Chemotherapy in Biological News

Common chemotherapy drug triggers fatal allergic reactions

CHICAGO -- A chemotherapy drug that is supposed to help save cancer patients' lives, instead resulted in life-threatening and sometimes fatal allergic reactions. A new study from the Research on Adverse Drug Events and Reports (RADAR) pharmacovigilance program at Northwestern University Feinbe...

Stroma genomic signature predicts resistance to anthracyclin-based chemotherapy in breast cancer

Researchers at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research in Molecular Oncology in Lausanne have developed a new test to predict how breast cancer patients respond to chemotherapy, which could help change how treatment is delivered in the future. ...

New technique images tumor vessel leakiness to predict breast cancer chemotherapy outcome

Chemotherapy is an integral part of modern cancer treatment, but it's not always effective. Successful chemotherapy depends on the ability of anticancer drugs to escape from the bloodstream through the leaky blood vessels that often surround tumors. Predicting chemotherapy's efficacy could save...

Weizmann Institute scientists discover how cancer cells survive a chemotherapy drug

What separates the few cancer cells that survive chemotherapy leaving the door open to recurrence from those that don't? Weizmann Institute scientists developed an original method for imaging and analyzing many thousands of living cells to reveal exactly how a chemotherapy drug affects each one....

Experimental chemotherapy regimen shows promise in treating advanced lung cancer

PHILADELPHIA A combination of chemotherapy agents that have been tested in other tumor types appears to be a promising alternative to standard treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to a report in the August 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American A...

Mitochondrial cholesterol makes response to chemotherapy difficult in hepatic cancer

This release is available in Spanish . Cancer is a disease characterised by important metabolic alterations. Not only these adaptative changes give higher proliferative capacity to cancer cells, but they also contribute to higher resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. The research group led...

New chemotherapy combo produces side effects, but no extra efficacy, in early breast cancer patients

Berlin, Germany: Adding capecitabine, a drug that inhibits DNA synthesis and slows the growth of tumour tissue, to docetaxel, in patients with early breast cancer, leads to more toxicities and does not improve the efficacy of treatment, a German scientist told the 6th European Breast Cancer Confe...

A search for protection against chemotherapy cardiotoxicity

Researchers at the University of Grenoble, in France, have discovered that erythropoietin administration prevents acute cardiotoxic effects induced by doxorubicin and trastuzumab exposures. The research article describing this work entitled Erythropoietin pretreatment protects against acute chemot...

UC health news: molecular pathway may predict chemotherapy effectiveness

CINCINNATIA common molecular pathway could help physicians predict which lung cancer patients will benefit from chemotherapy drugs, according to new research from a multidisciplinary team at the University of Cincinnati (UC). Known as the retinoblastoma (RB) tumor suppressor, this fundamental m...

CSHL team develops mouse models of leukemia that predict response to chemotherapy

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Being able to accurately predict how a given cancer will respond to chemotherapy would spare patients with non-responsive tumors the burden of undergoing toxic and ultimately unhelpful treatment. Just as important, knowing which of a patient's cancer-causing genetic lesi...

Scripps scientists find structure of a protein that makes cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy

A research team at the Scripps Research Institute has obtained the first glimpse of a protein that keeps certain substances, including many drugs, out of cells. The protein, called P-glycoprotein or P-gp for short, is one of the main reasons cancer cells are resistant to chemotherapy drugs. Unders...

Scattered light rapidly detects tumor response to chemotherapy

DURHAM, N.C. -- New technology developed by Duke University bioengineers can help clinicians more precisely detect whether specific cancer drugs are working, and should give basic researchers a powerful new tool to better understand the underlying mechanisms of cancer development. By interpreti...

How eating fruit and vegetables can improve cancer patients' response to chemotherapy

RIVERSIDE, Calif. The leading cause of death in all cancer patients continues to be the resistance of tumor cells to chemotherapy, a form of treatment in which chemicals are used to kill cells. Now a study by UC Riverside biochemists that focuses on cancer cells reports that ingesting apigeni...

