AACR
02 May Segregated Black Patients Less Likely To Receive Lung Cancer Surgery
Posted at 14:04h
in AACR, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Lung Cancer, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Surgical Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_23958" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Asal Mohamadi Johnson[/caption]
Asal Mohamadi Johnson, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Integrative Health Science
Stetson University
DeLand, FL 32723
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Johnson: Public health research is primarily focused on neighborhood poverty and racial disparities by illustrating differences between white and black individuals or communities. For example, it has been established that African Americans have higher cancer mortality rates and are less likely to receive appropriate treatment that whites. What we wanted to know in this study was the impact of living in segregated areas apart from other area level characteristics such as poverty or education. Instead of solely looking at health disparities between whites and black patients, our study focused on differences in survival among black patients with early stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) living in different levels of neighborhood segregation.
01 May Monitoring Circulating Tumor Cells May Further Personalized Cancer Treatment
Posted at 19:41h
in AACR, Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Cancer Research, Personalized Medicine, Stanford
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Elodie Sollier
Chief Scientific Officer at Vortex Biosciences
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) burden may be a useful biomarker of response to targeted therapy in PDX (Patient Derived Xenograft) mouse models. Vortex Biosciences’ technology has been proven to enrich CTCs from human blood, but use of the technology with mouse blood had not yet been explored. In this poster, human CTCs are isolated with both high efficiency and purity from xenograft model of breast cancer using Vortex’s technology. Circulating Tumor Cell enumeration increased as the tumor burden increased in the mouse demonstrating its utility as a biomarker for drug treatment response.
27 Apr New Technology Can Detect Circulating Colon Cancer Cells In Less Than an Hour
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Elodie Sollier PhD Chief Scientific Officer at Vortex Biosciences MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Vortex Biosciences has developed a fast and simple way to isolate and collect intact circulating tumor cells (CTCs) directly from whole blood in less than an hour using a process based on microfluidics. To better understand the utility of the technology for the clinical setting, PCR-based Sanger sequencing was used to profile the mutations of CTCs isolated from blood from metastatic Colorectal cancer patients. The mutations were compared to primary tumor biopsies, secondary tumor biopsies and ctDNA. There are 3 primary take-aways:- The Vortex technology captures CTCs with enough purity to perform sensitive and accurate PCR-based Sanger sequencing.
- Mutations present in primary and secondary tumors can be identified in both CTCs and ctDNA making liquid biopsies a valuable alternative to tissue biopsies.
- While there is general consistency of mutations identified, some mutations are only identified in CTCs while others only in ctDNA demonstrating how these are indeed complimentary.
25 Apr Genetic Variants May Raise Risk of Breast Cancer In Pediatric Radiation Therapy Patients
Posted at 17:34h
in AACR, Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Pediatrics, Radiation Therapy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_23755" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Lindsay Morton[/caption]
Lindsay M. Morton, PhD
Senior investigator in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetic
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, Maryland
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Morton: We know that childhood cancer survivors, particularly those who received radiotherapy to the chest, have strongly increased risk of developing breast cancer. We studied about 3,000 female survivors of childhood cancer to identify whether inherited genetic susceptibility may influence which survivors go on to develop breast cancer.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Dr. Morton: In this discovery study, we found that specific variants in two regions of the genome were associated with increased risk of breast cancer after childhood cancer among survivors who received 10 or more gray of chest radiotherapy. A variant at position q41 on chromosome 1 was associated with nearly two-fold increased risk and one at position q23 on chromosome 11 was associated with a more than three-fold increased risk for each copy of the risk alleles. However, the variant alleles didn’t appear to have an effect among survivors who did not receive chest radiotherapy.
21 Apr Prostate Cancer Mortality May Be Reduced By Moderate Physical Activity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23675" align="alignleft" width="136"]
Dr. Ying Wang[/caption]
Ying Wang, PHD | Senior Epidemiologist
American Cancer Society, Inc.
