A fire truck pulls into the truck bay and idles for a minute or two as a firefighter attaches tubing to filter the exhaust out of the station. The firefighter’s face may be close to the exhaust for 30 seconds while the tubing is attached. It’s a routine task, one that’s performed by the same … Read more
Because of their increased susceptibility to the toxicities of chemotherapy, should ALL patients with Down syndrome receive modified treatment to minimize this risk? Or should they be given the same treatment as other children with ALL, to minimize the chance for relapse?
Cancer occurs worldwide, and commonly – in 2012, there were an estimated 14.1 million new cancer cases globally, according to the World Cancer Research Fund. But not all cancers are created equally. Certain countries have higher rates of some cancers and lower of others, depending on a number of factors, including health care access, environment, … Read more
Following surgery and/or radiation for early stage breast cancer, chemotherapy is sometimes given to eliminate remaining cancer cells that could cause trouble later. Traditionally, women have been more likely to undergo follow-up chemotherapy if clinical and pathological factors suggested a significant risk of recurrence, such as a larger tumor, higher stage and pathological grade of … Read more
A diagnosis of cancer always comes as a shock, and the patient naturally asks the physician, why did this happen? Is it something I did or didn’t do, or did I inherit it, or were chemicals in the environment to blame? “Why patients develop cancers is not well known,” explains Irene Ghobrial, MD, of Dana-Farber. … Read more
Clinical trials are research studies that explore whether new treatments, diagnostic techniques, or disease-prevention strategies are safe and effective in patients. They may be an option when patients no longer benefit from standard therapies. They may also offer an alternative to standard therapies, particularly if the agent being tested is likely to be more effective … Read more
This post originally appeared on Cancer Research Catalyst, the official blog of the American Association for Cancer Research. It was originally published Jan. 10, 2017. By Srivani Ravoori, PhD As we step into 2017, a big question looming in the minds of all stakeholders in the cancer research arena is: What is the future of … Read more
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” may be a valid philosophy in general, but not in dealing with the molecular machinery of cancer cells. There, the applicable motto might be might be, “If it’s broke, keep it that way.” That’s the approach taken by a class of targeted drugs known as PARP inhibitors, which … Read more
In November, four states – California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Maine – passed measures legalizing marijuana for recreational use, bringing the total number of states with legal cannabis to eight, plus the District of Columbia. The vote in Maine was quite close and is expected to be challenged by opponents, but as of now, 26 states … Read more
On Dec. 13, President Barack Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, legislation that includes significant funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, and to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speed the drug approval process. Laurie Glimcher, MD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber, … Read more
By Srivani Ravoori, PhD, American Association for Cancer Research This post first appeared on the Cancer Today website. In a study presented Dec. 7 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, researchers conducted genomic analysis of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancer samples that had become resistant to therapies. They found multiple alterations that were not … Read more
Adjuvant therapies are treatments that are given after surgery or other frontline therapy to reduce the risk that cancer will come back. Frontline therapy may succeed in removing or eliminating the entire visible mass of a tumor, but tiny, undetectable traces of it may remain in the body. Adjuvant therapy is designed to kill or … Read more
Patients with pancreatic cancer often ask Dana-Farber’s Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, about immunotherapy, the rising star of cancer treatment that’s making impressive gains against many types of malignancies. Immunotherapy drugs, which mobilize the patient’s immune defenses to recognize and attack tumor cells, have worked against lethal cancers such as melanoma and some lung cancers – … Read more
Carcinoid tumors are rare, often slow-growing tumors that form from neuroendocrine cells found throughout the body. Carcinoid tumors most commonly arise in the gastrointestinal system, including the appendix, small intestine, or rectum, but may occur in other sites, including the lungs. In most cases, there is no clear cause of carcinoid tumors. There does not … Read more
Smoking cigarettes contributes to 80 percent of lung cancer deaths in women and 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in men, and it is estimated to have caused more than 130,000 deaths from the disease between 2005 and 2010. But smoking damage does not stop with lung cancer: the habit can cause or contribute to … Read more
This post originally appeared on Cancer Research Catalyst, the official blog of the American Association of Cancer Research. It was originally published Nov. 15, 2016. By Karen Honey, PhD On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it had approved expanding the use of the immunotherapeutic nivolumab (Opdivo) to include the treatment … Read more
Blood tests for the presence of substances called tumor markers can be helpful in diagnosing cancer and assessing how well treatment is working. But such tests alone generally can’t tell for certain whether someone has cancer or not. That’s why they are used in conjunction with other methods, such as imaging scans and biopsies. Hematological … Read more
The immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is the first therapy of any kind to improve survival in patients whose metastatic bladder cancer worsened after treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy. Keytruda proved so much better than chemotherapy in this “second-line” use that an international clinical trial was halted when the advantage became apparent. “This is very good news; … Read more
Ed. note: Niraparib (Zejula) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 28, 2017, as a maintenance therapy for women with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. This post was originally published on Oct. 21, 2016. For women with relapsed ovarian cancer that responds to platinum-based chemotherapy, a drug that hampers … Read more
When a clinical trial shows that a new treatment is no better than the standard, it can be disappointing. But such outcomes yield valuable, potentially lifesaving information. Trials can “fail” if the experimental therapy doesn’t work better than current treatments. These “negative” outcomes are important for several reasons. They can spare patients false hope or … Read more