- New cancer therapy developed by scientists from Israel achieves “a 100% Tumor Shrinkage Rate”. The new “ALPHA DaRT” treatment achieves total tumor destruction in over 78% of cases by using alpha radiation for solid tumor treatment in a way tolerated by the human body. Until now using alpha particles for cancer treatment presented a challenge – while being highly efficient in tumor destruction without causing damaging side effects, the particles simply can’t travel the long distance to penetrate all of the tumor. The new technology uses an isotope called radium-224 to push alpha particles across entire the tumor. This technology was recently reported by Jerusalem Post and reporting on this research can be found in scholarly literature.
- Scientists at the University of Toronto have identified a protein related to developing colorectal cancers. The protein, called Importin-11, carries beta-catenin, a protein involved in cell adhesion and gene transcription, into the nucleus of colon cancer cells, where it may promote cell growth. Blocking the function of Importin-11 could lead to new approaches in developing therapies to treat colorectal cancer. The study was published in Journal of Cell Biology.
- Currently, cancer immunotherapy using CD-40 antibodies is unable to demonstrate efficacy in human clinical trials. However, recently scientists at the University Hospital Basel and Roche Innovation Center combined anti-CD40 antibodies with two other antibodies, whose mechanism of action was hypothetically conducive to boosting the anti-CD40 effect, and the combination demonstrated an increased treatment effect in animal models of colorectal, breast and skin cancer. According to study leader Dr. Abhishek Kashyap, “patients with ‘cold’ tumors — tumors that do not respond well to immunotherapy — could benefit most from this new combination.” The study, authored by academic and pharmaceutical scientists and supported, in part, by a Roche grant, was published in PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
- New animal research found that taking the antibiotic vancomycin before undergoing radiation therapy boosts the immune system and enhances the anti-tumor effect of radiotherapy (specifically, hypofractionated therapy) by altering gram-positive bacteria in the gut. The study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania was related to lung cancer, melanoma and cervical cancer. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Category Archives: In the News
New Treatment, Genetic Findings for Advanced Bladder Cancer Patients
The end of 2019 brought positive news for patients with advanced urothelial cancer (UC), cancer of the bladder’s inner lining.
Patients with metastatic or locally advanced UC now have an additional treatment option: Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv), a drug recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that targets a type of cancer cell common to UC. In an article about the drug in Cure, MSK’s Dr. Jonathan E. Rosenberg calls the approval “a significant advance.”
Researchers at MSK led by Dr. Maria Carlo have made genetic findings for advanced UC. In a Journal of Clinical Oncology article, reported by Medwire News, the authors retrospectively identified genetic variants that could impact the screening and treatment of advanced UC. They recommend expanding genetic testing for these patients.
Dr. Jonathan E. Rosenberg Dr. Maria Carlo
Connecting Underserved Populations with Colonoscopy Screening
How do you encourage underserved populations to get screening colonoscopies?
A new study led by MSK and Mount Sinai researchers addresses this question for more than 300 low-income Latinx individuals living in New York City. A Cancer Network article describes the findings.
The researchers compared three initiatives: patient navigation; patient navigation alongside Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) print materials; and patient navigation with culturally targeted print materials. The authors define patient navigation as the use of a health care professional who helps patients “navigate and obtain medical care.” They found that while patient navigators increased the colonoscopy rate, the addition of either type of print material did not improve uptake of screening colonoscopy.
The authors acknowledge that their study looks at a very specific population and the results may not be generalizable. They call for further research into the effects of patient navigation.