250 Williams St.
Atlanta, GA 30303
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Wang: Although evidence is still limited, previous studies suggest that vigorous activity and brisk walking after prostate cancer diagnosis might be associated with lower risk of prostate cancer progression and disease-specific mortality. We still don’t know if physical activity before diagnosis is associated with the risk or not. This is also important because reverse causation is a concern in the analysis of post-diagnosis physical activity, especially for vigorous activity, that men with advanced diseases may reduce their activity level. In contrast, pre-diagnosis physical activity is less subject to reverse causation and may represent a long-term behavior. When walking, the most common type of physical activity, was examined separately in previous studies, it was not evaluated in the absence of other activities. No study has examined sitting time in relation to mortality among prostate cancer survivors, although previous study suggests longer sitting time is associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality in healthy populations. So in our study, we aimed to examine physical activity, walking only, and sitting time both before and after diagnosis in relation to prostate cancer-specific mortality.
21 Apr High Dietary Saturated Fat Associated With Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23650" align="alignleft" width="180"]
Dr. Emma Allott[/caption]
Emma Helen Allott, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Allott: Prostate cancer incidence rates vary more than 25-fold worldwide, and are highest in Western countries. This large international variation is due in part to differences in screening practices between countries, but dietary factors may also play a role. Unlike other macronutrients, dietary fat intake varies more than fivefold worldwide, and individuals in Western countries are among the highest consumers of saturated fat. High dietary saturated fat content contributes to raised blood cholesterol levels, and evidence from population-based studies supports an adverse role for serum cholesterol and a protective role for cholesterol-lowering statins in prostate cancer. Our hypothesis in this study was that high saturated fat intake would drive prostate tumor aggressiveness via raising serum cholesterol levels.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Dr. Allott: Using the North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project, a study of 1,854 men with newly-diagnosed prostate cancer, we show that high dietary saturated fat content is associated with increased tumor aggressiveness. We found a slightly weaker effect of saturated fat on prostate cancer aggressiveness in men using statins to control serum cholesterol levels, suggesting that that statins may counteract, but do not completely negate, the effects of high saturated fat intake on prostate cancer aggressiveness. We also found an inverse association between high dietary intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and prostate cancer aggressiveness.
20 Apr PD-L1 Status Can Not Be Used To Determine Immunotherapy Eligibility for Melanoma Treatment
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23600" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Michael Postow[/caption]
Michael A. Postow, MD
Medical Oncologist
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK)
Memorial Sloan Kettering
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Postow: Pembrolizumab has been shown to improve overall survival for patients with advanced melanoma compared to ipilimumab. Patients with PD-L1 negative tumors still respond to pembrolizumab. Responses to pembrolizumab were higher when patients had more PD-L1 in the tumor.
MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Postow: PD-L1 status cannot be used to select patients with melanoma to receive pembrolizumab vs. ipilimumab or even to be used to determine eligibility for immunotherapy in general. PD-L1 “positivity” is a difficult definition and various cutoff points have been used in various studies to determine positivity. We need more research to determine the significance of various cutoff definitions of “positive.”
20 Apr Inflammation Factors in How Obesity Influences Prostate Cancer Progression
Posted at 14:16h
in AACR, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Inflammation, Prostate Cancer, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_23461" align="alignleft" width="120"]
Dr. Zeigler-Johnson[/caption]
Charnita Zeigler-Johnson, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor
Division of Population Sciences
Department of Medical Oncology
Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Medical Research: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Zeigler-Johnson: Obesity has been associated with poor prostate cancer outcomes, included advanced disease at diagnosis, increased risk for cancer recurrence, and risk for mortality. One possible link in the relationship between obesity and prostate cancer progression is inflammation. Obesity produces a state of systemic chronic low-grade inflammation which may contribute to the underlying biology of the tumor microenvironment. The presence of immune cells (T-cells and macrophages) in the tumor microenvironment may indicate aggressive tumors that are likely to metastasize. The goal of this study was to examine prostate cancer tissue to characterize differences in immune cells within the tumor microenvironment by obesity status and cancer severity. We studied tumor samples from 63 non-obese and 36 obese prostate cancer patients.
Medical Research: What are the main findings?
Dr. Zeigler-Johnson: We found that T-cell and macrophage counts in the tumor did not differ by patient obesity status. However, macrophage (CD68) counts were higher among men diagnosed with higher tumor grade (Gleason Score 7-10). We also found that T-cell (CD8) counts were associated with quicker time to prostate cancer recurrence (indicated by detectable prostate specific antigen levels after treatment.)
