http://www.cancercompass.comCancerCompass is an online community committed to offering people living with cancer a place to receive cancer information and news, share knowledge, and share cancer treatment experiences. To learn more, visit our site today.en-us@copy; Copyright 2008, International Capital & Management Company, LLLP. All Rights Reserved.Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:53:13 CDTWed, 09 Jul 2008 06:53:13 CDTCancercompass.com: colorectal cancer60http://www.cancercompass.com/graphics/mini-logo.gifhttp://www.cancercompass.comhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14402,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14402,00.htm?rss=y A compound that accumulates in cells more readily than a commonly used colorectal cancer drug may be just as useful in treating colorectal tumors, but with fewer side effects, MIT researchers have found. Both compounds are analogues of cisplatin, a potent anticancer agent, but the newly investigated compound, known as cDPCP, may better target colorectal cells, potentially sparing other body tissues from damage. "This compound, the antitumor properties of which were established in mice over 20 years ago, emerged in our search for platinum anticancer drug candidates with cellular uptake properties analogous or superior to those of oxaliplatin," said Stephen Lippard, the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at MIT and senior author of...Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14412,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14412,00.htm?rss=y BOSTON--Patients diagnosed with colon cancer who had abundant vitamin D in their blood were less likely to die during a follow-up period than those who were deficient in the vitamin, according to a new study by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The findings of the study -- the first to examine the effect of vitamin D among colorectal cancer patients -- merit further research, but it is too early to recommend supplements as a part of treatment, say the investigators from Dana-Farber and the Harvard School of Public Health. In a report in the June 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the authors note that previous research has shown that higher levels of vitamin D reduce the risk of developing colon and rectal cancer...Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14399,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14399,00.htm?rss=y IRVING, Texas and PHOENIX -- Caris Diagnostics (Caris Dx), a leading provider of the highest quality diagnostic, translational development and pharmaceutical services encompassing anatomic pathology and molecular testing, announced that it is now offering KRAS mutation analysis, designed to provide information on which colon cancer patients are most likely to respond to cetuximab (Erbitux) co-marketed by ImClone and Bristol-Myers Squibb or panitumumab (Vectibix) developed by Amgen. This assay, which can be performed on biopsies taken for the initial cancer diagnosis, identifies those patients who have somatic mutations in KRAS, which is associated with a lack of response to Erbitux or Vectibix. This prognostic informati...Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14400,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14400,00.htm?rss=y CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- U.S. medical scientists say they've found a compound that effectively treats colorectal cancer but with fewer side effects than with a commonly used drug. The newly investigated compound, known as cDPCP, is an analogue of cisplatin, a potent anticancer agent. The study found cDPCP might better target colorectal cells, potentially sparing other body tissues from damage, said Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers. "This compound, the antitumor properties of which were established in mice over 20 years ago, emerged in our search for platinum anticancer drug candidates with cellular uptake properties analogous or superior to those of oxaliplatin," said Professor Stephen Lippard. He said c...Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14386,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14386,00.htm?rss=y MONTRÉAL, QC and WASHINGTON, DC -- A new study of nearly 6,800 morbidly obese patients shows that those who had bariatric surgery reduced the risk of developing cancer by about 80 percent, with breast cancer and colon cancer showing the greatest reductions. The study was presented today here at the 25th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). Researchers from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada compared 1,035 patients who had bariatric surgery between 1986 and 2002 with 5,746 patients who did not have surgery, matching them by age, gender, and duration of morbid obesity diagnosis. None of the patients in either group had previously been diagnosed with cancer. A tota...Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14366,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14366,00.htm?rss=y MARLBOROUGH, Mass. -- EXACT Sciences Corporation today announced that a major gastroenterology journal has accepted for publication a multi-center, prospective study of EXACT's Version 2 technology for early colorectal cancer detection using stool-based DNA testing. The study, conducted by Steven H. Itzkowitz, M.D, Professor of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and his collaborators, was also recently presented in abstract form at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in San Diego, California. With respect to the earliest cancer stages, Dukes' A and B, the abstract data from DDW reported sensitivity above 85 percent on average, with specificity above 80 percent. Sensitivity in asymptomatic screening patients and symptomatic pa...Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14367,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14367,00.htm?rss=y NEW ORLEANS -- Immunomedics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and other serious diseases, described today at the 55th annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine a novel method for attaching fluorine-18 (F-18) to peptides, which in pretargeting studies using a human colorectal cancer model, produced exceptional positron emission tomography (PET) images. Direct labeling of F-18 to peptides is a time-consuming process requiring multi-step syntheses that often lead to poor yields. Because the half-life of F-18 is only 110 minutes, a more rapid and efficient way of labeling is needed. In this study, F-18 was first allowed to react with aluminum, which occurred...Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14336,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14336,00.htm?rss=y WILMINGTON, Mass. -- Sirtex, a leading developer of targeted and innovative cancer therapies, will exhibit its SIR-Spheres microspheres technology at the 2008 Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) Annual Meeting. The meeting, to be held June 14-18 at the Convention Center in New Orleans, La., is considered the premier educational and scientific event in the nuclear medicine community. Sirtex manufactures SIR-Spheres microspheres, the only FDA-approved microsphere therapy for advanced colorectal cancer that has metastasized to the liver.(1) The scientific program includes a CME session entitled Liver-Directed Radiomicrosphere Therapy: Advances and Opportunities for Nuclear Medicine. Organized and moderated by Seza Gulec, M.D...Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14338,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14338,00.htm?rss=y Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PARD), a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, announced positive preliminary results from its ongoing randomized Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) and updated results from an ongoing Phase 1 CRC trial. Preliminary data suggest that picoplatin given in combination with 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin (FOLPI) and oxaliplatin given in combination with 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin (FOLFOX) may have similar anti-tumor activity in metastatic CRC (see also Colon Cancer). The Company will present the Phase 1 and 2 picoplatin data (abstract #4100) in the General Poster Session during the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) at...Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14339,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14339,00.htm?rss=y Celator Pharmaceuticals reported positive results from its CPX-1 Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. CPX-1 is a liposomal formulation of irinotecan and floxuridine, based on the company's proprietary CombiPlex(TM) technology. The results were presented in a poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. The CombiPlex(TM) drug ratio technology platform is a new approach which identifies a ratio of drugs that will deliver a synergistic benefit, locks the desired ratio in a drug delivery vehicle and maintains the ratio in patients with the goal of improving clinical outcomes. The multi-center, open-label, Phase 2 study had two arms, irinotecan-na??ve (IRI-naive) and ir...Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14340,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14340,00.htm?rss=y Among patients with advanced colon cancer receiving treatment that includes chemotherapy, a family history of colorectal cancer is associated with a significant reduction in cancer recurrence and death, with the risk reduced further by having an increasing number of affected first-degree relatives, according to a study in the June 4 issue of JAMA. "Approximately 16 percent to 20 percent of patients with colorectal cancer have a first-degree relative with colorectal cancer. Beyond rare but highly penetrant hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes, numerous studies have demonstrated that a history of colorectal cancer in a first-degree relative increases the risk of developing the disease by approximately 2-fold. However, the influence of fa...Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14341,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14341,00.htm?rss=y The prevalence of pre-cancerous masses in the colon is the same for average-risk patients who are 40 to 49 years of age and those who are 50 to 59 years of age, reports a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. Currently, standard protocol recommends screening patients age 50 and over for colon cancer based on the increasing incidence of colon cancer at that age. Because observational studies have shown that it takes a decade for pre-cancerous growths, or adenomas, to develop and progress to cancer, the increase in colon cancer prevalence in the over-50 age group, in fact, may be the result of undetected adenomas that were present in the individuals in their 40s...Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14342,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14342,00.htm?rss=y REGINA -- A simple blood test may be all that is needed to detect colorectal cancer risk. The launch of a new colorectal cancer screening research trial supported by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health is scheduled to begin in the next two weeks. "Our government is ready for growth. We're open to new opportunities and new ways of providing health services," Health Minister Don McMorris said. "This initiative is another indication that Saskatchewan companies can not only compete - they can lead the way for others around the country and around the world." The Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and Phenomenome Discoveries have collaborated to develop a clinical trial protocol to evaluate Phenomenome's new serum test for colorec...Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDT