Cancer News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

Cancer truly sucks so I am making a thread on the latest news on a cure for this evil disease.

https://www.cancer.net/sites/cancer.net ... meline.pdf

As a result of the nation’s investment in cancer research, more people are surviving cancer than ever before
• Two out of three people live at least five years after their diagnosis, up from roughly one out of two in the 1970s.
• The nation’s cancer death rate has dropped 16 percent since the early 1990s, reversing decades of increases.
• Today, highly tailored, more effective treatments target the genetics of each cancer, and each patient. • Better ways of managing nausea and other side effects are enabling patients to live better, more fulfilling lives.
•Revolutionary progress against some cancers shows what is possible. Five-year survival rates for breast cancer, testicular cancer and childhood leukemia are now over 90 percent

https://www.asco.org/research-guideline ... s-timeline

https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/canc ... -to-nation

[weatheriscool]

Novel form of immunotherapy could revolutionize cancer treatment
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05- ... tment.html
by Noelle Toumey Reetz, Georgia State University

A novel form of macrophage-based immunotherapy is effective at treating a broad spectrum of cancers, including those at advanced stages, according to a groundbreaking study led by Georgia State immunology professor Yuan Liu.

Liu's treatment works by leveraging macrophages, specialized white blood cells involved in the detection and elimination of cancer cells and other pathogens. Macrophages also activate T-cells which then attack and destroy cancer cells. Under normal conditions, this system works well to limit the growth of abnormal cells. However, cancer cells are tricky. Macrophages are vulnerable to cancer cells masquerading as healthy cells by co-opting mechanisms normal cells rely on that evade immune surveillance and detection. These mechanisms can profoundly increase cancer's ability to grow and resist traditional treatment.

[weatheriscool]

Exploring CAR T-cell therapy to treat breast cancer
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05- ... reast.html
by Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Credit: NIH

Peter Mac researchers are developing a potential new way to make CAR T-cell therapy more effective against breast cancer and other solid cancers.

CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy where a patient's own immune cells are collected and reengineered, before being infused back into the patient to fight their cancer.

But CAR T-cells also contain a gene that can suppress this immune response. A Peter Mac-led study into this phenomenon has just been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

"Cancer hijacks these pathways to shut off an immune response that would otherwise be beneficial," says Dr. Paul Beavis, one of the senior authors of the study.

[Yuli Ban]

Another reason I'm amazed and shocked by mRNA vaccines, which I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize were such a revolution as recently as a week ago

Can mRNA vaccines be used in cancer care? [Yes!]

A team of international researchers is working to test whether mRNA technology could prevent colorectal cancer from recurring.

The standard treatment for many colorectal cancer patients is surgery, but cancer cells can remain in the body after the tumor is removed. These remaining cancer cells shed DNA into the bloodstream, which is referred to as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).

A clinical trial led by Morris and Kopetz is following high-risk patients with stage II or stage III colorectal cancer who test positive for circulating tumor DNA after surgery.

The presence of circulating tumor DNA is checked with a blood test. “If there is ctDNA present, it can mean that a patient is at higher risk for the cancer coming back,” Morris says.

He says that the opposite can also be true: if there is not circulating tumor DNA present, the patient may have a lower risk of recurrence.

Personalizing an mRNA vaccine for mutations that cause cancer

In the Phase II clinical trial, enrolled patients start chemotherapy after the tumor is surgically removed. Tissue from the tumor is sent off to a specialized lab, where it’s tested to look for genetic mutations that fuel the cancer’s growth.

Morris says anywhere from five to 20 mutations specific to that patient’s tumor can be identified during testing. The mutations are then prioritized by the most common to the least common, and an mRNA vaccine is created based on that ranking. “Each patient on the trial receives a personalized mRNA vaccine based on their individual mutation test results from their tumor,” Morris says.

As with the COVID-19 vaccines, the mRNA instructs the patient’s cells to produce protein fragments based off tumor’s genetic mutations identified during testing. The immune system then searches for other cells with the mutated proteins and clears out any remaining circulating tumor cells.
“We’re hopeful that with the personalized vaccine, we’re priming the immune system to go after the residual tumor cells, clear them out and cure the patient,” says Morris.

[Yuli Ban]

Would be something if COVID-19 wound up leading to a cure for most cancers
In Conversation: Treating cancer with mRNA vaccines

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology has become almost a household name in the past year. Two COVID-19 vaccines, by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, employ this technology.

But mRNA vaccine research also has strong roots in the cancer field.

