Adding a personalized vaccine to immunotherapy reduces recurrence in melanoma

Treatment vaccines can help the immune system learn to 

recognize and react to antigens and destroy cancer cells 

that contain them. Credit: NCI and Victor Segura Ibarra and Rita Serda

CANCER DIGEST– Dec. 17, 2022 – Early results of a preliminary clinical trial shows that a combination therapy for stage 3/4 melanoma that has spread to lymph tissues in the body reduced recurrence and death by 44 percent.

Chemo before and after surgery boosts survival in pancreatic cancer patients

Image credit University of Colorado news

CANCER DIGEST – Dec. 10, 2022 – A new study of pancreatic cancer treatments showed that patients who received chemotherapy before and after surgery survived longer compared to patients who didn't have the chemo. The findings were published in the Dec. 8, 2022 American Medical Association Association’s JAMA Oncology 

Parkinson's drug may substantially reduce chemo side effects

Left shows mouse kidney cells and the right shows
these same kidney cells after cisplatin treatment
revealing they are full of adenosine (red).
Image credit: Geoffroy Laumet

CANCER DIGEST – Dec. 3, 2022 – Researchers have found that a drug already FDA-approved for treatment of Parkinson’s disease may reduce some of the severe side effects of cisplatin, the gold standard chemotherapy drug for cancer.

The international research study conducted in mice was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation published online Nov. 15, 2022. It showed that the drug istradefylline can reduce the side effects of cisplatin while preserving its cancer-fighting properties.

CT screening for early lung cancer leads to long-term survival

Axial CT images of pulmonary nodules.
(A) Malignant nodule. (B) Benign nodule.
Image credit – RSNA

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 27, 2022 – A new study shows that early detection of lung cancer with CT scanning dramatically increases long-term survival.

The study led by Claudia Henschke, PhD, MD of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, follows 87,000 participants at 80 cancer centers who have been diagnosed with early stage lung cancer. The results were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.

New immunotherapy approach promises to improve cancer outcomes

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 19, 2022 – Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have identified an additional protein cancer cells use to blunt immune system attacks on tumors. The study results were published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI). 

Over the past 10 years the introduction of immunotherapy medicines such as Keytruda and Opdivo have extended survival for patients with a number of cancers, including colorectal, lung and melanoma and bladder cancers, among others. These drugs work by blocking what are called checkpoint inhibitors, which cancer cells use to trick the immune system into ignoring them and not attacking.