According to Amato Giaccia, PhD, professor and director of radiation oncology and radiation biology at the medical school:

“You now have a potential means of going after a disease that’s been difficult to treat. There is no effective chemotherapy to treat renal cell carcinoma. Patients still succumb. Clinical trials could begin “in the next couple years”.”

Above findings are published today in the journal Cancer Cell. Hopefully this discovery will in the future lessen the surgery option for kidney cancer treatment.

Read more from Science Daily.

Post from: Blisstree

STF-62247: Molecule That Kills Kidney Cancer Cells

Suddenly, my crappy PC is the most beautiful work station on the face of the earth! Ha ha ha.

Anyways, I just wanna list those important stuff that I missed about cancer while having some offline times:

Kidney Cancer Surgery Often Determined By Surgeons’ Practice Style, Not Medical Factors, Study Shows

Outlook Improves For Patients With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Over Past Decade

Toad Venom, A cure for Cancer

Study: More Women Can Cut Cancer Relapse Risk

That’s all for now folks. Just keep coming back here.

‘Hope you all are having a great week!

Post from: Blisstree

This cancer blogger is back online!

In clinical testing, Nexavar improved overall survival by 44 percent among people with HCC. Median overall survival was 10.7 months among those treated with the drug, versus 7.9 months among those who took a placebo. This was considered a major inroad against one of the most voracious cancers.

Nexavar is also being assessed to treat small-cell lung cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma.Earlier trials, however, had shown a 16 percent to 42.6 percent incidence of hypertension in patients taking the drug. If not properly controlled, hypertension can lead to strokes and heart attacks, as well as kidney failure.

For this paper, researchers at the State University of New York Stony Brook conducted a meta-analysis of published clinical trials on Nexavar. In all, nine studies involving 4,599 patients published between January 2006 and July 2007 were analyzed.

There was a 23.4 percent incidence of all-grade hypertension, and a 5.7 percent incidence of high-grade hypertension.

Nexavar is a cancer (chemotherapeutic) medication used (FDA approved) for the treatment of a type of kidney cancer called advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Nexavar is an anti-angiogenesis drug, meaning it fights cancer by cutting off a tumor’s blood supply.

It was approved in 2005 to treat advanced kidney cancer and in 2007 to treat the most common form of liver cancer that can’t be surgically removed (unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma or HCC).

Now, according to the above study, Nexavar can also increases the risk of developing high blood pressure — thereby the need for careful monitoring and treatment in patients taking this drug.

[Source]

Post from: Blisstree

Cancer Drug Nexavar®, Raises Blood Pressure?

Such were the findings of a pilot study led by Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.

According to Jared Gollob, M.D., an oncologist at Duke and lead investigator on the study:

“We found that by combining a drug that enlists the immune system’s help in combating cancer with one that cuts off a tumor’s blood supply, we could substantially increase patients’ response rates to treatment.

Most tumors that respond to either therapy alone begin growing again after about five or six months. By using interferon alpha and sorafenib in combination, we not only increased the response rate, but found we could double the amount of time that these patients could survive without their tumors growing.”

An immunotherapy agent that boosts the body’s own abilities to fight off infections and tumors –interferon alpha- has been used for several decades to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma.

While sorafenib (sold as Nexavar®) is an anti-angiogenic that works by choking a tumor’s blood supply and thereby restricting its growth.

Find more details from the full report.

Post from: Blisstree

Interferon Alpha-Sorafenib Combo Works Better Against Kidney Cancer

Phase III clinical trial data of this miracle pill revealed that chances of survival from final stage liver cancer is increased by 44% or about three months life extension.

Final stage liver cancer is deadly and currently patients suffering this condition have no treatment option.

Sorafenib is a pill that directly targets malignant cancer cells and cuts off the blood supply feeding the tumour and has been found in a large scale multinational trial, conducted by researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and Hospital Clinic of Barcelona (Spain), to work on tumors within the liver and those that have already spread in other parts of the body.

According to Dr Subhash Gupta, head of department, liver surgery, Apollo Hospital:

“Sorafenib holds great promise for patients on whom aggressive options like a mix of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy fail.

Once detected early, liver cancer can be addressed by either a transplant or other techniques.”

Sorafenib is co-marketed by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and Onyx Pharmaceuticals as Nexavar® - which is already indicated for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer).

Find more details from the full report at India Times and Science Daily.

[hat tip: Kendra James]

Post from: Blisstree

Sorafenib: Miracle Pill for Liver Cancer

Torisel™ is an enzyme inhibitor (mTOR inhibitor to be exact) whose FDA approval came following results of prolonged survival in renal cell carcinoma patients.

