A leading cancer drug may increase the risk of death from treatment side effects in some patients, research has shown. This is one of the most economically successful cancer medicines in the world but seems to cause more fatal side effects than previously realized, says a new study.
Avastin, one of a new generation of antibody drugs, was found to increase the likelihood of patients dying when combined with certain chemotherapeutic agents, a blockbuster drug with more than $ 5.5 billion in global revenue, increases the rate of fatal side effects with almost 50% when added to traditional chemotherapy, compared with chemotherapy alone.
However, the overall incidence of fatal side effects (FAEs) associated with the drug low of 2.5%. About 2.5% of cancer patients, combining Avastin and chemotherapy died of treatment - instead of the disease, according to an analysis of 10 217 patients in the current Journal of the American Medical Association. In comparison, 1.7% died of cancer patients who received only conventional chemotherapy as a result of therapy.
Experts say patients who received Avastin - also known by its scientific name bevacizumab - should be monitored closely and a decision on whether the benefits outweighed risks. Researchers analyzed data from 16 studies with a total of 10 217 patients with a variety of advanced solid tumors.
The most common causes of death were bleeding, loss of infection-fighting white blood cells, and perforations in the stomach or intestine, says Shenhong Wu of Stony Brook University School of Medicine, co-author of the analysis of 10 217 patients.
Avastin works by blocking the growth of blood vessels that feed cancer, and oftentimes used in conjunction with standard forms of chemotherapy. The central dilemma of whether Avastin, however, is that doctors today have no way of knowing which patients will benefit, says Daniel Hayes of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, who wrote an accompanying editorial.
The study found that compared with chemotherapy alone, the addition of Avastin is associated with a 1.46 times increase in the risk of an FAE. Doctors tend to give it to all eligible patients, hoping for the best, but to know that Avastin can sometimes hasten a patient's death, says Hayes.
A more than three-fold increase in risk was seen in patients who received taxanes or platinum agents. Internal bleeding in the gut and the lungs were responsible for most deaths.
Patients' willingness to try the drug has benefited Avastin, the total costs of the drug can exceed $ 100,000 a year - it has become the best-selling cancer treatment in the United States, according to IMS Health. Genentech scientists are actively looking for tests to help predict how patients will respond to Avastin, said company spokeswoman Charlotte Arnold.
Researchers led by Dr Vishal Ranpura, from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York, reported the findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Avastin, one of a new generation of antibody drugs, was found to increase the likelihood of patients dying when combined with certain chemotherapeutic agents, a blockbuster drug with more than $ 5.5 billion in global revenue, increases the rate of fatal side effects with almost 50% when added to traditional chemotherapy, compared with chemotherapy alone.
However, the overall incidence of fatal side effects (FAEs) associated with the drug low of 2.5%. About 2.5% of cancer patients, combining Avastin and chemotherapy died of treatment - instead of the disease, according to an analysis of 10 217 patients in the current Journal of the American Medical Association. In comparison, 1.7% died of cancer patients who received only conventional chemotherapy as a result of therapy.
Experts say patients who received Avastin - also known by its scientific name bevacizumab - should be monitored closely and a decision on whether the benefits outweighed risks. Researchers analyzed data from 16 studies with a total of 10 217 patients with a variety of advanced solid tumors.
The most common causes of death were bleeding, loss of infection-fighting white blood cells, and perforations in the stomach or intestine, says Shenhong Wu of Stony Brook University School of Medicine, co-author of the analysis of 10 217 patients.
Avastin works by blocking the growth of blood vessels that feed cancer, and oftentimes used in conjunction with standard forms of chemotherapy. The central dilemma of whether Avastin, however, is that doctors today have no way of knowing which patients will benefit, says Daniel Hayes of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, who wrote an accompanying editorial.
The study found that compared with chemotherapy alone, the addition of Avastin is associated with a 1.46 times increase in the risk of an FAE. Doctors tend to give it to all eligible patients, hoping for the best, but to know that Avastin can sometimes hasten a patient's death, says Hayes.
A more than three-fold increase in risk was seen in patients who received taxanes or platinum agents. Internal bleeding in the gut and the lungs were responsible for most deaths.
Patients' willingness to try the drug has benefited Avastin, the total costs of the drug can exceed $ 100,000 a year - it has become the best-selling cancer treatment in the United States, according to IMS Health. Genentech scientists are actively looking for tests to help predict how patients will respond to Avastin, said company spokeswoman Charlotte Arnold.
Researchers led by Dr Vishal Ranpura, from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York, reported the findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Colorectal cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in developed countries, with approximately 1 million new cases and 600,000 deaths each year.
Low doses of aspirin taken to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke can also reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, British researchers reported Thursday. The study found that low doses of aspirin, when taken daily and long-term, can cut cases of colorectal cancer by 25% and the death toll from the disease with a third.
The findings might tip the balance in favour of using aspirin to prevent colorectal cancer, which is the second most common cancer in industrialized countries, after lung cancer. The study examined 20-year results from four studies involving over 14,000 people.
They found that aspirin reduced the incidence of colorectal cancer by a fourth and cut colorectal cancer deaths by a third. The participants were included in a study on the use of aspirin (ASA) to prevent strokes and heart attacks.
