Experimental radioprotective drug safe for lung cancer patients, says Pitt study

PITTSBURGH, March 22 – Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer can safely take an experimental oral drug intended to protect healthy tissue from the effects of radiation, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and published in this month’s issue of Human Gene Therapy.

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Study shows new treatment strategy effective for certain lung cancers

New Orleans, LA – LSU oncologist Vince D. Cataldo, MD, is the lead author of a review article reporting two chemotherapy drugs now indicated for second and third-line therapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer are remarkably effective in treating a certain subset of these patients. Dr. Cataldo, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, practicing at LSU’s Earl K. Long Medical Center and Hematology-Oncology Clinic in Baton Rouge, and his colleagues say these drugs should be considered as a first-line treatment in people who are known to carry an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) mutation. The paper is published in the March 10, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Spontaneous smoking cessation may be an early symptom of lung cancer, research suggests

48 percent of patients in study quit before diagnosis, most before onset of symptoms

Many longtime smokers quit spontaneously with little effort shortly before their lung cancer is diagnosed, leading some researchers to speculate that sudden cessation may be a symptom of lung cancer.

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New treatment for lung cancer shows promise

Non-invasive, inhalable powder increases survival rates

Arlington, Va. — A new inhalable dry powder treatment for lung cancer shows a significant increase in survival rates and is far less invasive than current treatment options, which frequently include radiation and surgery. This research is being presented at the 2010 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress (PSWC) in association with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans, La., Nov. 14-18.

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Could lung cancer in smokers vs. ‘never-smokers’ be different diseases?

PHILADELPHIA — Lung tumors in those who smoke and those who never smoked have different DNA alterations in the tumor genomes, according to results of a pilot study presented at the Ninth Annual AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held Nov. 7-10, 2010, in Philadelphia.

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New targeted lung cancer drug produces ‘dramatic’ symptom improvement

Early-stage trial shows promise against tumors driven by ALK gene alteration

A clinical trial of a potential new targeted treatment drug has provided powerful evidence that it can halt or reverse the growth of lung tumors characterized by a specific genetic abnormality. In their report in the October 28 New England Journal of Medicine, a multi-institutional research team reports that daily doses of the investigational drug crizotinib shrank the tumors of more than half of a group patients whose tumors were driven by alterations in the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene. In another one-third of study participants, crizotinib treatment suppressed tumor growth. Preliminary results of this study were reported at the June 2010 meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology.

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Proton therapy safe, effective for early-stage lung cancer patients

Proton beam therapy is safe and effective and may be superior to other conventional treatments for Stage I inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, according to a study in the October issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology•Biology•Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

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New Phase II study shows first-line promise of lung cancer drug PF-299

New data reported at the 35th ESMO Congress

A new-generation lung cancer drug has shown an impressive ability to prevent disease progression when administered as a first-line treatment in patients with advanced disease, investigators reported at the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

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Erlotinib improves progression-free survival as first-line therapy in advanced lung cancer

Phase-III data presented at 35th ESMO Congress

For patients with advanced lung cancer whose tumors carry EGFR activating mutations, first-line treatment with erlotinib nearly tripled progression-free survival compared to a standard chemotherapy combination, show results from the first prospective Phase-III study to report findings in this setting.

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New therapy found for lung and skin cancer, based on suicide gene E

Scientists at the University of Granada have developed a new therapy for the treatment of skin and lung cancer. This therapy involves the use of a suicide coliphage-gene (gene E) that can induce death to cells transfected with it.. Their studies have demostrated that this technique is not only effective in vitro (using tumour cell cultures), but also in vivo through the use of experimental animals in which tumours were induced.

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