Dr. Kesari explained where he sees the potential for mRNA vaccines in cancer. “The great thing about mRNA [vaccines] are the manufacturing, scalability, and cost,” he said.

He used COVID-19 as an example. Scientists from China published the molecular code for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in January 2020. This allowed scientists and pharmaceutical companies with mRNA vaccine development expertise to initiate work on creating novel mRNA vaccines specifically designed to match the virus.

“It’s really built upon decades of research and informatics because understanding what’s a good vaccine [and] what’s not a good vaccine at the protein level, and then translating to the mRNA level has been built over many decades,” Dr. Kesari explained.

He drew a parallel between COVID-19 and the challenges he faces when treating patients with brain cancer.

“Brain tumors to me is COVID every day [and] has been for 20 years, meaning there’s such an urgent need; these patients die rapidly. There are no good treatments. Obviously, COVID is a pandemic, but on a daily basis to the individual patient — we deal with those sorts of life threatening issues all the time.”

Dr. Kesari sees great potential in mRNA vaccines as part of a wider arsenal to treat his patients. The speed and ease of manufacturing make this particular vaccine platform an attractive candidate for novel treatments.

[weatheriscool]

Drug acts as Trojan horse to kill cancer cells
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06- ... cells.html
by University of Edinburgh

A light-activated drug that can enter and kill cancer and bacterial cells without harming nearby healthy cells has been tested successfully in zebrafish and cells.

Scientists found that combining the tiny cancer-killing molecule with a chemical food compound can trick cancer cells into ingesting the drug.

The molecule—called SeNBD—is smaller than existing light-sensitive treatments, which means it can pass through the cell's defenses much easier.

Researchers say further tests are needed to show if the drug is a safe and quick method of treating early stage cancers and drug-resistant bacteria. This study was carried out in zebrafish and human cells.

[weatheriscool]

'Next big wave': Radiation drugs track and kill cancer cells
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06- ... cells.html
by Carla K. Johnson

Doctors are reporting improved survival in men with advanced prostate cancer from an experimental drug that delivers radiation directly to tumor cells.

Few such drugs are approved now, but the approach may become a new way to treat patients with other hard-to-reach or inoperable cancers.

The study tested an emerging class of medicine called radiopharmaceuticals, drugs that deliver radiation directly to cancer cells. The drug in this case is a molecule that contains two parts: a tracker and a cancer-killing payload.

Trillions of these molecules hunt down cancer cells, latching onto protein receptors on the cell membrane. The payload emits radiation, which hits the tumor cells within its range.

[weatheriscool]

Pill shows benefit in certain hard-to-treat breast cancers
Source: AP

By CARLA K. JOHNSON

A pill has been shown to help keep certain early-stage, hard-to-treat breast cancers at bay after initial treatment in findings being reported early because they are so promising.

Study results were released Thursday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology ahead of its annual meeting and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The pill, called Lynparza, was found to help breast cancer patients with harmful mutations live longer without disease after their cancers had been treated with standard surgery and chemotherapy.

It was studied in patients with mutations in genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 that can predispose people to breast cancer if they don’t work properly, but who did not have a gene flaw that can be targeted by the drug Herceptin.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/science-brea ... 63ef89bfe1

[Yuli Ban]

Technology used to make COVID vaccines tested to treat HIV, cancer, more

When the final Phase 3 data came out last November showing the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were more than 90% effective, Dr. Anthony Fauci had no words. He texted smiley face emojis to a journalist seeking his reaction.

This astonishing efficacy has held up in real-world studies in the US, Israel and elsewhere. The mRNA technology -- developed for its speed and flexibility as opposed to expectations it would provide strong protection against an infectious disease -- has pleased and astonished even those who already advocated for it.

Another amazing article about the promise of mRNA vaccines, probably one of the biggest sci-tech/biomedical innovations of the past 30 years.

[weatheriscool]

Tuberculosis drug causes "power failure" in ultra-fit cancer cells
By Nick Lavars
June 02, 2021
https://newatlas.com/medical/tuberculos ... cer-cells/

Leveraging a newfound ability to identify the "fittest" metastatic cancer cells, scientists at the UK's University of Salford have discovered that an already approved drug can be deployed to cut off their fuel supply, while leaving normal healthy cells unharmed.

Metastatic cancer cells are dangerous, fast-moving cells cancer cells that have spread away from the primary site to other parts of the body where they can give rise to new tumors. These cells have often already survived chemotherapy and radiation treatments which makes tackling them difficult, though scientists continue to learn more about their behavior and how they might be targeted for better outcomes.

Research has shown that part of the reason these cells are able to resist treatments and spread throughout the body is because they are the fittest cancer cells, and therefore require relatively large amounts of energy. Building on this, the University of Salford scientists used an advanced biosensor to measure energy-carrying molecules in cells called ATP which, for the first time, enabled them to identify which of these cells are the "fittest."

[Time_Traveller]

Researchers develop world's first blood test for real-time monitoring of cancer treatment success (w/video)

Jun 07, 2021

Cancer patients who are undergoing targeted therapy can look forward to a new blood test that could tell their doctors whether the treatment is working, within one day after the start of the treatment. This will significantly speed up the evaluation process and enable doctors to make adjustments to the treatment plan, if necessary, to improve patients’ chances of recovery.

Unlike conventional chemotherapies that interfere with all rapidly dividing cells and can cause widespread damage to cells, targeted medicines attack specific molecules that instruct cancer cells to grow and spread and in turn, block the abnormal growth of the cancer. Despite the specific nature of targeted drugs, current clinical evaluation of their treatment in solid tumours primarily relies on either tumour volumetric imaging, which is insensitive and delayed, or invasive tissue biopsies.

Assistant Professor Shao Huilin and her research team from the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a technology that is accurate, less invasive and significantly brings forward the evaluation window, by using liquid biopsies.

https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology ... =58172.php

[wjfox]

Prostate cancer: Thousands of men to benefit from new drug approved for use on NHS

Tuesday 8 June 2021

Thousands of men are set to benefit from a new prostate cancer drug which has been approved for use on the NHS.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has recommended enzalutamide as an option for treating some types of the disease.

[...]

Angela Culhane, chief executive at Prostate Cancer UK, said: "This is fantastic news for thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer, especially those who have additional illnesses that make them unsuitable for chemotherapy.

"It finally guarantees them access to a treatment which is just as effective as chemotherapy and can give them back precious time with their families."

There are an estimated 8,500 men who will be able to access the drug, which works by blocking the effect of the hormone testosterone on prostate cancer cells.

https://news.sky.com/story/prostate-can ... s-12327450

[weatheriscool]

Using light to monitor cancer
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-cancer.html
by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Researchers at EPFL have developed a technology based on nanophotonics and data science to detect and monitor cancer biomarkers at an early stage. Their research is published in Nature Communications.

Medical doctors examine body fluids of their patients, such as blood, urine, saliva, or nasal swabs, for diagnostics. This is because substances in such biofluids may provide vital information about one's health state. Biosensors are emerging devices capable of analyzing such biosamples and look for substances indicative of disease. COVID-19 tests are the most current examples of biosensors. From body fluids, they can detect various substances such as the biomolecules on the surface of the virus (proteins), viral genetic material (RNA/DNA), or even the body's immune response to the virus (antibodies). These biological substances, which may mark the presence of a disease, are called biomarkers.

[weatheriscool]

'Tiny first responders' use powers for good against skin cancer
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06- ... ancer.html
by University of Queensland

Researchers investigating a group of microscopic cells have discovered they can put the brakes on the rapid development of melanoma lesions.

A team at the University of Queensland and collaborators from WEHI and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre have taken a close look at the Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) which are crucial for initiating and orchestrating immune responses.

UQ Diamantina Institute's Professor Gabrielle Belz said their aim was to understand more about the function of these relatively recently identified cells, and their roles in melanoma.

"We wanted to investigate how ILC2 contribute to melanoma formation, because we already knew these cells harbored functions that could either suppress or stimulate production of cancerous tumors," Professor Belz said.

[Yuli Ban]

We might genuinely be within five to ten years of conquering cancer. And not even in the Newsweek "Cancer cure found?!" clickbait (page bait?) sense.

Of course cancer is still a bit too horrible of a monster sometimes. That 30-day timeline to create an mRNA treatment to tackle it? For something like lung cancer or melanoma, that would be just fine. But for something like pancreatic cancer, it might not do any good. I've heard cases where a person is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on day 1 and is dead by day 14. So things would have to be seriously scaled up. Like "treatment ready in 48 hours" fast.

[wjfox]

First Multi-Cancer Blood Test Available Now

June 15, 2021

Medicine has made great strides in fighting cancer, but it remains one of the most lethal diseases in the world. Even when therapy is successful, cancer can have a devastating effect on the patient’s quality of life and remaining lifespan. While many novel therapeutical approaches are being explored, including immunotherapy, the next major success could lie in better diagnostics.