But their findings, published in the Lancet medical journal, is unlikely to decide a case that doctors consider controversial. In high doses over a long time, ASA can irritate the stomach, intestine and colon, causing damage and bleeding. But aspirin itself can be dangerous for many people, causing sometimes fatal bleeding in the stomach and intestines.
Aspirin has long been prescribed by doctors to patients who are at risk of heart attack or a stroke. Some experts hope to use cheap drugs like aspirin may be a way to prevent colon cancer in the population.
Scientists have reported that a new type of breast cancer treatment has shown encouraging activity as a first-line therapy in HER2-positive metastatic disease. Excited scientists say the new generation of drugs, to be announced at a leading cancer conference this week, could be used effectively against many types of tumor, Daily reports Express.The treatment, that have proven successful in studies of breast cancer patients, combines traditional chemotherapy with yet another new generation of drugs that directly target cancer cells.
Scientists have compared the treatment, code-named T-dm1, a Trojan horse because a killer material is protected by a different chemical and activated only when it hits the enemy-cancer cells. T dm1 is the first of a new type of cancer medicine known as an antibody-drug conjugate. It ties together two existing cancer drugs with the aim of delivering both drugs specifically to cancer cells: trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody that targets cells that overproduce the protein HER2, and DM11, a chemotherapy agent that targets microtubules.
The technology is developed by the U.S. immunogen in combination with drug giant Roche. We is encouraged by the results, says Edith Perez of the Mayo Clinic.
In trial, Researchers randomly assigned 137 women to treatment with either trastuzumab plus chemotherapy drug docetaxel, or T-DM1. All participants had HER2-positive metastatic cancer, no prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease. After a median of about 6 months of follow-up, The researchers found an overall response rate of 48 pc in patients with T-dm1, compared with 41 pc of trastuzumab plus docetaxel arm.
Importantly, the rates of clinically relevant adverse events was significantly lower in T-dm1 arm (37 pc) compared to the cost in women given traztuzumab plus docetaxel (75 pc). This trial is ongoing and the positive results is to generate enthusiasm for a larger phase III study is now underway. The study showed that T-dm1 has very high anti-tumor activity and much lower toxicity, she added.
Findings to be presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology conference in Milan.
Washington: In what could pave the way for early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, an Indian-origin researcher-led team claims to have developed a method that can detect the onset of disease.
The study conducted by researchers from Northwestern University and the NorthShore University HealthCare System (NorthShore ).
Dr Hemant Roy of NorthShore University and colleagues at Northwestern University, said method detects lung cancer by testing the cheek cells in people using cutting-edge technology Biophotonics, the 'Cancer Research' journal reported.
By examination of the lining of the cheek with this optical technology, we have the potential to pre-screening patients at high risk for lung cancer, such as those who smoke, and identify individuals who would probably benefit from more invasive and expensive tests versus those who do not need further tests, said Roy.
The optical technique called partial wave spectroscopic microscopy that can detect cell functions as little as 20 nanometers, reveal differences in the cells that appear normal using standard microscopy techniques, says scientists.
The PWS-based test makes use of the field effect, a biological phenomenon in which cells are located some distance from the malignant or pre-malignant tumor undergoes molecular and other changes.
Backman and Roy used PWS previously to assess the risk of colon and pancreatic cancer, also promising results.
PWS can detect cell functions as little as 20 nanometers, reveal differences in the cells that appear normal with standard microscopy techniques.The study consisted of 135 participants including 63 smokers with lung cancer and control groups of 37 smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 13 smokers without COPD and 22 non-smokers.After testing the technology in a small scale trial, Roy and Backman study focused on smokers, Since smoking is the most important risk factor associated with 90 percent of lung cancer patients.
The research was not confused by the participants' demographic factors as the amount of smoking, age or gender.
Importantly, test was as sensitive to cancer at all stages, including early curable cancers.
The researchers swabbed the inside of the patient's mouth, cheek cells and then used on a slide, solved in ethanol and optical scanned using PWS for measuring the strength of disturbance of the cell nanoarchitecture.
Results was significantly elevated (more than 50 per cent) in patients with lung cancer compared to cancer-free smokers.A detailed assessment of the attributes tof he disorder strength (as a biomarker) showed greater than 80 percent accuracy in discriminating cancer patients from individuals in the three control groups.
Researchers believe that pomegranate juice has the power to reduce fat around the stomach - the tyre in men or muffin top in women. After only a month, a volunteer who consumed a bottle of pomegranate juice daily was found to be less likely to develop fatty cells around his/her abdomen.
They had also much lower blood pressure, therefore reduced risk of infarction, stroke and kidney disease. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh think pomegranate juice can reduce the amount of fatty acids in the blood called nonesterified fatty acids or NEFA. Previous studies on humans and animals have shown that high levels of NEFA is associated with a greater storage of fat around the stomach, and an increased risk of heart disease and type II diabetes.
In the experiment, a group of men and women are given a 500ml bottle of pomegranate juice to drink each day for four weeks. The researchers found that nearly half of all volunteers had much lower levels of NEFA at the end of the trial. They believe that this will make them less likely to store fat around the abdomen. Moreover, more than 90 percent of men and women, lower blood pressure at month end.
Emad Aldujaili and Catherine Tsang, Researchers at Edinburgh University's School of Health Sciences, said: There is no doubt that pomegranate juice is beneficial in reducing the risk of heart disease, because the results showed a significant and consistent lowering of blood pressure.