods paper. Quaranta is working with the Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization to identify commercial entities that can further refine the software and make it widely available to the research community to inform drug discovery.

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Researchers develop human-derived antibody that destroys Cancer cells

Scientists at Duke University have developed an antibody that targets cancer cells and triggers an immune response to kill tumors while leaving other cells unharmed. The emerging approach to cancer treatment holds promise as an alternative to existing immunotherapies that pose unwanted side effects, researchers said. They observed that a human-derived, purified antibody kills tumor cells when bound to a specific target, a protein called complement factor H (CFH), which protects cells from an immune system attack. Researchers extracted the white blood cells from patients who made the antibody, sequenced the antibody genes, and cloned them to make mature antibodies. The antibody was then tested in multiple cancer cell lines, including lung, gastric and breast cancers in lab dishes and in tumors in living mice. Researchers observed that the antibodies inhibited tumor growth without obvious side effects.
“More important is what we’re finding is that it kills enough tumor cells to hold the tumor in check,” he said. “What we’re working on now is to show it allows more immune cells to come in and take over.”
The technique of human-derived antibodies was first designed to use with HIV patients, to find antibodies for infectious disease.
“We’re the first group to use it for cancer, Everybody told us we couldn’t do it.”

One Direction singer chops off hair, Donates locks to Cancer Charity

Harry Styles has chopped off his luscious locks for a good cause.

The 22-year-old One Direction singer took to Instagram on Friday to share a photo of his hand giving the thumbs up while holding a cut ponytail with the caption, “Whoops. #Littleprincesstrust.”

It seems the singer is using his time off during 1D’s current hiatus to do good for the Little Princess Trust organization, which is a cancer charity in the U.K. for kids.

“Our mission is to supply real hair wigs to children suffering with cancer, for the duration of their treatment,” the site reads.

While Styles' big change is clearly coming from the heart, some of his fans were disappointed to see his signature hair go.

Starving Cancer the key to new treatments

Researchers have identified a vital supply route that cancer cells use to obtain their nutrients, in a discovery that could lead to new treatments to stop the growth of tumours.

The research team blocked gateways through which the cancer cell was obtaining the amino acid glutamine and found the cells almost completely stopped growing.
"This is likely to work in a wide range of cancers, because it is a very common mechanism in cancer cells," said lead researcher Professor Stefan Bröer from The Australian National University (ANU).
"Better still, this should lead to chemotherapy with much less serious side-effects, as normal cells do not use glutamine as a building material.
"Crucial white blood cells, which current treatments damage, could be spared, and it could cut out the hair loss that chemotherapy causes."
There are 917 different types of cancer currently identified, and many cures work only for a single type of the disease or become ineffective as cancers develop resistance to chemotherapy.
However Professor Broer, a biochemist in the ANU Research School of Biology, said the new approach would be less prone to resistance because blocking the glutamine transport mechanism is an external process that would be hard for cancer cells to get around.