Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical division of Merck, has announced that The Lancet Oncology has published results from the Phase III trial of its investigational MUC1 antigen specific cancer immunotherapy tecemotide (also known as L-BLP25) in patients with unresectable, locally advanced Stage III non- small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), known as the START* trial.
New trial to help healthy women avoid unnecessary breast operations, UK
12/10/2013
Researchers at the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust are launching a breast screening study aimed at improving the treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) by only operating on women who need surgery - rather than all of those who show signs of abnormal cells.
Hints of added benefit of enzalutamide in prostate cancer
12/10/2013
Longer overall survival in patients without visceral metastases / bone complications and pain progression delayedEnzalutamide (trade name: Xtandi) has been approved since June 2013 for men with metastatic prostate cancer in whom the commonly used hormone blockade is no longer effective and who have already been treated with the cytostatic drug docetaxel.
Promising early results in international gene therapy trial for 'bubble boy' disease
12/10/2013
8 of 9 children treated doing well, according to data presented to American Society of HematologyHematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), once considered an effective yet risky alternative to drug therapy for blood cancer, has become more accessible and successful in a wide range of patients as a result of major advances in transplant strategies and technologies.
Penn study results for first 59 leukemia patients who received cell therapy
12/10/2013
Three and a half years after beginning a clinical trial which demonstrated the first successful and sustained use of genetically engineered T cells to fight leukemia, a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia announced the latest results of studies involving both adults and children with advanced blood...
Multiple myeloma drug candidate shows promising results
12/10/2013
A new study conducted by scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden presents very promising results for the treatment of the cancer form multiple myeloma.
Microbes in gut may increase risk for colorectal cancer
12/10/2013
In one of the largest epidemiological studies of human gut bacteria and colorectal cancer ever conducted, a team of researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center has found a clear association between gut bacteria and colorectal cancer.
A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins and in Texas has identified a handful of genetic mutations in black Americans, in addition to some chemical alterations affecting gene activity, which may help explain why the death rate among African-Americans from the most common form of head and neck cancer continues to hover some 18 percent higher above the death rate of whites with the same cancer.
Access to transplants for MDS should not be limited by age
12/10/2013
Patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) who were as old as 74 fared as well with stem cell transplantation as did patients in the 60-to-65 age range, according to a study from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.
Scientists recommend testing for Pearson syndrome in patients with congenital anemia
12/10/2013
Some babies diagnosed with and treated for a bone marrow failure disorder, called Diamond Blackfan Anemia, may actually be affected by a very rare anemia syndrome that has a different disease course and treatment, say scientists from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.