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.

Metastasis-directed therapy may prolong progression-free survival

Image credit National Cancer Institute

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 12, 2022 – For patients with prostate cancer that has spread to a single site outside the prostate, a therapy approach called metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) might extend the progression-free period following initial treatment, a small study shows in the Dec. 1, 2022 issue of The Journal of Urology.

Normally after surgery or radiation therapy to eradicate prostate cancer, men whose tumors had spread to a single nearby lymph nodes or bone, called "oligorecurrent cancer" are given androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in an effort to keep the cancer from continuing to grow. 

Adding drug to androgen suppression boosts progression-free survival

Image credit CDC

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 6, 2022 – An investigational therapy increased progression-free survival in 40 percent of nine patients whose prostate cancer had become resistant to hormone-blocking therapy according to a study was published in the August 30, 2022 journal Molecular Therapy.

The small trial conducted at Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center in Los Angeles involved giving the 9 patients the monoclonal antibody immunotherapy drug, carotuximab.

In the trial led by Neil Bhowmick, PhD and Edwin Posada, MD, each of the 9 patients had become totally resistant to at least one androgen suppressor, these are drugs that suppress the hormones that fuel prostate cancer growth.