20 Apr Study Targets Obesity Genes That May Raise Risk of Kidney Cancer
Posted at 14:13h
in AACR, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Genetic Research, MD Anderson, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_23591" align="alignleft" width="114"]
Dr. Xifeng Wu[/caption]
Dr. Xifeng Wu, MD PhD
Department Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Division of OVP, Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences
Director, Center for Translational and Public Health Genomics
Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Wu: Obesity is a well-established risk factor for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common form of kidney cancer. It has been estimated that more than 40% of RCC incident cases in the US may be attributed to excessive body weight. Growing body of evidence suggests that obesity may also influence clinical outcome of RCC; however, the findings are sometimes conflicting. So far, the molecular mechanism linking obesity to RCC risk or prognosis is not well understood. In this study, we evaluated the promoter CpG site methylation of 20 candidate obesity-related genes and their association with RCC risk and recurrence in a two-phase study of 240 newly diagnosed, previously untreated RCC patients. Pyrosequencing was conducted on paired RCC tumor and normal adjacent tissues to measure promoter methylation. Among the 20 markers, we found NPY, LEP and LEPR showed significant differential methylation levels between tumors and normal adjacent tissues, and methylation was significantly higher in tumors in both discovery and validation groups. Consistent with our findings, we also found lower expression of LEPR in tumor tissues compared to normal adjacent tissues in data obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Additionally, high LEPR methylation in tumors was associated with more advanced tumor features, such as high pathologic stage, high grade and clear cell RCC histology, and increased risk of recurrence compared to the low methylation group. These results suggest that tissue changes in promoter methylation in obesity-related genes may provide some biological basis for the association between obesity and RCC outcome, and that LEPR may be an independent prognostic indicator of recurrence in RCC patients. Further research in larger study population and functional studies are warranted to validate our findings and to elucidate the underlying causal mechanisms.
20 Apr Study Evaluates Obesity-Related Factors Leading to Pancreatic Cancer Progression
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23635" align="alignleft" width="120"]
Dr. Joao Incio[/caption]
Joao Incio MD
Research Fellow in Radiation Oncology
Harvard Medical School/MGH
Boston, MA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Incio: With the current epidemic of obesity, the majority of pancreatic cancer patients are overweight or obese at diagnosis. Importantly, obesity worsens treatment outcomes in pancreatic cancer patients. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms that underlie the poorer prognosis of obese cancer patients is of paramount importance. Obesity causes inflammation and fibrosis in the normal pancreas due to the accumulation of dysfunctional hypertrophic adipocytes. Importantly, desmoplasia - a fibroinflammatory microenvironment - is a hallmark of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and we have shown that activation of pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) via angiotensin-II type 1 receptor (AT1) pathway is a major contribution to tumor desmoplasia. Whether obesity affects desmoplasia in PDACs, and interferes with delivery and response of chemotherapeutics, was the focus of our study.
19 Apr Good Overall Agreement Among Three PD-L1 Diagnostic Assays
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23567" align="alignleft" width="145"]
Dr. Mariann Ratcliffe[/caption]
Marianne J. Ratcliffe, PhD
Associate director of diagnostics
AstraZeneca
Alderley Park, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Ratcliffe: PD-L1 status is informative when considering monotherapy treatment and of growing importance when we consider that treatment decision will, in the near future also include combination therapy, an area of focus for AstraZeneca. The Ventana SP263 test has been developed with AstraZeneca, to support selection of PD-L1 testing within the Durvalumab programme, with full analytical validation at a 25% cut point derived from clinical data indicating this cut point best identifies patients more likely to respond to Durvalumab. The Ventana SP263 assay is commercially available in the US and the EU as a Class I device. The Dako 22C3 test has been approved as companion diagnostic for Pembrolizumab, and the Dako 28-8 has been released as a complementary diagnostic as an aid to physicians considering treatment with Nivolumab. What we didn’t know before our study was whether the three assays identify the same patients, and particularly how to cross compare patients identified with the different cut points specified for the different assays. It was therefore an important question to be addressed through a very thorough scientific assessment.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Dr. Ratcliffe: Our data, generated in 500 commercial samples, demonstrates that three commercially available PD-L1 tests achieved overall percentage agreement of >90%. This was achieved at multiple assay cut-offs. These results indicate that it may be possible to extrapolate the results from one test to that of another test. Further work is required to confirm this finding.
