Cancer Blog

An experimental vaccine could help prevent cancerous vulvar growths in women, reports Reuters.

The new vaccine was recently tested in the Netherlands and is designed as a treatment for pre-cancerous growths known as vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia. The growths are commonly caused by the human papillomavirous virus (HPV).

The vulvar growths are known to turn cancerous in about 3,200 U.S. women each year, and approximately 800 women die of vulvar cancer annually.

Researchers recently tested the vaccine on 20 women. In 9 of the women, lesions disappeared completely. This included one woman whose growths were more than 10 years old. 6 other women saw their lesions shrink by 50% after one year.

However, the vaccine was unsuccessful for 2 women who developed cancer and another woman who relapsed after showing improvement. Another woman died of sudden heart failure prior to her 12-month evaluation.

Researchers are now working on a stronger effect from the vaccine with a lower dosage. They are also trying to avoid the large bumps that appear as side effects near the injection area, which have lasted up to two years in a few women.

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), more than 100,000 cancer cases in the United States are likely caused by obesity and the numbers may rise as Americans continue to gain weight, reports Reuters.

Excess body fat is reportedly a contributor in nearly half the cases of endometrial cancer and a third of esophageal cancer cases, according to research from AICR.

Reuters reports that 26% of American are considered obese, which means they have a body mass index of 30 or higher. Nearly one-third of Americans are considered overweight, defined as having a BMI of 25 to 30.

The AICR provides additional estimates of cancer cases that could likely be prevented every year if Americans kept the weight off:

• Esophageal - 35% of cases or 5,800 people
• Pancreatic - 28% or 11,900 people
• Gallbladder - 21% or 2,000 people
• Colon - 9% or 13,200 people
• Breast - 17% or 33,000 people
• Endometrium - 49% or 20,700 people
• Kidney - 24% or 13,900

According to additional research, it's estimated that obesity-related diseases account for nearly 10% of all medical spending in the U.S. annually, which adds up to approximately $147 billion.

New research presented at the 51st annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) highlights patient opinion about ways to enhance compassionate care.

According to ASTRO, researchers randomly surveyed 508 patients who received radiation treatment for breast, prostate and lung cancer between June 2006 and March 2008. Questions centered around patient-doctor relationships and specific preferences patients have of their radiation oncologist. Patients were surveyed prior to the initial consultation, at the midpoint of radiation treatment, and at the end of radiation therapy.

Some of the more significant findings were:

Hold My Hand

More than one-third (37%) of women prefer having their hand held by their oncologist during important office visits, compared to 12% of men.

Use My First Name

Almost three-quarters (72%) of patients, including the elderly, prefer being called by their first name. There is a slightly greater preference for this among females than males, and Caucasian patients compared to African American patients.

Be Honest About My Chances

Almost every patient (95%) preferred their oncologist be honest about their chances for survival. Prostate cancer patients, however, were more adamant about wanting the truth than lung cancer patients.

Use Everyday Language

95% of high school graduates prefer having radiation treatment described in everyday language compared to 91% of college graduates and 84% of post-graduate patients.

What are some ways your oncologist shows compassion? Leave a comment or share your personal experiences at the CancerCompass Message Board.

Astellas Pharma Inc. of Japan will pay San Francisco-based drug maker Medivation $110 million as part of global agreement to develop and market the experimental prostate cancer drug MDV3100, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Medivation announced in September that patient enrollment began for the Phase 3 clinical trial for MDV3100. Called AFFIRM, the goal of the trial is to evaluate how MDV3100, an androgen receptor antagonist drug, works in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer who were previously treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy.

In the Phase 1-2 clinical trial, MDV3100 reportedly reduced by 50% a biomarker of prostate cancer in 43% of the first 30 patients treated. Results of this trial were published in the May edition of Science. A synopsis is available at PubMed.gov.

Share your thoughts about new drug therapies at our Prostate Cancer Message Board.

A grass roots campaign is urging men to grow mustaches in November to support prostate and testicular cancer awareness, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Australian expat Adam Garone founded the "Movember" ("mo" is Aussie slang for mustache) Foundation to give men a natural way to raise money and awareness. Participants register at Movember.com as a team or an individual and then ask family, friends and colleagues to sponsor their hair growth. All participants begin November clean shaven, and for the next 30 days, grow hair solely between the nose and mouth (no beards and no goatees).

Garone started the campaign after a conversation in a Melbourne pub. He and his friends decided this "hairy ribbon" was a great way to help raise awareness for prostate cancer.