Cancer is much more treatable at early stages (the average 5-year survival rate is 91% for early-stage cancer and only 26% for late-stage cancer) [1] but also much harder to detect. Only a handful of cancers have an approved early detection method, which can be invasive or uncomfortable, such as colonoscopy. This makes people apprehensive about taking the test and results in fewer early detections. One of the rare exceptions is prostate cancer, which can be detected by the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood marker, but this does not change the overall picture: most cancer types currently lack a recommended early screening option, invasive or otherwise.

A multi-cancer blood test addresses two major problems. First, it is no more invasive than a regular blood test, so people have fewer reasons to avoid it. Second, a single test can detect dozens of types of cancer, rather than one specific type.

GRAIL’s test, Galleri, is based on analyzing the methylation patterns of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA), which consists of degraded DNA molecules.

Read more: https://www.lifespan.io/news/first-mult ... lable-now/

[weatheriscool]

New drugs may kill and limit reproduction of bowel cancer cells

by Hudson Institute of Medical Research
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06- ... ancer.html

Drugs that are being trialed to treat leukemia could also be used to fight bowel cancer after a breakthrough by Hudson Institute of Medical Research scientists.

In a world-first, researchers found that the drugs could potentially be used to fight bowel cancer, using Nobel Prize-winning genetic screening technology CRISPR.

The researchers were using CRISPR to identify new targets for bowel cancer tumors when they realized that the gene KMT2A—usually associated with Acute Myeloid Leukemia—promotes bowel cancer. It does this by fuelling uncontrolled growth of the tumor, and encouraging the cancer cells ability to 'self-renew," preventing the tumor from regression or differentiation.

They then trialed two agents that inhibit KMT2A and found that these block bowel cancer growth and self-renewal, with very little damage to normal cells. These inhibitors are very similar to others which are currently in clinical trials to treat leukemia.

[weatheriscool]

Immunosuppression drug could reduce chemotherapy resistance
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06- ... tance.html
by Will Doss, Northwestern University

A drug currently used to prevent organ rejection in transplants could also reduce chemotherapy resistance in glioblastoma, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in Brain.

The drug prevents glioblastoma cells from using molecular plasticity to circumvent chemotherapy, and Northwestern Medicine investigators are currently working to translate these findings to the clinic, according to Atique Ahmed, Ph.D., associate professor of Neurological Surgery and senior author of the study.

"These cancer cells are very adaptable, and this is one reason why they resist our current therapies," said Ahmed. "Because we are repurposing an already approved drug, this could speed up the clinical testing."

[Yuli Ban]

Messenger RNA Vaccines: Beckoning of a New Era in Cancer Immunotherapy

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines are a relatively new class of vaccines. They combine the potential of mRNA to encode for almost any protein with an excellent safety profile and a flexible production process. During the last decade, the mRNA vaccine approach has been increasingly recognized and viewed as a versatile tool for the development of new innovative therapeutics not only in infectious disease settings but also in cancer. mRNA vaccines traditionally consist of a messenger RNA synthesized by in vitro transcription using a bacteriophage RNA polymerase and a template DNA that encodes the antigen(s) of interest. Once administered and internalized by host cells, the mRNA transcripts are translated directly in the cytoplasm of the cell. The resulting antigens are presented to the immune system cells to stimulate an immune response. Dendritic cells (DCs) can be utilized as a carrier by delivering tumor-associated antigen mRNAs or total tumor RNA to their cytoplasm; then, the mRNA-loaded DCs can be delivered to the host to elicit a specific immune response. Recently, 2 mRNA vaccines were approved for the first time for human use—to prevent COVID-19 infection—bringing excitement for the future possibilities of this approach for cancer immunotherapy as well as for preventing other infectious diseases.

[Yuli Ban]

Breakthrough mRNA vaccine developed for cancer immunotherapy by Chinese scientists

Research involving messenger RNA (mRNA) has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and scientists are now reporting a new vaccine for cancer immunotherapy.

Similar to COVID-19 vaccines, Chinese scientists have developed a new mRNA vaccine that activates the immune system to attack a protein made by tumour cells instead of the protein produced by the coronavirus.

Crucially, this mRNA is contained in a breakthrough hydrogel developed by the team from the Chinese National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, that, when injected into mice with melanoma, slowly released the RNA which successfully caused tumours to shrink and prevented them from metastasising.