18 Apr Some SPF30 Sunscreens Protect Better Than Others
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christin E. Burd, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Departments of Molecular Genetics, and Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics The Ohio State University James Comprehensive Cancer Center Columbus, OH 43210 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Burd: Many melanomas develop from benign moles and exposure to ultraviolet sunlight is thought to play a major role in this process. Initially, we were interested in determining how ultraviolet sunlight might cooperate with gene mutations found in moles to initiate melanoma. To examine this, we exposed melanoma-prone mice to a single, non-burning dose of ultraviolet (UV) light. Our findings were quite unexpected. While the untreated mice naturally developed melanoma at 26 weeks of age, UV-treated subjects got melanoma at just 5 ½ weeks of age. This striking result suggested to us that our model might provide a superior way to test sunscreens. SPF ratings are currently based upon the ability of a sunscreen to protect against skin burning. We know that sunburns are associated with melanoma risk, but whether protection from skin burning is enough to prevent cancer was unclear. By applying a number of commercially available SPF30 sunscreens to our mice before UV exposure, we were able to show that the animals were protected from melanoma. However, we noticed that some SPF30 sunscreens worked better than others. In fact, many SPF30 sunscreens out-performed the one SPF50 sunscreen tested in our initial study. So while all sunscreens protect against melanoma, SPF does not predict which ones are the best.16 Apr Immunotherapy Drug Nivolumab May Help Some Aggressive HPV-Induced Anal Cancers
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23516" align="alignleft" width="114"]
Dr. Van Morris[/caption]
Dr. Van K. Morris, MD
Assistant Professor, GI Medical Oncology
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Morris: Anal cancer is a very rare cancer and accounts for approximately 2% of all gastrointestinal malignancies. Currently, there is no accepted standard of care for patients with metastatic disease, which raises challenges for oncologist who may not have extensive experience caring for patients with metastatic anal cancer given that there are not accepted agents to treat with. This clinical trial was the first clinical trial ever conducted for patients with stage IV disease who had received prior chemotherapy in the past.
Given the well-known association with human papilloma virus (HPV) and the development of anal cancer, we were interested in the use of immunotherapy drugs as a new possible way to awaken the immune system to attack this tumor, especially as there may be viral components in the tumor cells which the immune system could potentially recognize. Nivolumab is an immunotherapy drug which has shown activity in other solid tumors like melanoma, kidney cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and bladder cancer.
05 Mar High Glycemic Index May Raise Lung Cancer Risk Especially in Never Smokers
Posted at 14:58h
in AACR, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Lung Cancer, MD Anderson, Nutrition, Sugar
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_22379" align="alignleft" width="98"]
Dr. Xifeng Wu[/caption]
Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D
Professor of Epidemiology and
[caption id="attachment_22380" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Melkonian[/caption]
Dr. Stephanie Claire Melkonian PhD
Epidemiologist, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Glycemic index (GI) assigns foods an indexed value to show how quickly and how much carbohydrates in the food cause blood glucose levels to rise after eating and is a measure of overall carbohydrate quality. Glycemic load (GL) is a related measure that is calculated by multiplying Glycemic index by the amount of carbohydrates in grams in that specific food and by the amount consume, then dividing by 100. Previous studies have investigated the association of GI and GL with certain types of cancer, including colorectal, stomach, and pancreatic cancer, but there has been limited research into the association with lung cancer.
We conducted a study using patients and control subjects from an ongoing case-control study of lung cancer conducted at MD Anderson. The patients were newly diagnosed and had not received treatment other than surgery. The healthy control subjects were selected from patient lists at Kelsey-Seybold Clinics, a large physician group in the Houston area. The study results encompass 1,905 cases and 2,413 controls. Using data collected from in-person interviews regarding health histories and dietary behaviors, we were able to categorize the study subjects according to their dietary Glycemic index and GL.
