Combination therapy boosts prostate cancer survival

Some pelvic lymph nodes shown here in green.

 – Illustration credit Sam Webster

CANCER DIGEST – May 28, 2022 – Combining hormone suppression therapy with lymph node radiotherapy after the prostate has been removed, expanded the number of men who had no progression of their prostate cancer after five years, according to a May 14, 2022 study in The Lancet.

Breast cancer drug found to halt brain tumor recurrence

CANCER DIGEST – May 25, 2022 – Researchers have identified a drug that slows the growth of the most aggressive types of brain tumors in both mouse models and in off-label use in patients who had no other treatment options, suggesting clinical trials should be considered for the drug. 

In addition, the researchers have discovered a better way to analyze such tumors to more precisely identify which of these types of tumors will respond to the drug.

New drug approved for treatment of lymphoma subtype

Image credit – National Cancer Institute

CANCER DIGEST – May 14, 2022 – The FDA has granted provisional approval for a new drug to treat a form of slow-growing cancer called marginal zone lymphoma. The approval is based on early results of a small clinical trial and a secondary study.

The drug, zanubrutinib, belongs to a new class of drug that blocks a certain enzyme that plays a crucial role in allowing the cancer to survive and grow. The results of the early clinical trial led by Tycel Phillips, MD, of the University of Michigan appear in the April 7, 2022 journal Blood Advances.

Handheld device accurately scans for skin cancer

Image of cancer from millimeter-wave device courtesy Stevens Institute of 

Technology

CANCER DIGEST – May 7, 2022 – When a crewmember of the Starship Enterprise became ill, Dr. McCoy would wave a wand-like device over the patient’s body and read the diagnosis. Now, researchers have developed a similar device that can detect skin cancer.

Researchers boost effectiveness of CAR T therapy for AML

CANCER DIGEST – May 2, 2022 – Researchers at Massachusetts General Cancer Center have developed a new strategy for making CAR T therapy more effective against the most common form of leukemia in adults.