Here’s the promising news: medical scientists are discovering new ways to approach and treat cancers of the lung, skin and breast. The groundbreaking techniques are giving renewed hope in the battle to successfully treat these devastating diseases. This is what’s happening:
LUNG CANCER
The second most common form of cancer in the U.S is lung cancer, and it’s the biggest killer of both men and woman. Now an experimental drug called crizotinib holds real promise. In a study of seventy-six patients who had advanced lung cancer (not caused by smoking), the drug shrank tumors in sixty-four percent of the study’s participants. It’s not yet clear how many patients the drug will help. And it hasn’t been observed for a long enough period of time to determine whether it will ultimately increase survival time the pill’s unique approach is promising.
Crizotinib is part of new group of "targeted" cancer therapies, which keep tumors in check by blocking the production of proteins that make cancer grow. They work differently from conventional chemo, which kills both malignant cells and healthy ones. Plus, crizotinib causes fewer serious side effects than chemo, which can lower patients' blood counts and lead to life-threatening infections. In fact, the results of the study are so positive doctors are now participating in a much bigger trial study.
MELANOMA: SKIN CANCER
Close to 70,000 Americans are diagnosed with melanoma each year and about 8,700 die of the disease. According to a recent clinical study, a new pill called vemurafenib may give patients with advanced melanoma a greater chance of surviving than current chemotherapy approaches. The new drug zeroes in on a specific tumor mutation, known as BRAF, that’s present in around half of patients with advanced melanoma. During the trial of the drug, an impressive eighty four percent of participants on vemurafenib were still alive compared to 64 percent who were being treated with a standard chemotherapy approach. The drug holds so much hope that research is now is now being done to find out whether it could be used for other cancers.
BREAST CANCER
One in ten women in the United States develops breast cancer at some time in her life. Now a new study that offers a personalized approach gives an option for treatment. Presently the drug Tamoxifen is an effective treatment for approximately 60 percent of women who are clinically diagnosed as ER+ (estrogen receptor positive). It works by blocking estrogen, the hormone that is linked to tumor growth. But women who are not ER+ develop a resistance to the drug, and that often results in an early relapse of breast cancer. In the new study, doctors were able to identify which genes encourage the drug resistance and thus, were able to predict which women would do well on tamoxifen and which wouldn’t. The team identified more than 30 kinases (a type of enzyme) that repeatedly allowed the sensitive cells to grow in the presence of tamoxifen. With this information, medical experts are hoping to be able to discover more effective, individualized treatments.
Check back with Thirdage for the latest developments in cancer diagnoses and treatment.
Robin Westen is ThirdAge’s medical reporter. Check for her daily updates.
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