Medical News Today: Oncology News

Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) announced top-line results from a randomized Phase 3 trial evaluating Vectibix® (panitumumab) as a first-line treatment in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell head and neck cancer...

Understanding how cancer cells communicate with each other and how to enhance their receptiveness to drug treatments is the focus of promising work by a Kansas State University researcher...

Researchers at the BC Cancer Agency Genome Sciences Centre have provided the first published example of genome-scale RNA and DNA sequencing of a tumour to aid in clinical decision making and therapeutic choice. Published recently in the journal Genome Biology, the research focuses on a rare tumour of the tongue, which had progressed to metastatic disease...

Cedars-Sinai participates in international study suggesting that the underlying genetic weakness of cancer, not the organ of origin, is key to effective therapy. Understanding the underlying genetic weakness of certain types of cancer may lead to targeted therapy and provide the key to effective treatment, a new study suggests...

Although some reports have suggested a link between the use of oral bisphosphonates (drugs that prevent the loss of bone mass) and esophageal cancer, analysis of medical data from more than 80,000 patients in the United Kingdom found that use of these drugs was not significantly associated with new cases of esophageal or gastric cancer, according to a study in the August 11 issue of JAMA...

A second-generation cancer drug that targets patients' specific molecular defects is showing encouraging results in early clinical trials, according to a study published in the latest edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology...

The everyday choices kids make when they go away to college establish the patterns they'll follow for the rest of their lives, experts at the American Institute for Cancer Research said today. Setting healthy patterns can help them in the short-term - and help lower their lifetime risk of cancer and other diseases later in life...

A test using a patient's breath could be developed to detect lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancers, a team of scientists have discovered. While these results are only preliminary, the study published in the British Journal of Cancer on Wednesday, found that sensors could distinguish between the breath of healthy patients and those who have cancer...

The Georgia Institute of Technology has received a EUREKA grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to design a new way to treat invasive brain tumors by capturing the migrating cells that spread the disease...

Single-molecule sequencing technology has detected and quantified novel small RNAs in human cells that represent entirely new classes of the gene-translating molecules, confirming a long-held but unproven hypothesis that mammalian cells are capable of synthesizing RNA by copying RNA molecules directly...

Bladder cancer invasive into the pelvic side wall or into adjacent organs other than the prostate, vagina, and uterus is classified as clinical stage T4b. Locally advanced tumors of this category are generally considered unresectable and patients are treated primarily with multiagent chemotherapy. This treatment is generally considered to be palliative...

Although some reports have suggested a link between the use of oral bisphosphonates (drugs that prevent the loss of bone mass) and esophageal cancer, analysis of medical data from more than 80,000 patients in the United Kingdom found that use of these drugs was not significantly associated with new cases of esophageal or gastric cancer, according to a study in the August 11 issue of JAMA...

Scientists from UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute and Korea's Yonsei University have developed an innovative method that enables nanomachines to release drugs inside living cancer cells when activated remotely by an oscillating magnetic field...

Research at the Babraham Institute, investigating how white blood cells known as B cells develop, has revealed that genes from the Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3Ks) family of enzymes are critical in enabling the B cells to produce antibodies in the spleen and lymph nodes...

Bladder carcinoma is the second most common malignancy of the urinary tract and nearly 90% of all primary tumors of the bladder are urothelial carcinomas (UCs). Superficial UCs can be "shaved off" using an electrocautery device attached to a cystoscope...

Advanced Cancer Therapeutics (ACT) has signed an exclusive agreement to leverage the translational research expertise of Dr. Jason Chesney, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine at the University of Louisville's James Graham Brown Cancer Center (Brown Cancer Center), to identify new clinical candidates for the prevention and treatment of cancers against two key cancer metabolic targets...

Women with a relatively rare but aggressive form of breast cancer may benefit from a unique tissue bank of normal breast tissue at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. Bryan Schneider, M.D...

ONCOLOGY: Identifying liver cancer stem cells A subpopulation of cells in a tumor that are known as cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to be involved in tumor resistance to chemo/radiation therapy as well as tumor relapse and progression. However, whether CSCs exist in many cancers and what their identity is has been hard to determine...

ABC News: "California, facing a $19.1 billion budget gap, is considering a reduction in funding that pays for home care aides for the disabled. It already cut funds last year. ... Last month, the nation celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) ... Now, though, gains made under the ADA are running into recession-battered state budgets...

A new test for oral cancer, which a dentist could perform by simply using a brush to collect cells from a patient's mouth, is set to be developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...