What we found was that individuals in the highest category of GI were at an almost 50% increased risk for developing lung cancer as compared to those in the lowest group. This association was different based on different subtypes of cancer. Most interestingly, however, among those individuals that never smoked, high Glycemic index was associated with an almost 2 fold increased risk of lung cancer. In other words, we found a more profound association between GI and lung cancer in never smokers in this study.
29 Feb Experimental 3DNA Nanocarrier Used to Target and Treat Ovarian Tumor Cells
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_22215" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Janet Sawicki[/caption]
Janet A. Sawicki, Ph.D.
Deputy Director and Professor
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
100 Lancaster Ave.
Wynnewood, PA 19096
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Sawicki: This study addresses the need for a more effective therapy for ovarian cancer. HuR is an RNA-binding protein that is present in high amounts in ovarian tumor cells compared to amounts in normal cells. HuR regulates the expression of thousands of genes that promote the survival of tumor cells. Thus, it is an ideal therapeutic target to suppress ovarian tumor growth. In this study, we used a small interfering RNA (siRNA) to investigate the impact of suppressing HuR expression on ovarian tumor growth in an ovarian cancer mouse model. We made use of the ability to conjugate a novel DNA dendrimer nanocarrier, 3DNA®, to both siHuR and a tumor-targeting moiety to suppress HuR expression specifically in tumor cells following systemic administration while avoiding toxicity in healthy cells. Systemic administration of siHuR-conjugated FA-3DNA to ovarian tumor-bearing mice suppressed tumor growth and ascites development, and significantly prolonged lifespan. Gene expression analysis identified multiple HuR-regulated genes in tumor cells as evidenced by changes in their expression upon HuR inhibition. These HuR-regulated genes function in multiple essential cellular molecular pathways, a finding that sets this therapeutic approach apart from other therapies that target a single gene.
13 Feb Breast and Pancreatic Cancer: Pathway Identified That Accelerates Tumors in Obese Patients
Posted at 02:44h
in AACR, Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Pancreatic, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_21566" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Joao Incio[/caption]
Joao Incio, MD
Edwin L. Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology
Massachusetts General Hospital | Harvard Medical School | Boston, MA, U.S.A
Department of Internal Medicine | Hospital S. Joao | Porto, Portugal
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Incio: The study focused on the effects of obesity on pancreatic and breast cancer, since more than half of those diagnosed with such tumors are overweight or obese. In addition, a number of large-scale studies have found that obesity leads to an increased risk of death in pancreatic, breast and other types of cancer. But prior to the current study the mechanism of obesity-induced pancreatic and breast cancer progression was unclear. We have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of obesity to promote cancer progression. We found an association between obesity and an overabundance of a factor called PlGF (placental growth factor) and that PlGF’s binding to its receptor VEGFR-1, which is expressed on immune cells within tumors, promotes tumor progression.
We found that obesity increased infiltration of tumor-promoting immune cells and the growth and metastasis of pancreatic cancers. Blocking VEGFR-1 signaling shifted the immune environment towards prevention of tumor progression in obese but not in lean mice in both pancreatic and breast cancer models. We also found that PlGF was present in excess in obesity and that reduction of PlGF produced similar results to VEGFR-1 inhibition in the tumors of obese mice. We also discovered that targeting the PlGF/VEGFR-1 interaction prevents weight gain in a genetically obese mouse model but worsens a diabetes-like condition, a worsening that was alleviated by use of the common diabetes drug metformin, which also had beneficial anti-tumor effects.
Our findings in cellular and animal models, as well as in patient tumor samples, indicate that targeting the PlGF/ VEGFR-1 pathway may be particularly effective in obese patients.
03 Feb Socioeconomic Factors Influence Survival in Youth Hodgkin Lymphoma
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_21238" align="alignleft" width="92"]
Dr. Theresa Keegan[/caption]
Theresa Keegan, PhD, MS
Associate Professor
Division of Hematology and Oncology
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center
Sacramento, California 95817
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Keegan: This study expanded upon our earlier work examining survival among the young population diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, which can be cured about 90 percent of the time with it is diagnosed at its earliest stages. We tracked 9,353 patients ages 15-39 who were diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma between 1988 and 2011. Using California Cancer Registry data, we examined the impact on survival of socio-demographic characteristics such as race/ ethnicity, neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), health insurance, the types of treatment patients received and whether they were diagnosed with subsequent cancers.
