Testosterone Improved Body Mass and QoL in Male and Female Cancer Patients

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Wright

Traver Wright, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Health and Kinesiology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Many cancer patients suffer from a loss of body mass known as cachexia which results in not only a loss of fat, but a debilitating loss of muscle mass and function. This cachexia negatively impacts patient mobility and quality of life, and can also reduce their eligibility to undergo treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy. Despite the profound negative consequences of cachexia, there are no established therapies to directly address this debilitating loss of body mass during treatment.

In this National Cancer Institute funded double-blind, placebo-controlled study we examined the effectiveness of 7 weeks of treatment with the muscle-building hormone testosterone to preserve the body condition of men and women with cervical or head and neck cancer. Twenty-one patients received weekly injections of either placebo or testosterone. Over the 7 weeks of treatment, patients were monitored for changes in body composition, activity level, physical ability, and questionnaires regarding quality of life and well-being.

Continue reading →

Sunscreen Use During Childhood Reduces Melanoma Risk

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Caroline Watts PhD
Post-doctoral Researcher
The University of Sydney.

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The study analysed data collected from nearly 1700 young Australians who participated in the Australian Melanoma Family Study, a population-based case-control-family study that focused on people who had a melanoma under 40 years of age and compared them with people the same age who did not have a melanoma.

We examined sunscreen use during childhood and adulthood and its association with melanoma risk and found that compared to people who did not use sunscreen, regular sunscreen use during childhood reduced melanoma risk by 30-40 per cent. Continue reading →

Early Dinner May Lower Cancer Risk

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Manolis Kogevinas, MD, PhD
Research Professor
NCDs & Environment Group
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) – Campus MAR
Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) (office 194)
Barcelona, Spain

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: We did the study for two main reasons.

(i) breast and to a less extent prostate cancer are the cancers that have been associated with night shift work and resulting circadian disruption (disruption of the natural day-light cycle);

(ii) experimental studies in animals indicate that timing of diet is important. For example, giving an hypercaloric diet to mice during the day results in obesity, while giving the same diet during the night does not. Mice are nocturnal animals and this means that there normal eating time is the night when they can metabolise what they eat. So, would something similar affect humans? When we eat in late hours at a time when “normally” (normally in the sense of evolution) we would be resting.

In this study we show that adherence to a more diurnal eating pattern and specifically an early supper and a long interval between last meal and sleep are associated with a lower breast and prostate cancer risk. Specifically having super before 9pm and having an interval of 2 hours between the last big meal and sleep, were both associated with an approximately 20% prevention of breast and prostate cancer) compared to those who have supper after 10pm or those who eat and then sleep very close after supper.

Also, the strongest protection was found in “morning types” as compared to “evening types”. Morning types are expected to function worse than evening types in late evening so late suppers may have more adverse effects on them.

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Simple Interventional Program Can Reduce Sunburns in Outdoor Workers

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sonia Duffy, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor, College of Nursing
The Ohio State University

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Prior to conducting a tobacco cessation study with Operating Engineers, I conducted a survey of 498 Operating engineer and found that many of them were at risk for sun burning, which can lead to skin cancer. So as a follow up study, I conducted a study to prevent sun burning, which randomized 357 Operating Engineers to were randomized to four interventions: education only; education and text message reminders; education and mailed sunscreen; and education, text message reminders, and mailed sunscreen.

Continue reading →

TARDOX Study: Targeting liver tumours with focused ultrasound for triggered drug delivery of thermosensitve liposomes is safe, feasible and enhances delivered dose

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Lyon

Paul Lyon DPhil, MRCS
Academic Clinical Fellow in Radiology
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Oxford, UK

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Delivering therapeutic doses of systemic chemotherapy to solid tumours, whilst ensuring side effects remain tolerable, has a presented a long-standing and unsolved challenge in oncology. With the advent of smart nanomedicines for clinical use, such as Lyso-Thermosensitive Liposomal Doxorubicin (LTLD, ThermoDox^®, Celsion, USA), which has been formulated to release its doxorubicin content at 2.5°C above body temperature, there is now opportunity for targeted tumour therapy in combination with therapeutic devices.

