What are some examples of the cancer disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native people? AI/AN populations have the lowest survival rates for nearly all types of cancer of any subpopulation in the United States, with cancers often detected at later stages. To get a better picture of cancer incidence and mortality in these diverse groups, we have to break down the AI/AN populations by different regions of the country. For example, in the Northern Plains lung cancer is more prevalent among American Indians than among non-Hispanic whites. In the Southern Plains, AI men are more likely than white men to die from colorectal…
Author: Brett Johnson
For some women diagnosed with breast cancer, low muscle mass may be linked with a poor long-term prognosis, a new study has found. In one of the largest investigations of its kind conducted to date, researchers found that one-third of the women included in the study had low levels of skeletal muscle mass—a condition known as sarcopenia—at the time of their diagnosis. And having low levels of muscle mass was associated with a higher risk of dying compared with women who had adequate muscle mass, the researchers reported April 5 in JAMA Oncology. All of the women included in the study had breast cancer that…
Two new treatment options are emerging for women with metastatic breast cancer, following positive results from clinical trials. The trials tested the drugs tucatinib and trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) in women who had been previously treated for metastatic breast cancer that overproduces the HER2 protein, known as HER2-positive breast cancer. In one of the trials, called HER2CLIMB, women treated with tucatinib in addition to trastuzumab (Herceptin) and capecitabine lived longer both without their disease progressing and overall than women who received only trastuzumab and capecitabine (Xeloda). The treatment also benefited women in the trial whose cancer had spread to the brain, a particularly challenging group to treat. Trastuzumab…
What is the difference between “oncofertility” and “fertility preservation”? We find it important to use the term “oncofertility” because oncologists often don’t see themselves as fertility specialists. When we coined the term, I think it allowed for more of the cancer community to understand that this is a collaborative discipline where oncologists need to be actively involved in, but don’t have to understand, all of the fertility management strategies, and fertility doctors don’t have to understand all of the oncology side. When this field got started, there was no good way for patients to bridge between their cancer- and fertility-care…
Cancer cells go to great lengths to sustain their growth, survival, and spread. Now scientists believe they have uncovered yet another way in which cancer cells may support their own uncontrolled growth. The discovery emerged from a study of brain cancer cells, which are known to sneak multiple copies of an oncogene into circular pieces of DNA that are separate from chromosomes. In the new NCI-funded study, scientists found that brain cancer cells also slip several different genetic “on switches”—pieces of DNA that help activate genes—into these DNA circles. The on switches (also called enhancers or regulatory elements) activated the copied oncogene and…
Both the number of cases of anal cancer and deaths from the disease have been on the rise in the United States since 2001, according to a new study. The increases have been especially rapid in young African American men, as well as among all adults over the age of 50. From 2001 to 2015, the overall incidence of anal cancer increased by 2.7% per year and mortality jumped by 3.1% each year, according to the study, published November 19 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Despite these increases, anal cancer is “still quite rare in the population,” explained Meredith Shiels, Ph.D.,…
When volasertib was discontinued after an unsatisfactory Phase III clinical trial as an anti-leukemia drug, it did not die a quick death, or die at all. Like Viagra and thalidomide before it, volasertib was “repurposed;” if the original vision for the compound fails, it is simply a matter of finding another vision. Indeed, in the compound found a new life via Ricardo Garcia and his company, Oncoheroes Biosciences, as a treatment for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive cancer commonly occurring in teens or young adults. “Our strategy is to bring new drugs into the market as soon as possible,” Garcia continues. “For this…
As the new year begins, many Americans are setting their sights on a healthier 2020. Some individuals are getting started with week-long meal plans chalked full of vegetables, while others are making a commitment to a fresh gym routine. Many skeptic bystanders like to point out that these good intention resolutions fail before the first month comes to an end. Getting started is often the most difficult part but keeping up the momentum and drive can be challenging as well. Luckily, getting healthy has never been easier than it is in this day and age. Most Americans have a personal trainer and…