We found that insurance coverage, neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and the types of treatment provided patients all played a role in survival. Young adults diagnosed with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma were twice as likely to die if they resided in a lower SES neighborhood. They were also twice as likely to die if they had public health insurance or were uninsured, whether they were diagnosed at an early stage or late stage.
While there were improvements in survival over time, disparities in survival persisted for some racial/ethnic groups. African American patients were 68 percent more likely to die of their disease than non-Hispanic white patients, regardless of stage at diagnosis. Hispanic AYA patients diagnosed at a late stage were 58 percent more likely than non-Hispanic white patients to die of Hodgkin lymphoma; there was not a significant disparity for Hispanic patients diagnosed at an early stage.
25 Jan Genetic Markers Help Individually Identify Melanoma Patients At Risk For Metastases
[caption id="attachment_20908" align="alignleft" width="166"]
Dr. Thomas Kirchhoff[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tomas Kirchhoff, PhD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Population Health and Environmental Medicine
NYU Langone Medical Center
Member, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center
NYU Langone
Medical Research: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Kirchhoff: Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, and the cause of approximately 80% of all skin cancer patients annually. One factor that can help reverse this negative trend is efficient prediction of which patients at early melanoma stage will likely progress to more advanced metastatic disease. Current clinical predictors of patient survival, based on tumor characteristics, are important, but are relatively non-specific to inform melanoma prognosis to an individual patient level. It is critical to identify other factors that can serve as more personalized markers of predicting the course of melanoma.
Medical Research: What are the main findings?
Dr. Kirchhoff: In our study, we found that inherited genetic markers that impact activity of certain immune genes correlate with melanoma survival. More specifically, our findings show that patients with more frequent forms of these genetic markers (genotypes) have, on average, a five-year shorter survival than patients with less common genotypes. We suggest that these genetic markers are independent of the current tumor surrogates and, as such, can serve as novel personalized markers of melanoma prognosis.
18 Nov Preventable Colon Cancer Deaths Take Large Fiscal Toll In Poor Communities
[caption id="attachment_19460" align="alignleft" width="199"]
Dr. Weir[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Hannah K. Weir, PhD, MSc
Senior Epidemiologist
CDC
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Weir: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths in the United States.
We know that the risk of dying from colorectal cancer is not the same across all communities – people living in poorer communities have a higher risk of dying from colorectal cancer than people living in wealthier, better educated communities.
In this study, we estimated the number of potentially avoidable CRC deaths between 2008 and 2012 in poorer communities. Then we estimated the value of lost productivity that resulted from these deaths. Lost productivity includes the value of future lost salaries, wages, and the value to household activities such as cooking, cleaning, and child care.
We focused on the age group 50 to 74 years because this is the age group where routine CRC screening is recommended. We estimated that more than 14,000 CRC deaths in poorer communities could have been avoided and that these CRC deaths resulted in a nearly $6.5 billion dollars loss in productivity.
This is tragic - for the person who died, their family and for their community. This loss in productivity contributes to the economic burden of these already disadvantaged communities.
14 Nov Repositioning Bazedoxifene For Use Against Pancreatic Cancer
[caption id="attachment_19174" align="alignleft" width="160"]
Dr. Lin[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jiayuh Lin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor,
College of Medicine,
The Ohio State University
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Jiayuh Lin: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most serious forms of cancer. Because of the poor response to chemotherapy as conventionally used, patients with any stage of pancreatic cancer may appropriately be considered candidates for clinical trials using novel agents.
IL-6 signaling plays an important role in oncogenesis and high serum IL-6 levels is a poor prognostic factor for overall survival in pancreatic cancer. Therefore, IL-6 is considered as a viable target for pancreatic cancer therapy. We utilized a drug discovery method with Multiple Ligand Simultaneous Docking and drug repositioning to identify an existing FDA-approved drug Bazedoxifene with previously unknown biological function as an IL-6/GP130 inhibitor. Bazedoxifene can inhibit cell viability of pancreatic cancer cells expressing IL-6 and suppressed pancreatic tumor growth in vivo.