Worldwide the organization has raised $47 million for prostate cancer research. Garone brought the fundraiser to the United States when he moved to Venice, California in 2007; that first year U.S. participants raised $600,000. 

This year Movember fundraising will be split between the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand are creating an ice cream to help combat the side effects of chemotherapy, reports Reuters.

Called ReCharge, this "medical dessert" uses active ingredients from dairy products to relieve diarrhea, anemia and lack of appetite in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Auckland researchers are conducting a trial where participants are being asked to eat 100 grams (a little over 3.5 ounces) of the strawberry-flavored ice cream every day for eight weeks, starting two weeks prior and for the first six weeks of chemotherapy.

A spokesperson from dairy giant Fonterra, which is helping to produce the ice cream, tells Reuters that two bio-active milk components show potential in helping the body cope with chemotherapy side effects.

The NY Daily News says ReCharge could be the first ice cream you need a prescription to buy if it goes on market.

"Notes Left Behind" documents six-year-old Elena Desserich's battle with brain cancer through the journal entries of her parents, and notes that Elena hid for her parents to find after she was gone.

The Today Show recently re-published excerpts from this book as well as a few of Elena's notes. The diary excerpts are taken from "Part 1: The beginning" of the book. These entries discuss how everyday life changed for the family, in addition to celebrating Elena's birthday while faced with difficult cancer treatments.

Keeping a journal is one way to deal with the emotions that arise following a cancer diagnosis. It's also helpful to find additional support by talking with other cancer survivors, patients and caregivers.

Combining radiation with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced head and neck cancers may help patients live event-free (without cancer recurrence or new tumors) for 2.2 years, according to new research discussed in U.S. News & World Report.

The article points out that the common survival rate for patients with advanced head and neck cancers is just one year with radiotherapy alone.

During the study, researchers analyzed the 10 year outcomes of 966 patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer. Patients who hadn't had surgery for their cancer were randomly assigned to one of four groups: radiotherapy alone (233 patients); two courses of simultaneous (SIM) chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment (166 patients); two courses of chemotherapy after subsequent (SUB) radiotherapy (160 patients); or both SIM and SUB (154 patients). Patients who already underwent surgery were assigned to either radiotherapy alone (135 patients) or SIM alone (118 patients).

Overall findings suggest that non-platinum-based chemotherapy given simultaneously with radiotherapy reduced deaths and cancer recurrence in patients who had not undergone surgery. Patients who had undergone surgery, however, didn't benefit from this combined treatment. In addition, researchers found that giving patients chemotherapy after radiotherapy was ineffective and actually doubled the rate of toxicity.

How are doctors successfully combining your cancer treatments? Share your experiences at our Cancer Treatment Message Board.

Scientists at the University of Rochester say they understand why mole rats are the only mammals that don't get cancer, reports Popular Science.

A new study suggests that a gene could be what makes these animals immune to cancer.  Scientists believe the mole rat's cells express a gene, called p16, which tells cells to stop dividing.  Humans, like most mammals, have only the p27 gene to protect their cells from cancer. Scientists say cancer has found a way around that p27 gene, but the disease is stopped dead in its tracks by the p16 gene.

In the experiment, researchers injected cancer into a mole rat cell. That cell didn't engage in the non-stop proliferation associated with cancer that scientists normally see in altered mouse cells.

Share this story, or your personal experiences with how genetics plays a role in your cancer risk, on the CancerCompass Genetics Message Board.

Biotechnology company Angiochem, Inc. recently announced its drug ANG1005 showed favorable results in two separate clinical studies of more than 100 patients with progressive brain gliomas, including recurrent glioblastoma, and in patients with progressive brain metastases. Data from these trials was presented October 18th at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Chicago.

According to an Angiochem press release, greater than 70% of patients receiving ANG1005 in therapeutic doses experienced disease control, with more than half showing a reduction in tumor size. In addition, 78% of patients with taxane resistant tumors responded to ANG1005, which means there is potential for the drug to help against resistant tumors.

Another major finding cited in the press release was the drug's ability to cross the blood-brain barrier without central nervous system toxicity or immunogenicity. Patient tumor brain samples showed ANG1005 was present, which was proof the drug crossed the blood-brain barrier to concentrate in the tumor.

Scientists have observed similar trends in patient responses during the ongoing Phase 1/2 recurrent glioblastoma clinical trial with roughly 65% of patients experiencing disease control to date.

Have you or a loved one undergone experimental cancer treatments? Discuss your experiences at the CancerCompass Clinical Trials & Research Message Board.