Much like a magnifying glass can focus energy from the sun to burn a hole in paper, ultrasound can be focused deep within the body to induce therapeutic effects in tumours, including ablation, hyperthermia and other bioeffects. Since its inception in the 1940s, focused (or therapeutic) ultrasound has evolved and is now FDA-approved for a variety of indications including ablation of several tumour types, virtue of being safe, non-invasive and non-ionising.

Building on decades of preclinical research efforts worldwide, the TARDOX study is the first clinical trial to attempt triggered drug delivery to a target tumour non-invasively using an external focused ultrasound device. This phase 1 study which ran between March 2015-March 2017 in Oxford, UK, treated 10 patients with inoperable primary or secondary liver tumours which were either stable or refractory to previous chemotherapies. In each patient, a single intervention under general anaesthetic was performed during which a selected liver tumour was targeted and gently heated with focused ultrasound following an intravenous infusion of LTLD. Biopsies were used to determine the quantity of intratumoral doxorubicin before and after the ultrasound exposure. Continue reading →

Vitamin D and Colorectal Cancer Risk – What is the Correlation?

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Weinstein

Stephanie J. Weinstein, M.S., Ph.D.
Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics
National Cancer Institute, NIH

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Vitamin D, known for its role in maintaining bone health, is hypothesized to lower colorectal cancer risk via several pathways related to cell growth and regulation. Previous prospective studies have reported inconsistent results for whether higher concentrations of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the accepted measure of vitamin D status, are linked to lower risk of colorectal cancer. The few randomized clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation and colorectal cancer completed thus far have not shown an effect; but study size, relatively short supplementation duration, and only moderate compliance may have contributed to their null findings.

To address inconsistencies in prior studies on vitamin D, and to investigate associations in population subgroups, we harmonized and analyzed participant-level data from over 5,700 colorectal cancer cases who had blood collected before colorectal cancer diagnosis, and 7,100 matched cancer-free controls. Study participants were drawn from 17 prospective cohorts from the United States, Europe, and Asia and were followed for an average of 5.5 years (range: 1 – 25 years). We used a single, widely accepted assay and laboratory for new vitamin D measurements and calibrated existing vitamin D measurements. In the past, substantial differences between assays made it difficult to integrate vitamin D data from different studies. Our novel calibration approach enabled us to explore risk systematically over the broad range of vitamin D levels seen internationally. Continue reading →

Ultrasound Therapy Found To Be Effective Option For Prostate Cancer

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Prof. Ahmed

Prof. Hashim Ahmed
Professor and Chair of Urology
Imperial College London

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Men with localised clinically significant prostate cancer currently undergo radical (whole gland) surgery or radiotherapy. These treatments are effective but can cause urine leakage in 5-30% and erectile dysfunction in 30-60%. Radiotherapy can cause rectal problems in 5%.

So, although there is benefit in treating the cancer in these men, the side effects significantly affect the quality of life.

Continue reading →

Targeting Breast Cancer Screening To Higher Risk Patients Reduces Overdiagnosis, Costs and Side Effects

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Pashayan

Dr Nora Pashayan PhD

Clinical Reader in Applied Health Research

University College London

Dept of Applied Health Research

London

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Not all women have the same risk of developing breast cancer and not all women have the same potential to benefit from screening.

If the screening programme takes into account the individual variation in risk, then evidence from different studies indicate that this could improve the efficiency of the screening programme. However, questions remain on what is the best risk-stratified screening strategy, does risk-stratified screening add value for money, and what are benefit and harm trade-offs.

