Cancer Newsline Story Archives

Fall 2009

Toad Venom May Help Treat Cancer
Huachansu, a Chinese medicine that comes from venom secreted by the skin glands of toads, may slow the growth of cancer in some patients and do so without significant side effects.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery Preferred for Brain Metastases
Cancer patients who receive stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) to treat 1-3 metastatic brain tumors have more than twice the risk of developing learning and memory problems than those treated with SRS alone.

Diabetes Medicine May Reduce Cancer Risk
Metformin, the most commonly prescribed drug for diabetes, may help protect against pancreatic cancer. Diabetes is a known risk factor for the disease, one of the most dangerous forms of cancer.

Blood Test May Detect Pancreatic Cancer
A blood test for molecules that are produced abnormally in pancreatic cancer may provide a promising route to early detection of the disease.

Variation in Gene May Increase Risk of Bladder Cancer
Researchers have pinpointed a specific gene variation that causes increased risk of urinary bladder cancer.

Five Gene Variations May Raise Risk of Brain Tumors
Variations in five genes may raise a person's risk of developing glioma, the most prevalent type of brain tumor.

Four New Targets Found for Breast Cancer
Three protein receptors and an enzyme that often are over-produced in several types of cancer also play roles in breast cancer.

Summer 2009

Two-drug combo shows benefit in lung cancer
When combined with the standard chemotherapy drug Taxotere® (docetaxel), the oral targeted therapy Zactima® (vandetanib) improves progression-free survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Vaccine Gives Hope Against Advanced Melanoma
Patients with advanced melanoma, one of the most dangerous cancers, showed improved response to treatment and length of progression-free survival when a vaccine was added to their treatment with the immunotherapy drug interleukin-2 (IL-2).

How Common Is Use of Off-Label Drugs in Breast Cancer?
Many Patients Receive Legal But Non-Approved Drugs
More than one-third of breast cancer patients receive chemotherapy drugs that, while approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have not been vetted specifically to treat the disease.

Metastatic Colon Cancer Survival Jumps Dramatically Almost a Third of Patients May Live Five Years
Novel chemotherapy and biological agents, combined with advances in liver surgery, have increased five-year survival rates for metastatic colorectal cancer from 8% to 30% in the past 20 years.

Acupuncture Eases Radiation-Induced Dry Mouth
The traditional Chinese medical technique of acupuncture may safely help patients whose radiation treatments cause extreme dry mouth, or xerostomia.

Genetic Variants Predict Bladder Cancer Recurrence, Survival
Variations in genes that modulate inflammation in the body can influence survival rates and recurrence in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) who are treated with one of the most common therapies for this disease.

Gene Protects Breast Cancer Tumor Suppressor
Scientists have discovered a gene that protects PTEN, a major tumor-suppressor that is reduced but rarely mutated in about half of all breast cancers.

Stress Management Helps Prostate Cancer Patients
Brief stress-management sessions before and immediately after radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate and surrounding tissue) to treat early-stage prostate cancer had short- and long-term benefits in a recent study.

Surgery Offers Hope for Lymphedema
A surgical procedure helped reduce upper-arm lymphedema, swelling that is common after surgery or radiation to treat breast cancer, by nearly 30% in a recent study.

Spring 2009

Receptor Helps Target Osteosarcoma
Targeting a cell receptor known to play a part in the spread of cancer to the bones may enable chemotherapy drugs to be delivered directly to the cells of osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.

Breast Cancer Risk Remains in Pregnancy
Young women who diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy or within one year of giving birth are similar to other women when it comes to survival or chances of the cancer returning or spreading.

Trials Test Drugs for Hodgkin Lymphoma
Researchers at M. D. Anderson are conducting two separate Phase II trials on targeted therapies as potential treatments for relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma.