While it’s no secret that early detection of cancer can greatly improve treatment outcomes, less than two-thirds of eligible women in the US have had a mammogram in the last two years. Dr. Alexia Matheson, an OBGYN resident at Monash Health, recognizes the need for greater participation in breast cancer screening. In honor of National Mammogram Day on the 18th of October, Dr. Matheson agreed to share some truths and debunk some myths surrounding mammograms. 1. Do mammograms use radiation? Is it dangerous? Mammograms do use radiation, although only a small amount. The benefit from mammography has been found to…
Author: Brett Johnson
Carcinoid cancer is a type of slow-growing neuroendocrine tumors that form (usually) in the lungs and gastrointestinal tract, from the esophagus to the rectum. They are the most common cancer found in the appendix. While typified as a cancer of the elderly, women are more likely than men to develop carcinoid tumors. Additionally, a family history of multiple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN I), increases the risk of carcinoid tumors. However, this family of cancers, sometimes referred to as neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), do not manifest a single set of symptoms. Rather, carcinoid cancer often comes to light only after an…
Some types of cancer cells are surrounded by a dense layer of connective tissue that acts as a barrier to cancer-killing immune cells. That poses a problem for immunotherapies, treatments that depend on interactions between immune cells and cancer cells. But a new NCI-funded study in mouse models of metastatic breast cancer suggests that plerixafor (Mozobil)—a drug already used for bone marrow transplants—can thin this protective tissue layer and allow more immune cells to reach the tumors. The results, published January 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also show that treating mice with plerixafor improved how well immune checkpoint inhibitors, a common type of…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of the drug ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) to treat some women with HER2-positive breast cancer. Ado-trastuzumab, also called T-DM1, was initially approved by FDA more than 6 years ago to treat women with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. Under the expanded approval, it can now be used when the cancer is far less advanced: as a post-surgical, or adjuvant, treatment in women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. However, to be eligible to receive the drug under this newly approved use, women must first have undergone presurgical, or neoadjuvant, therapy to shrink their tumors and still have some signs…
The potential benefits of vaccines are twofold: In addition to directly protecting those who get the vaccine, they also protect those who don’t. The latter, a phenomenon called herd immunity, occurs as more and more people get vaccinated, further restricting the ease with which the disease-causing germ can spread. Now a new study suggests that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may be providing men with herd immunity against HPV infections of the throat. Oral HPV infections cause over 70% of all oropharyngeal cancers in the United States, and rates of these cancers in men have skyrocketed over the past several decades. Between 2009 and 2016,…
Avelas Biosciences, a California-based clinical-stage oncology company, is developing AVB-620, a novel drug-device combination product for use during cancer surgery. AVB-620 works to improve surgery by detecting cancer in real-time and has the potential to become part of standard-of-care treatment for many different cancer surgeries. AVB-620 has been developed from technology that originates in the lab of Nobel Laureate Roger Y. Tsien at the University of California – San Diego. It is currently in a registration trial for detecting positive margins during breast cancer surgery. According to the company’s website, the initial motivation behind the invention was to enable systemic…
Chaos can be surprisingly orderly. While cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell growth, that growth is, nevertheless, the result of a very particular cascade of events, from carcinogen exposure to genetic mutations. Interfere with that cascade, and cancer can be ground to a halt, or even killed off. The efforts of longtime NFCR-supported research luminary, Harold Dvorak, M.D., help reveal this—specifically, his work with a particular protein. “It’s a growth factor made by tumor cells but also has a very important role in wound healing,” Dr. Dvorak explains, speaking of the protein. “And, in fact, what tumors do by making VEGF…
Despite all of the advancements in cancer research and cures, there is one major aspect of the disease that is as under-discussed as it is controversial: patient cost. While the road to recovery is anything but easy, the road to post-cancer financial wellness is a hotly-contested and complex issue that both doctors and politicians are reluctant to address—yet it can leave patients in a desperate situation. A recent study of young adult cancer patients by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, in collaboration with academic medical centers throughout the U.S., brings the issue into sharp focus. This study,…