Agent makes tumors glow for surgeons

Image courtesy Penn Medicine

CANCER DIGEST – July 29, 2017 – Using a combination of imaging technologies and an agent that makes tumors glow, surgeons identified and removed more cancerous nodules from lung cancer patients than they would have using preoperative PET scans alone, researchers report.

The study by researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania combined pre-operative PET scans with a molecular imaging technique during surgery using a contrast dye that is taken up by tumors and makes them glow. The glowing tumors are then easier for surgeons to see and remove.

Can CAR T-cells overcome glioblastmas?

CANCER DIGEST – July 21, 2017 – Glioblastoma, the aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer Senator John McCain was diagnosed with this past week, has been shown to be resistant to most current treatments.

In a study also reported this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania used T cells genetically modified to kill cancerous glial cells called glioblastoma. 

FDA panel recommends approval for gene-altering therapy

CANCER DIGEST – July 15, 2017 – A FDA advisory panel unanimously recommended approval of a gene-altering therapy for a deadly form of childhood leukemia. If given final approval, it would be the first such drug in a new class of therapy called CAR T-cell therapy.

Cup 'o Joe may cut risk of death

CANCER DIGEST – July 11, 2017 – The evidence for the health benefits of coffee continue to grow, now for the first time a study shows a survival benefit for coffee drinkers.

The study, which was published in the July 11 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, used data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study, a collaborative effort between the University of Hawaii Cancer Center and the Keck School of Medicine. The ongoing study begun in 1993 has more than 215,000 participants and bills itself as the most ethnically diverse study examining lifestyle risk factors that may lead to cancer.

Focused lung cancer screening cost-effective

CANCER DIGEST – June 30, 2017 – Focusing on high-risk people and expanding the scope to other tobacco-related diseases make lung-cancer screening programs cost-effective, researchers say.

In a cost-of-care-study Canadian researchers found that focusing on high-risk people could reduce the number of people who need to be screened by more than 80 percent, and calculated the cost of screening to be $20,724 (in 2015 Canadian dollars) per year of life saved; this means