The drug tamoxifen can help prevent breast cancer in women at an increased risk of the disease. But many women who stand to benefit from tamoxifen do not take the drug—a pill—because of concerns about side effects, such as hot flashes and the increased risk of blood clots and stroke. To explore alternatives to oral tamoxifen that might have fewer side effects, researchers are testing a topical form of the drug in two clinical trials. These randomized placebo-controlled studies are evaluating a gel formulation of tamoxifen called 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4-OHT) that women apply directly to the breasts. The goal of this…
Author: Brett Johnson
Paige, a New York-based company, is working to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by providing pathologists, clinicians and researchers with insights drawn from decades of data diagnosed by world experts in cancer care. Paige uses large-scale machine learning algorithms that are trained at petabyte-scale from tens of thousands of digital slides. They are developing novel deep learning algorithms based on convolutional and recurrent neural networks as well as generative models that are able to learn efficiently from an unprecedented wealth of visual and clinical data. Paige derive their name from four different concepts that represent the company as…
Tests for inherited genetic mutations can provide women diagnosed with ovarian or breast cancer with important information that can have implications for family members and potentially guide treatment decisions and longer-term screening for second cancers. However, many women with ovarian and breast cancers are not receiving these genetic tests, a new study suggests. An NCI-funded analysis of data on more than 83,000 women from large cancer registries in California and Georgia found that, in 2013 and 2014, only about one-quarter of women with breast cancer and one-third of women with ovarian cancer underwent testing for known harmful variants in breast…
Viruses engineered to kill cancer cells are already used to treat one form of skin cancer and are being widely tested as treatments for other cancers. A new study suggests that such viruses, known as oncolytic viruses, can be further enhanced to improve the body’s immune response against tumors. This new type of oncolytic virus, the researchers found, can simultaneously kill cancer cells and provide immune cells drawn into tumors with a hormone they need to perform their own cell-killing functions. In mice with melanoma tumors, the dual-function virus was far more effective at shrinking and eliminating tumors than a…
The relatively new type of cancer treatment know as CAR T-cell therapy is already being used to treat some people with leukemia and lymphoma. This form of immunotherapy has also shown promise as a treatment for multiple myeloma, although it’s not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for that use. Although such an approval may not be far off, results from a new study already suggest a potential way to improve the effectiveness of CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma. The approach, spearheaded by a research team from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, relies on…
For women with the most common type of early-stage breast cancer and high scores on the Oncotype DX test, receiving chemotherapy with hormone therapy after surgery can lead to excellent long-term outcomes. That’s the conclusion of a new data analysis from the NCI-funded TAILORx clinical trial. The 10,000-patient trial investigated the use of the Oncotype DX test to help guide the care of women with hormone receptor‒positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that has not spread to lymph nodes. This diagnosis accounts for half of all breast cancer cases in the United States each year. The Oncotype DX test is used to…
Out of the 42,030 new cases expected by year’s end, liver cancer will claim 31,780 American lives. Worldwide, the disease is predicted to strike 800,000, and kill 700,000. More than 82 percent of liver cancer patients die within five years of diagnosis, according to the National Institutes of Health. With numbers like that, it should come as no surprise that liver cancer, also called hepatic cancer, is the second cancer killer globally. As liver cancer is actually on the uptick (cases have increased by two percent since 2007), and with October being Liver Cancer Awareness Month, it is worth noting…
Glioblastoma, also known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is a type of primary brain cancer. It arises in brain cells called astrocytes, a type of supportive (glial) cell that composes the connecting tissue of the brain. GBM is also one of the most challenging cancers to cure due to its resistance to existing drug therapies, it is also notoriously difficult to remove completely via surgery. About 25 percent of children with this type of cancer live five years or longer, while the median survival time for adults with glioblastoma is 15 to 16 months with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment. Now…