A personalized cancer vaccine provides durable protection against melanoma

Patrick Ott, MD, PhD and Cathy Wu, MD
photo credit– Dana Farber

CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 23, 2021 – Melanoma patients who received a therapeutic vaccine tailored to their cancer show continued immune response to the cancer four years after treatment, a new study shows.

The small study involved eight patients who had undergone surgery for advanced melanoma but were considered at high risk of recurrence. Each received injections of NeoVax, a median of 18 weeks after surgery. 

Cancer deaths see biggest one-year drop in history

CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 15, 2021 – Declining deaths from cancer set a record for a 1-year drop in the latest report by the American Cancer Society. The 2.4 percent decline from 2017 to 2018 was the fastest decline ever recorded.

The 2.4 percent drop in cancer deaths follows a steady 31 percent decline in cancer deaths over the past two decades from 1991  to 2018. The cancer death rate peaked in 1991 at 215 deaths per 100,000 people. 

Despite the declining deaths, the report estimates that in the US in 2021, almost 1.9 million new cancers cases will be diagnosed and more than 600,000 people will die from the disease. 

Men who consumed a Mediterranean diet had slower prostate cancer progression

Photo credit MD Anderson news

CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 9, 2021 – Men with early stage prostate cancer who were being actively monitored had lower risk of their cancer progressing if they followed a diet similar to a Mediterranean diet, a new study shows.

In a study of 410 men with a diagnosis of early stage prostate cancer were given a 170-item baseline food frequency questionnaire. 

Light smokers likely just as addicted as heavy smokers

Photo courtesy of Penn State News

CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 2, 2021 –People who smoke as few as one to four cigarettes a day are addicted to nicotine and find quitting altogether to be very difficult without assistance, a new study shows. The findings appear in the Dec. 22, 2020 American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Such smokers considered "light smokers" have correctly perceived that their habit is less harmful than heavy smoking, but it still carries significant medical health risks. Medical providers have tended to consider "light smokers" as not addicted and, therefor not in need of treatment, however this study suggests many of these patients are addicted and will not successfully quit without treatment.