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HPV Testing Detects Cervical Pre-Cancer Earlier Than PAP Tests

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Gina Ogilvie | MD MSc FCFP DrPH Professor | Faculty of Medicine | University of British Columbia Canada Research Chair | Global control of HPV related disease and cancer Senior Public Health Scientist | BC Centre for Disease Control Senior Research Advisor | BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre Vancouver, BC

Dr. Gina Ogilvie

Dr. Gina Ogilvie | MD MSc FCFP DrPH
Professor | Faculty of Medicine | University of British Columbia
Canada Research Chair | Global control of HPV related disease and cancer
Senior Public Health Scientist | BC Centre for Disease Control
Senior Research Advisor | BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre
BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre
Vancouver, BC

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: HPV is known to be the cause of 99% of cervcial cancers.

In this study, we compared the routine screening test for cervical cancer, Pap test, to HPV testing.

We found that by using HPV testing, women were significantly more likely to have cervical pre-cancers detected earlier. In addition, women with negative HPV tests were significantly less likely to have pre-cancers 48 months later.

Continue reading →

Not All Pancreatic Cancers are the Same: Some Have Treatable Mutations

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Pishvaian

Michael J. Pishvaian, MD, PhD
Phase I Program Director
Assistant Professor
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
Washington, DC 20007

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Pancreatic cancer is a deadly disease and will soon be the second leading cause of cancer-related death.

We have made some progress in the last few years….but despite this, patients with advanced, inoperable pancreatic cancer (which represents about 80% of pancreatic cancer patients) still only live 12 months, on average. We desperately need new therapies, AND to think “outside the box” for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

In that context, we have been learning that there are subgroups of patients with cancer whose tumors are particularly susceptible to certain therapies – either new therapies, or in some cases, approved therapies that would have not normally been used for that disease. These specific patient subgroups with “actionable” findings have been identified through extensive genetic and molecular characterization of a patient’s tumor.

In the past there was a cynical perspective that pancreatic cancer did not harbor any “actionable” molecular abnormalities.

We have now demonstrated that:

1) There are clearly and undeniably patients with pancreatic cancer whose tumors do indeed harbor “actionable” findings. This represents at least 27% of pancreatic cancer patients, but may represent up to 50% as new therapies evolve. These percentages are also highly consistent with similar publications in the pancreatic cancer field over the last few years; and

2) Importantly, we have been following our patients longitudinally for outcomes, and while it is still early, there is a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival when a patient with a specific actionable molecular abnormality is treated with the appropriately “targeted” therapy. This finding is also consistent with findings that have been observed in other cancer types. Continue reading →

Young Survivors of Cancer at Increased Risk of Endocrine Disease

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mette Vestergaard Jensen, MD
Danish Cancer Society Research Center

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Cancer survival rates have improved and it is necessary to explore the long-term consequences of cancer treatment. Adolescents and young adults with cancer are at risk for several therapy-related late effects; however, these have not been studied extensively. We investigatet the lifetime risks of endocrine late effects of cancer and cancer treatment in adolescent and young adult cancer s

Continue reading →

Small Renal Cancers: For Select Older Patients, Percutaneous Ablation May Be As Effective and Safer

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Talenfeld

Adam Talenfeld, M.D
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Weill Cornell Medical College
Assistant Attending Radiologist
New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: We know that renal function decreases as we age, and we know that decreased renal function is independently associated with increased mortality. This is why medical society guidelines recommend partial nephrectomy, which preserves kidney tissue and function, over radical nephrectomy for the treatment of the smallest kidney cancers, stage T1a tumors, which are under 4 cm diameter. Paradoxically, though, we know older patients are more likely than younger patients to receive radical nephrectomy for these smallest tumors, probably because it’s a simpler surgery than partial nephrectomy.

Percutaneous ablation, focal tissue destruction using heat or cold emanating from the tip of a needle, is a newer, image-guided, minimally-invasive, tissue-sparing treatment for solid organ tumors. We wanted to test how well percutaneous ablation would compare to partial nephrectomy and radical nephrectomy for these smallest kidney cancers.

