Body

For patients with early stage breast cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes, adding four cycles of docetaxel (Taxotere) into a sequential regimen of epirubicin followed by cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and fluorouracil (CMF) reduces the risk of recurrence and death, updated long-term results show.

This advantage comes at the cost of an increased, but manageable, toxicity, Italian researchers report at the 33rd Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Stockholm.

Treating locally advanced head and neck cancers with an alternating regimen of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, plus cetuximab, has shown promise in a phase II trial, Italian researchers report.

Their trial in 45 patients combined chemotherapy with fluorouracil and carboplatin given on weeks 1, 4 and 7 of treatment, with radiotherapy administered daily on weeks 2-3, 5-6 and 8-10.

Cetuximab was also added weekly.

Lung cancer patients whose tumors carry specific genetic mutations can achieve significantly longer survival when treated with targeted therapies such as erlotinib, Spanish researchers report.

Investigators from the Spanish Lung Cancer Group conducted the largest-ever study to examine the benefits of customizing lung cancer treatment based on mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene.

FAIRFAX, Va.—ATTRACT—the first major national trial of a catheter-based treatment for deep vein thrombosis—will evaluate the use of clot-dissolving drugs in combination with clot removal devices to prevent post-thrombotic syndrome in patients with DVT (the formation of a blood clot in a leg vein). PTS, a common irreversible complication of DVT, causes permanent damage to the veins, resulting in debilitating chronic leg pain, swelling, fatigue and/or skin ulcers. About 25 percent of DVT patients develop PTS when treated with blood thinners alone.

Irvine, Calif. — Women with recurrent ovarian cancer can be helped by an experimental therapy using a drug already touted for its ability to fight other cancers, a finding that provides hope for improved treatment of this deadly disease.

Dr. Bradley Monk, a UC Irvine gynecologic oncologist who led the worldwide phase III clinical trial, said trabectedin is the most recent addition to a short list of active drug therapies for recurrent ovarian cancer. He presents study results Sept. 15 at the 33rd Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Stockholm.

Geneva, Switzerland – 15th September, 2008: New research published today at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), Montréal, Canada, reveals that less than half (43%) of patients in Europe with osteoporosis are claiming to take both calcium and vitamin D supplementation with their osteoporosis treatment.

Montreal, September 15, 2008 – In a retrospective analysis of more than 30,000 female Medicare patients 65 years and older, osteoporosis fractures resulted in fracture-related medical expenses of $15,522 per person over three years. The study, presented at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) 30th Annual Meeting, is the first to analyze the actual long-term fracture-related medical expenses incurred over a three-year period using a U.S. medical claims database.

PHILADELPHIA – Researchers at Wayne State University have tested a breast cancer vaccine they say completely eliminated HER2-positive tumors in mice - even cancers resistant to current anti-HER2 therapy - without any toxicity.

PHILADELPHIA – Although cancer remains a leading cause of death in America, it can take up to 12 years to bring a new anti-cancer agent before the FDA and the success rate for approval is only five to 10 percent. That means many research hours and dollars are wasted chasing avenues that will not bring fruit.

PHILADELPHIA (September 15, 2008) – More than 30 years ago, Alfred Knudson Jr., M.D., Ph.D., revolutionized the field of cancer genetics by showing that a person must lose both their paternal and maternal copies of a particular class of cancer-inhibiting genes, called tumor-suppressor genes, in order to develop cancer. This theory, called the two-hit hypothesis, guided scientists around the globe in their quest for tumor suppressor genes.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins schools of Public Health and Medicine have, for the first time, identified variants in the gene MYH9 that are associated with increased risk for non-diabetic end stage renal disease (ESRD,) which is the near-loss of kidney function leading to either dialysis of transplant. MYH9, located on the 22 chromosome, is the first gene identified for common forms of kidney disease. The study was published online September 14 in the journal Nature Genetics and will be published in the October print edition.

BOSTON--Demonstrating that despite the large number of cancer-causing genes already identified, many more remain to be found, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have linked a previously unsuspected gene, CDK8, to colon cancer.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Sept. 14, 2008 – Investigators at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) today announced a faster and less expensive way for scientists to find which genes might affect human health.

Using bar-codes, not unlike what shoppers find in grocery stores, TGen researchers found a way to index portions of the nearly 3-billion-base human genetic code, making it easier for scientists to zero in on the regions most likely to show variations in genetic traits.

For the first time, researchers have identified variations in a single gene that are strongly associated with kidney diseases disproportionately affecting African-Americans. This work was conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by NIH-funded investigators at the Johns Hopkins University. The findings are published online today in two papers in Nature Genetics and will be published in the October print issue.

Hospitals that perform cardiac nuclear stress testing under published national practice guidelines could reduce unnecessary testing and, potentially costs, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

The study looked at 375 patients who underwent nuclear stress testing at Henry Ford and showed that in the majority of cases, 90 percent, physicians ordered the diagnostic imaging test appropriately using the updated 2007 Appropriateness Criteria of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ACNC) and American College of Cardiology.