13 Nov Health Diet May Reduce Ovarian Cancer Risk in African American Women
[caption id="attachment_19373" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Dr. Qin[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Bo (Bonnie) Qin, PhD
Postdoctoral associate at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Ovarian cancer is among the top five causes of cancer death among women in the US. Compared to white women, African-American women tend to have a worse 5-year survival rate of ovarian cancer. It highlights a critical need for identifying preventive factors in African Americans, particularly through dietary modification, which is relatively low cost and low risk compared to medical treatments.
We found that adherence to an overall healthy dietary pattern i.e. Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)-2010 may reduce ovarian cancer risk in African-American women, and particularly among postmenopausal women. Adherence to the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans i.e. Healthy Eating Index-2010, were also strongly associated with reduced risk of ovarian cancer among postmenopausal African-American women.
12 Nov New Enzyme Inhibitor Shows Modest Effect Against Relapsed Lymphoma
[caption id="attachment_19307" align="alignleft" width="114"]
Dr. Shah[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Jatin J. Shah, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma
Assistant Professor, Lymphoma/Myeloma
Division of Cancer Medicine
The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Shah: The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is one of the key regulatory systems in our body’s cells. It controls the destruction of the majority of cellular proteins, which can be involved in making cells grow, expand, or die, among other functions. Defects in the UPS can result in a number of diseases, including cancer, for example by destroying too quickly the proteins that cause cells to die. The UPS has already been shown to be a rational target for cancer therapy: the approved drugs bortezomib and carfilzomib inhibit the proteasome itself, thus causing cancer cells to die. However, by completely blocking the proteasome, which is at the ‘end’ of the UPS, these drugs block the destruction of 100% of proteins, and can cause side effects. By contrast, blocking the NEDD8-activating enzyme (NAE) stops the cellular processes that are responsible for only approximately 20% of proteins being degraded by the UPS – including proteins of relevance to cancer development. Previous studies of pevonedistat in animals have shown that inhibiting NAE alters the ability of a cancer cell to repair its DNA after it is damaged; this leads to the death of cancer cells.
The man finding is this was the first reported study of pevonedistat in patients with multiple myeloma or lymphoma. It demonstrated that pevonedistat hits its target in cancer cells, exerted anticipated pharmacodynamic effects, and has modest activity as a single-agent in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory lymphoma.
10 Nov Plasma cfDNA Can Monitor Response To Metastatic Colon Cancer Treatment
[caption id="attachment_19099" align="alignleft" width="114"]
Dr. Morris[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Van K. Morris, M.D.
Assistant Professor, GI Medical Oncology
University of Texas – M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX 77030
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Van K Morris: BRAF V600E mutations are associated with poor clinical outcomes for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Patients were enrolled in a phase I clinical trial with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib, the anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab, and irinotecan. Blood samples were collected every two weeks with each dose, and plasma was analyzed for changes in the fraction of mutant BRAF V600E allele relative to wild-type BRAF allele with time. Trends in circulating free DNA (cfDNA) changes were compared with radiographic changes by RECIST 1.1 criteria to examine this technique as a marker for response to therapy.
For patients who had a response radiographically, drastic reductions in the BRAF V600E allele fraction were observed even after two weeks of starting therapy, well before the first restaging scan. Patients who did not have responses radiographically had less dramatic changes relative to baseline in the BRAF V600E allele fraction. This technique analyzing cfDNA from plasma was validated using two different approaches – digital droplet PCR and next-generation sequencing by Guardant Health. Sequencing of cfDNA was also compared in pretreatment and post-progression samples, and novel mutations in MEK1 and GNAS were observed uniquely in post-progression samples.
10 Nov Some Triple Negative Breast Cancers Show Response To New Drug Conjugate
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Dr. Bardia[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Aditya Bardia MD, MPH
Attending Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center,
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA 02114
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Bardia: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents breast cancers that are negative for estrogen and progesterone receptors, as well as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2. This type of breast cancer comprises about 15-20% of all invasive breast cancers and is more prevalent in young and African-American women.Triple negative breast cancer characteristically has a high recurrence rate and is perhaps the most difficult type of breast cancer to treat successfully with current cytotoxic agents. Trop-2 is a protein present in limited amounts in normal human tissues but widely found in many human cancers. It is expressed in more than 80 percent of Triple negative breast cancer, making it an attractive therapeutic target.