We found that percutaneous ablation was associated with similar 5-year overall and cancer-specific survival compared to radical nephrectomy. At the same time, ablation was associated with significantly lower rates of new-onset chronic renal insufficiency and one-fifth as many serious non-urological complications than radical nephrectomy within 30 days of treatment. These were complications, such as deep venous thrombosis or pneumonia, that resulted in emergency department visits or new hospital admissions. The outcomes of percutaneous ablation compared with partial nephrectomy were somewhat less clear, though ablation was again associated with fewer perioperative complications. Continue reading →

Anti-Cancer Mechanism of Curcumin Outlined

Posted on June 29, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Pfeffer

Ulrich Pfeffer, PhD
Head of the Functional Genomics lab
IRCCS AOU San Martino – IST Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro
Genova, Italy

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Curcumin is well known as a dietary integrator and in alternative medicine. Many previous studies showed its anti-cancer and many other beneficial activities. We and others had shown that these activities rely on its ability to reduce inflammation, which is an important factor in cancer development. This activity had also been described in much detail. It appears that curcumin inhibits the master regulator of the inflammatory program, the so called Nuclear factor kappa B, NFκB.

In the present study, we asked whether Curcumin also affects tumor cell metabolism and if so, how. We show that curcumin inhibits a central enzyme of the cell metabolism, the ATP-Synthase, that stands at the end of the chain that burns sugar and produces energy. In tumor cells, this also leads to the production of reactive oxygen species, ROS, that kill the cancer cell. Continue reading →

Enzalutamide (Xtandi) Provides Men with NonMetastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer an Effective Treatment Option

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Hussain

Maha Hussain, MD, FACP, FASCO
Genevieve Teuton Professor of Medicine
Division of Hematology/Oncology
Deputy Director
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Until recently patients with non metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (nmcrpc) had no impactful systemic therapy options. Progression to metastatic crpc; the deadly phase of the cancer, is a given in the vast majority of patients.

Enzalutamide significantly delayed the time to metastases development by almost 2 years compared to placebo with a 71% reduction in the risk of metastases or death and a median metastases free survival of 36.6 compared to 14.7 months respectively. This was accomplished without negative impact on quality of life (qol). Enzalutamide treated patients had a higher rate of PSA declines and delayed time to requiring other anticancer therapies.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Androgen receptor targeting continues to be clinically relevant in this disease and the therapeutic impact is greater in earlier disease settings with lower tumor burden. This data provides men with non metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer an effective treatment option.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: In this disease setting maximizing the antitumor effect with rational combinations to increase tumor kill with the goal of further reducing the risk of metastasis and prolonging overall survival and potentially hope for “cure”.

MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Any disclosures:

Response: On behalf of all my coauthors and study investigators I wish to thank the patients and their caregivers for participating in this trial. Their partnership is critical to defeat prostate cancer.

Research funding to our institutions for clinical trials from Pfizer.

Citation:

Enzalutamide in Men with Nonmetastatic, Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Maha Hussain, M.D., Karim Fizazi, M.D., Ph.D., Fred Saad, M.D., Per Rathenborg, M.D., Neal Shore, M.D., Ubirajara Ferreira, M.D., Ph.D., Petro Ivashchenko, M.D., Eren Demirhan, Ph.D., Katharina Modelska, M.D., Ph.D., De Phung, B.S., Andrew Krivoshik, M.D., Ph.D., and Cora N. Sternberg, M.D.
June 28, 2018
N Engl J Med 2018; 378:2465-2474
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1800536

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Melanoma Compromises Quality of Life, especially in Later Stages

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Semenov

Eugene R. Semenov, MD, MA
Washington University School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Melanoma is an aggressive type of skin cancer which has traditionally carried a poor prognosis. Over the past decade, many new therapies have become available that have improved long-term survival rates in patients with metastatic melanoma. However, these drugs have been associated with serious side effects, such as pancreatitis and hepatitis. Our goal was to study how melanoma diagnosis, disease stage, and treatment status impact patient quality of life (QoL).

