Blocking key nutrient may kill hard-to-treat form of breast cancer

Triple negative breast cancer
cells died rapidly when 
deprived of cystine

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 27, 2016 – In a new study, Duke University scientists report that an aggressive and treatment-resistant form of breast cancer, called triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), die off rapidly when deprived of a key nutrient called cystine. 

Patients diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, which constitute about 10 to 20 percent of all breast cancer cases, have few treatment options outside of surgery and chemotherapy.

New viral therapy shows promise in treating primary liver cancer

Image courtesy Wikipedia

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 19, 2016 – A virus that causes childhood coughs and colds could help in the fight against primary liver cancer, according to a study published in the journal Gut.

The research team, at Leeds University, Leeds, UK,  found that Reovirus was successful in treating both liver cancer cells grown in the laboratory and those taken directly from patients undergoing surgery for primary liver cancer.

People with genetic disorder linked to long life have increased death rate from a common cancer drug

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 13, 2016 – Cancer patients with a genetic disorder that has been linked to long life, ironically may be twice as likely to die when treated with a common chemotherapy drug, a new analysis shows.

Led by George McDonald, MD a gastroenterology researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, researchers analyzed the records of 3500 marrow transplant patients over a ten-year period between 1991 and 2011. The records analyzed included people who had been treated with busulfan as part of a chemotherapy regimen prior to bone marrow transplantation for blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma.

Immunotherapy first may be best for advanced melanoma

CANCER DIGEST  – Nov. 6, 2016 – When it comes to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, what has worked best in recent years have been therapies based on the genetics of the cancer. For melanoma with mutations of the BRAF gene, there have been two approaches. Targeted therapies that seek to selectively kill the cancer and stop it from spreading, and immunotherapies that seek to boost the immune response the cancer.