Sacituzumab govitecan (IMMU-132) is a first-in-class ADC developed by Immunomedics, Inc. by linking moderately-toxic drug, SN-38, to an antibody that binds to the Trop-2 target found in many solid cancers. We conducted a clinical trial with this drug for patients with advanced tumors, including patients with TNBC who either had failed their previous treatments for Triple negative breast cancer or their cancer had returned.
We have found that even though patients who participated in this trial had very advanced stages of the disease, approximately 30% of these patients responded with 30% or more tumor shrinkage. The response rate to standard agents is usually 10 to 20 percent, while the response rate with IMMU-132 was approximately 30 percent. If you include patients with stable disease, the clinical disease control rate, which is complete response [CR] + partial response [PR] + stable disease, was about 75 percent.
10 Nov Smoked, Charred Meat Raises Increases Carcinogens, Risk of Kidney Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D, Professor, Epidemiology Stephanie Melkonian, Ph.D University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study examines dietary intake of meat-cooking mutagens and genetic risk factors associated with kidney cancer in a population of 659 kidney cancer patients and 699 matched healthy control subjects from the community. We calculated the intake of several cancer-causing carcinogens that are produced when certain types of meat are cooked over an open flame and at high temperatures resulting in the burning, smoking or charring of the meat (for example, during barbequing or pan-frying). We found that kidney cancer patients consumed more red and white meat when compared to the healthy individuals, and also had higher intake of these cancer-causing chemicals created through the meat cooking process. These results suggest that meat intake, and the way we cook our meat, may potentially be linked to risk of kidney cancer. Additionally, we found that individuals with certain genetic variants were more likely to be susceptible to the harmful effects of the cancer-causing mutagens created during the process of cooking meat.05 Jun Some Carotenoids May Have a Protective Effect on Breast Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ying Wang, PHD | Senior Epidemiologist American Cancer Society, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia Dr. Wang: Several epidemiologic studies and a recent large pooled analysis suggest that higher blood levels of carotenoids, a group of lipid-soluble pigments that are rich in colorful fruits and vegetables, are associated with lower breast cancer risk. What remains unclear is whether or not the effect of carotenoids on breast cancer differ by estrogen receptor status, tumor stage, BMI, and smoking status. We examined plasma carotenoids and breast cancer risk overall, and by aforementioned tumor and participant characteristics in a cohort of 992 postmenopausal women. We found that higher pre-diagnosis plasma α-carotene, but not other subtypes or total carotenoids, was significantly associated with lower invasive breast cancer risk. The inverse association of α-carotene with breast cancer risk seems stronger for estrogen receptor positive tumors than for estrogen receptor negative tumors. There is a suggestive inverse association of total plasma carotenoid levels and breast cancer among ever smokers but not among never smokers.03 May Novel Combination Treatment May Help Some Patients With Ovarian and Triple-negative Breast Cancers
MedicalResearch.com interview with
Dr. Victoria L. Chiou, MD
Medical Oncology Fellow
Women’s Malignancies Branch
National Cancer Institute
MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Chiou: We studied the effects of different treatments in ovarian and breast cancer cell lines with and without BRCA1 mutation in the laboratory. Our discovery that olaparib pretreatment before carboplatin led to decreased carboplatin-induced DNA damage in tumor cells carrying BRCA1 mutation led us to a novel clinical question. We wanted to further understand whether there was an optimal way to deliver a combination of the new tablet formulation of olaparib with carboplatin chemotherapy in women with gynecologic and breast cancers.
We launched our clinical trial to test this important question. Overall, we are pleased that the drug combination of olaparib and carboplatin chemotherapy can be given safely together, with preliminary activity in women with breast and ovarian cancer associated with germline BRCA mutations. We are excited to report the findings of this study, which is the first to report preclinical and clinical data on sequence specificity for this drug combination in this patient population.
