Why Oncologists Should Refer Earlier for Hospice Care
November 30th 2011Authors von Gunten, Lutz, and Ferris have provided oncologists, and all physicians with patients who have cancer, an excellent and pithy review of how those with very advanced cancer are currently cared for as they approach the end-of-life
An Oncology Perspective on Preventive Services in the Context of US Healthcare Reform
November 15th 2011This article summarizes some of the most important federal coverage provisions and safeguards that promote access to preventive services for individuals with cancer or individuals who are at risk for cancer
ONC Supplement November 2011 Intro
November 9th 2011The goal of this supplement is to present a comprehensive overview of the major current and emerging treatment options for patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma, with particular focus on proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs, along with other emerging agents (eg, histone deacetylase inhibitors, heat shock protein inhibitors, and monoclonal antibodies). As the treatment landscape has evolved, it has become readily apparent that the available therapies have different tolerability profiles depending on patient and disease characteristics.
The Complexity of Hereditary Cancer Syndromes
October 19th 2011Counseling women at high risk for ovarian and uterine cancer is a complex process, from genetic diagnosisto the management of at-risk women. Rimes andcolleagues have presented these challenging issues, andsuggested ways to manage them, very well.
Study Finds Different Treatment Responses Between BRCA2- and BRCA1-Mutated Ovarian Cancers
October 11th 2011Women with high-grade serous ovarian cancer who also harbor a BRCA2, but not a BRCA1 mutation tend to have a better chemotherapy response and overall survival compared with those patients who are BRCA wild type.
PSA Screening for Prostate Cancer Put Into Question By the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
October 10th 2011Based on a review of prostate cancer treatment and screening trials, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has stated that prostate-specific antigen (PSA)–based screening may not be necessary, saying that the potential benefits of the screening do not outweigh the potential harm of complications from evaluations and treatments.
Growing Number of Cancer Survivors Among Aging Population as Baby Boomers Pass the 65-Year Mark
October 6th 2011A recent epidemiology study by the NCI has found an almost four-fold increase of cancer survivors since 1971: 11.9 million in 2008 compared with 3 million in 1971, and the authors of the study expect a 42% increase in the number of older adult survivors in the next 10 years.
Screening Identifies Mechanisms of Drug Resistance to PI3K Inhibitors
September 27th 2011In an online-first article in Nature Chemical Biology (DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.695), Sebastian Nijman of the CeMM–Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and his colleagues describe the development of a chemical genetic approach that has identified mechanisms that can lead to resistance to PI3K inhibitors used as cancer treatments.
New Synthetic Regulatory Circuit Can Identify and Kill Cancer Cells
September 13th 2011Collaborating scientists at the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT and the Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University have created an engineered biological system that senses and integrates multiple inputs and can precisely regulate the biology of a living cell. This type of approach could be useful to engineer anti-cancer therapies that are able to distinguish a cancer from a non-cancer cell, inducing apoptosis in the cancerous cells.
Cancer-Related TTP and Considerations of Plasma Exchange
September 13th 2011The diagnosis and therapy of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) have advanced dramatically in the past 25 years, with increasing diagnostic awareness spurred on by the discovery of plasma exchange as an effective therapy.