Continue reading →

Recombinant Polio Vaccine Improved Survival Rate Among Some With Aggressive Recurrent Brain Tumor

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Annick Desjardins, Assistant Professor of Medicine, photographed on October 2, 2013.

Dr. Desjardins

Annick Desjardins, M.D., F.R.C.P.C.
Associate Professor of Neurology
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
Director of Clinical Research
The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke
Duke University School of Medicine
Durham, NC 27710

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The poliovirus receptor (CD155) is an onco-fetal cell adhesion molecule with widespread expression in all solid tumors and particularly in primary CNS tumors (adult and pediatric).

Recombinant nonpathogenic polio–rhinovirus chimera (PVSRIPO) was generated by replacing a critical piece of the genetic information from the Sabin type 1 polio vaccine, making PVSRIPO incapable of harming or killing normal brain cells, but toxic/lethal in cancer cells. In preclinical models, it has been demonstrated that the infection of tumor cells, leads to the release of danger signals, which triggers a recruitment of dendritic/CD4/CD8 T cells and a destruction of tumor cells by anti-tumor T cells.

The manuscript reports the results of the phase 1 trial of PVSRSIPO in recurrent WHO grade IV malignant glioma patients. Adult patients with recurrence of a single glioblastoma lesion, 1-5.5cm in dimension, in a non-eloquent area of the brain, were enrolled on study. PVSRIPO is injected slowly over 6.5 hours directly into the tumor via a small catheter inserted via a small bur hole. Once intratumoral injection is completed, the catheter is removed and patients are observed for localized tumor inflammation, followed by tumor contraction. A total of 61 patients were treated on study, 9 patients in a dose escalation phase and 52 in a dose expansion phase. Side effects observed were in relation to the localized inflammation of the tumor and depending on the cerebral functions in close proximity to the tumor: headaches, visual field changes, hemiparesis, etc.

One patient experienced a brain hemorrhage at the time of catheter removal, which triggered right sided weakness and aphasia. The patient remained alive 57.5 months after PVSRIPO infusion at data cutoff of March 20^th, 2018. Two on-study death were observed, a patient died from cerebral edema and seizures, which was later found to be due to tumor progression, and one patient died from the complications of an intracranial hemorrhage while receiving anticoagulation and bevacizumab.

The median overall survival among all 61 patients who received PVSRIPO was 12.5 months (95% CI, 9.9 to 15.2), comparatively to 11.3 months (95% CI, 9.8 to 12.5) in a historical control group of patients treated at Duke and who would have met eligibility on trial, would have the trial been available to them.

At 24 months, the survival plateaued in patients treated with PVSRIPO with an overall survival rate of 21% (95% CI, 11 to 33) at 24 months and 36 months in PVSRIPO treated patients, while overall survival in the historical control group continued to decline, with an overall survival rates of 14% (95% CI, 8 to 21) at 24 months and 4% (95% CI, 1 to 9) at 36 months in the historical control group. Continue reading →

PD-1 Inhibitors Appear to Improve Overall Survival More than Progression-Free Cancer

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Bishal Gyawali

Bishal Gyawali, MD, PhD
Department of Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: PD-1 inhibitors are an interesting class of cancer drugs with atypical response patterns in clinical trials. There is a lot of debate over cancer drugs that improve progression-free survival (PFS) – a surrogate measure of clinical benefit– without affecting patients’ overall survival (OS), but in some studies, PD-1 inhibitors appears to improve overall survival (OS) without affecting PFS.

We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials of PD-1 inhibitors (nivolumab and pembrolizumab) to assess the effect of these drugs on OS versus PFS. We showed that PD-1 inhibitors do appear to improve OS more than PFS. Continue reading →

Watson for Clinical Trial Matching Increases Enrollment in Breast Cancer Trials

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Alexandra Urman

Alexandra Urman, MPH
Clinical Research Manager
Clinical Development
IBM Watson Health

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Cancer statistics show only 3-5% of cancer patients participate in clinical trials although up to 20% may be eligible.