Researchers examine why food tastes bad to chemotherapy recipients

About two million cancer patients currently receiving certain drug therapies and chemotherapy find foods and beverages to have a foul metallic flavor, according to a medical study. In general, more than 40 percent of hospitalized patients suffer from malnutrition due to taste and smell dysfunction....

First-ever genomic test predicts which lung cancer patients need chemotherapy to live

Duke University Medical Center scientists have developed the first-ever genomic test to predict which patients with early-stage lung cancer will need chemotherapy to live and which patients can avoid the toxic regimen of drugs. The test has the potential to save thousands of lives each year by ...

Buckyballs boost antibody's chemotherapy payload

In the ongoing search for better ways to target anticancer drugs to kill tumors without making people sick, researchers find that nanoparticles called buckyballs might be used to significantly boost the payload of drugs carried by tumor-targeting antibodies. In research due to appear in an upcomi...

New device could cut chemotherapy deaths

A new method of delivering chemotherapy to cancer patients without incurring side effects such as hair loss and vomiting is being developed. The method, produced at the University of Bath, England, involves using tiny fibres and beads soaked in the chemotherapy drug which are then implanted into...

Predicting chemotherapy outcome

Studying the gene-expression profiles of patients with colorectal cancer might help predict their response to chemotherapy. In a study published today in the open access journal Genome Biology, researchers identified in the tumours of colorectal cancer patients almost 700 genes whose expression was...

Gene expression profile helps predict chemotherapy response in ovarian cancer patients

A newly identified gene expression profile could help predict how patients with advanced ovarian cancer will respond to chemotherapy treatment. Described in a study in the November 1, 2005 issue of The Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), the new findings further establish an important role for micr...

USC researchers determine mechanism of action of chemotherapy drug

The chemotherapy drug motexafin gadolinium (brand name: Xcytrin, manufactured by Pharmacyclics, Inc.) works to thwart cancer cells by disrupting key enzymes involved in cellular metabolism, according to a team of researchers led by Joseph Hacia, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecu...

Bevacizumab Combined With Chemotherapy Improves Progression-Free Survival for Patients With Advanced Breast Cancer

Preliminary results from a large, randomized clinical trial for patients with previously untreated recurrent or metastatic breast cancer ?cancer that has spread from the breast to other parts of the body ?show that those patients who received bevacizumab (Avastin? in combination with standard chemo...

New Treatment Rivals Chemotherapy For Lymphoma, Study Finds

The future of cancer treatment - targeted radiotherapy, on a cellular scale. Antibodies coupled to radioactive isotopes specifically seek out, bind to and kill cancerous cells. Provided that you can find something different on the cell surface between normal and cancerous cells; this is not as eas...

Adding Radiation Therapy To Chemotherapy Improves Survival In Patients With High-risk Breast Cancer

For patients with high-risk breast cancer treated with radical mastectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy, the addition of radiation therapy leads to better survival outcomes with few long-term toxic effects, according to a 20-year follow-up of a randomized trial, which appears in the January 19 issue of...

Advances in lung cancer research announced at conference

...olid tumors. In one, they are treated with TH-302 in combination with other chemotherapy agents. In the other, they are treated only with TH-302, which is produced ...etter." In the study of those treated with TH-302 in combination with other chemotherapy agents, eight of 12, or 67 percent, of patients with NSCLC "achieved stable...

Stem cell 'daughters' lead to breast cancer

...ximately a 65 per cent lifetime chance of developing breast cancer. Following surgery, treatment options available to these women are often limited to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so identifying new treatment and prevention strategies is a priority for us," he said. Luminal progenitor cells in women with BRCA...

A crystal ball for brain cancer?

...re the least likely to grow six months after therapy. Bronnie McNabb, 57, considers himself lucky. When his aggressive brain cancer returned after chemotherapy and radiation, his UCLA doctor prescribed the off-label use of Avastin, a drug shown to quell cancers in the breast, colon and lung. One month la...

'Corrective genes' closer thanks to enzyme modification

...to our surprise, that our intervention allowed the heart of the enzyme to increase its mobility. This unusual mobility caused the enzyme to resist the chemotherapy agent methotrexate a result we never predicted and one that offers promise." The research team made its discovery as it sought ways to help correc...