According to Dr. Steven Galson, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research:

“We have made significant advances in the battle against kidney cancer. Torisel is the third drug approved for this indication in the past 18 months, and one that shows an increased time in survival for some patients.”

Study results demonstrating the efficacy of Torisel™ in renal cell carcinoma patients have just been published in the May 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Find more details from Wyeth’s press release.

Post from: Blisstree

Wyeth’s New Kidney Cancer Drug Torisel™, Approved by the FDA

Such is the result of an analysis of 12 prospective studies of alcohol consumption among renal cancer patients, conducted by a team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston led by Jung Eun Lee, Sc.D.

Wait a minute. We shouldn’t be dancing the dance of joy and drink like there’s no tomorrow.

According to the study’s authors:

“However, because alcohol drinking is associated with increased risks of cancers of the oral cavity, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, liver, and breast, and probably the colon and rectum, maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding smoking are the principal known means to reduce the risk of renal cell cancer that should be encouraged and doing so may also reduce the risk of many other cancers as well as cardiovascular disease.”

Remember, on the average at least one alcoholic beverage per day…like what they say is good for your heart. One glass I presume…not one barrel!

Read the article abstract in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Renal cell cancer or renal cell carcinoma (a kidney cancer) is a cancer that forms in the center of the kidney where urine collects.

Source: Science Daily

Post from: Blisstree

Drink Alcohol, Reduce Risk of Renal Cell Cancer?

Imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) using a radiolabeled monoclonal antibody G250 (originally developed as a potential therapeutic agent) can accurately identify cell renal carcinoma that needs surgery.

This was based on findings of a new study done by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).

…15 out of 16 clear cell renal carcinomas were correctly identified using G250 PET, resulting in a sensitivity of 94 percent. All 9 patients with non-clear cell renal masses were negative on the PET scan — which is highly predictive of a less aggressive cancer — resulting in a specificity of 100 percent.

This promising result suggests that G250 PET (being sensitive and specific) can be utilized in identification of management strategies for clinically localized renal masses and as an alternative to biopsy for distinguishing renal lesions.

Study results will be published in the April 2007 issue of The Lancet Oncology (online March 6/7).

Read the full report.

Post from: Blisstree

Radio-labelled Antibody PET Imaging Identifies Kidney Cancer for Surgery

Such were the findings of a case-control study of more than 2300 Italians led by Francesca Bravi of the Institute of Pharmacological Research “Mario Negri” in Milan.

Accounting for 2 % of all adult cancers, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer.

“The association between elevated cereal intake (bread, pasta and rice) may be due to the high glycemic index of these foods and their possible involvement in insulin-like growth factors,” the researchers suggest.

The inverse relationship between vegetable consumption is consistent with previous studies and may be related to their content of vitamins, micronutrients or elements such as carotenoids, flavonoids and phytosterols.

The said study might be limited in some factors but it doesn’t harm to be of warning to some population groups.

Find more details from Science Daily.

[Photo Credit: www.oznet.ksu.com]

Post from: Blisstree

More Bread = Higher Risk of Renal Cell Carcinoma?

A retrospective study appearing in the September issue of The Lancet Oncology suggests that such practice needs to be re-evaluated.

Urologists at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and their colleagues reported that with advances in imaging, almost 70 percent of kidney cancer patients have their tumor detected at a very small size (less than 4 cm), thereby enabling surgeons to perform less radical surgery with superior results.

According to the results of the said study, patients with two otherwise healthy kidneys who underwent kidney-sparing surgery (partial nephrectomy) to remove a small cancer developed chronic kidney disease at a rate one-third lower than patients whose entire kidney was removed (radical nephrectomy).

Radical nephrectomy or the entire removal of a kidney has been shown to be a significant risk factor for developing chronic kidney disease.

In partial nephrectomy patients, the 3-year probability of staying free of chronic kidney disease is 80% compared to 35% in patients who underwent a radical nephrectomy.

According to Dr. Peter T. Scardino, Chairman of the Department of Surgery and co-author of the study:

“Our study clearly demonstrates, for the first time, the serious effects on kidney function and the high risk of chronic kidney disease when an entire kidney is removed for a small cancer.

Chronic kidney disease leads to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, hospitalizations, and even death. By removing only the cancerous part, we are much more likely to preserve a patient’s normal kidney function and avoid the long-term consequences of chronic kidney disease.”

Read the full report at MSKCC.

Post from: Blisstree

Kidney Cancer Radical Surgery: A Risk Factor for Chronic Kidney Disease