Dr. Tufia Hadad, a medical Oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota sought to address this issue and spearheaded a project conducted at the Rochester facility in collaboration with IBM Watson Health. The objective was to determine if the use of cognitive computing increased clinical trial enrollment and screening efficiency in the breast cancer clinic.

Watson for Clinical Trial Matching (CTM) is a cognitive system which utilizes natural language processing to derive patient and tumor attributes from unstructured text in the electronic health record that can be further used to match a patient to complex eligibility criteria in trial protocols.

Continue reading →

Higher Vitamin D Levels Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Incidence

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Garland

Cedric F. Garland, Dr.P.H., F.A.C.E.
Adjunct Professor
Division of Epidemiology
Department of Family Medicine and Public Health
University of California San Diego
La Jolla, California 92093-0620

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Studies mapping death rates from female breast cancer in the US, the former USSR and Canada by Drs. Edward Gorham, and Frank and Cedric Garland revealed for the first time in history that death rates from breast cancer tracked latitude where people lived.

The rates were highest in the least sunny northern tier of states, lowest in the sunny southwest. This led these scientists to be the first to theorize that vitamin D prevents breast cancer” said study first author Sharon McDonnell. Continue reading →

Anti-PD1 Immunotherapy May Work Better in Older Melanoma Patients

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Weeraratna

Ashani Weeraratna, Ph.D.
The Ira Brind professor and
Co-program leader of the Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program
The Wistar Institute
Member of Wistar’s Melanoma Research Center
Philadelphia

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: This study shows for the first time that older patients, especially those who have had prior MAPKi therapy fare better than younger patients when treated with anti-PD1. We found that tumors in younger patients and younger mice have higher levels of Tregulatory cells, the cells that regulate other immune cells. This is not true systemically, only within the tumor microenvironment.

We were surprised because we expected that, as with targeted therapy, older patients would have a poorer response to immunotherapy, given what we perceive as a poorer immune system in older patients. Continue reading →

MedicalResearch.com

Medical Research News and Exclusive Interviews. Medical Research, Health and Science News in the Authors' Own Words

Category Archives: Cancer Research

Testosterone Improved Body Mass and QoL in Male and Female Cancer Patients

Sunscreen Use During Childhood Reduces Melanoma Risk

Early Dinner May Lower Cancer Risk

Simple Interventional Program Can Reduce Sunburns in Outdoor Workers

TARDOX Study: Targeting liver tumours with focused ultrasound for triggered drug delivery of thermosensitve liposomes is safe, feasible and enhances delivered dose

Vitamin D and Colorectal Cancer Risk – What is the Correlation?

Ultrasound Therapy Found To Be Effective Option For Prostate Cancer

Targeting Breast Cancer Screening To Higher Risk Patients Reduces Overdiagnosis, Costs and Side Effects

HPV Testing Detects Cervical Pre-Cancer Earlier Than PAP Tests

Not All Pancreatic Cancers are the Same: Some Have Treatable Mutations

Young Survivors of Cancer at Increased Risk of Endocrine Disease

Small Renal Cancers: For Select Older Patients, Percutaneous Ablation May Be As Effective and Safer

Anti-Cancer Mechanism of Curcumin Outlined

Enzalutamide (Xtandi) Provides Men with NonMetastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer an Effective Treatment Option

Melanoma Compromises Quality of Life, especially in Later Stages

Recombinant Polio Vaccine Improved Survival Rate Among Some With Aggressive Recurrent Brain Tumor

PD-1 Inhibitors Appear to Improve Overall Survival More than Progression-Free Cancer

Watson for Clinical Trial Matching Increases Enrollment in Breast Cancer Trials

Higher Vitamin D Levels Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Incidence

Anti-PD1 Immunotherapy May Work Better in Older Melanoma Patients