Nanodiamonds deliver insulin for wound healing

...Ho's research group also has studied nanodiamonds for applications in cancer therapy. They demonstrated that nanodiamonds are capable of releasing the chemotherapy agent Doxorubicin in a sustained and consistent manner. (Ho is a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University....

Genetic factors implicated in survival gap for breast, ovarian or prostate cancer

...at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. "There may be differences in genetic factors by race that alter the metabolism of chemotherapy drugs or that make cancers more resistant or more aggressive. We are now starting research to determine the role of these factors in this disparity." ...

GUMC discovery highlights new direction for drug discovery

...ky says. In the United States, about 500 patients annually are diagnosed with the cancer, and they are treated with a combination of five different chemotherapy drugs. Between 60-70 percent of patients survive over time, but with side effects from the treatment. Few additional treatment options are available f...

Tips from the journals of the American Society for Microbiology

...ir findings in the June 2009 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and chemotherapy . Innate immunity, the universal defense system shared by all animals,...eptide, L5, through activation of host immunity. Antimicrobial Agents and chemotherapy , 53. 6: 2510-2516.) New Vaccination Strategy May Protect Against B...

Potential for non-invasive brain tumor treatment

...ly invasive treatment of brain tumors by combining chemotherapy with heat administered from the end of a catheter....th the traditional approaches of surgery, systemic chemotherapy or radiation. The bioengineers designed and bui...ers envision using this system in conjunction with chemotherapy drugs encased in heat-sensitive microbubbles calle...

UCLA cancer researchers develop model that may help identify cancer stem cells

... are designed to target dividing cells, and the treatments do kill the majority of the cancer cells. But cancer stem cells can lay dormant and survive chemotherapy as well as the molecularly targeted treatments now being used. Because they're not actively dividing, they're invisible to conventional treatment meth...

Test detects molecular marker of aging in humans

...standing of issues like the suitability of organs for transplantation, how well patients are likely to recover after surgery or the future toxicity of chemotherapy for cancer patients," he added. ...

Tumor growth and chemo response may be predicted by mathematical model

...gressiveness of tumors and their susceptibility to chemotherapy may become easier to predict based on a mathematic...predictability of tumor growth in brain cancer and chemotherapy response in breast cancer. Findings appear in two ..." said Hermann Frieboes, Ph.D., lead author of the chemotherapy study and a post doctoral fellow at the UT School ...

New tool for next-generation cancer treatments using nanodiamonds

...ir ability to moderate the release of highly toxic chemotherapy drugs and other therapeutics. This provides a plat...oped a polymer patch that could be used to deliver chemotherapy drugs locally to sites where cancerous tumors have...ase over a period of months, reducing the need for chemotherapy following the removal of a tumor. "An attract...

MIT’s implantable device offers continuous cancer monitoring

...ch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. The devices, which could be implanted at the time of biopsy, could also be tailored to monitor chemotherapy agents, allowing doctors to determine whether cancer drugs are reaching the tumors. They can also be designed to measure pH (acidity) or oxygen levels...

IMPAKT -- Breast cancer conference highlights

... that all news releases are embargoed until Thursday, 7 May 2009, 14:00 (CEST) GENE SIGNATURE IDENTIFIES BREAST CANCER PATIENTS WHO WILL RESPOND TO chemotherapy Thursday, 7 May 2009 (17:00) Researchers have identified a genetic signature that can predict which breast cancer patients will respond well to tre...

Joining forces to improve lung cancer treatment

...patients with operable cancer, surgery followed by chemotherapy can result in good outcomes. Now, large clinical t...rvival benefit in clinical trials. Combinations of chemotherapy and radiotherapy are also improving outcomes of lo...A study comparing radiotherapy alone to sequential chemotherapy and radiation in locally advanced non-small-cell l...

For cancer cells, genetics alone is poor indicator for drug response

...ypothesis. For that, scientists have posited that certain cancers survive standard treatments because a population of tumor-specific stem cells evades chemotherapy or radiation. This paper, however, offers an alternative explanation, namely, that purely through chance, certain cells produce quantities of proteins...