The targeted cancer drug erlotinib has comparable efficacy to chemotherapy, and is better tolerated, in hard-to-treat cases where a patient’s cancer has progressed quickly after treatment with first-line therapy, the results of a new phase III trial…
Spanish researchers have identified a gene whose expression level strongly predicts how well certain lung cancer patients will respond to treatment with the drug erlotinib.
Dr Rafael Rosell and colleagues reported their findings at the European M…
High levels of circulating DNA may indicate faster progression of lung cancer and lower overall survival, according to a study published in the February edition of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the official publication of the International Assoc…
A new study shows that a combination of epigenetic therapy and molecular targeted therapy has promising results at combating advanced lung cancer according to research presented at the 2010 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology. T…
AURORA, Colo. (Oct. 28, 2010) – A study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows more than half of patients with a specific kind of lung cancer are responding positively to a treatment that targets the gene that drives their cancer.
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A subset of lung cancer patients seem to live longer and experience delays in disease progression when a new drug that targets a cancer-associated molecule called MET is added to treatment with erlotinib, the results of a double-blind Phase-II trial…
MILAN, ITALY – October 10, 2010 – Novocure reported today that patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) achieved a significant increase in survival time when tumor treating fields (TTF) therapy was added to chemotherapy, as compared …
In a demonstration of vaccine therapy’s potential for treating lung cancer, scientists report that a prototype vaccine boosted the natural immune response to tumors in a small group of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Moreover, the vaccine was found to be non-toxic and well-tolerated. Published in the Feb. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, findings from the Phase I clinical trial will provide an impetus for further efforts to develop a vaccine against NSCLC, a difficult-to-treat condition that accounts for roughly 80 percent of all lung cancer cases.
Surgeons in Philadelphia say they are finding success by combining light-based cancer therapy with surgery to treat patients with advanced lung cancer that has spread within the chest. While the number of patients treated to date is small, many patients are living three to four times longer than did those patients who did not receive the therapy. In photodynamic therapy (PDT), a nontoxic photosensitizing agent, photofrin, is injected into the bloodstream and absorbed by cells all over the body. These compounds tend to concentrate more in cancer cells than in normal cells. When the compound is exposed to a certain wavelength of light, it absorbs the light energy and produces a form of oxygen that kills the cells. The damage occurs only where the light is shined. In the study, each patient is given chemotherapy until the cancer stops responding, meaning the disease begins to grow again. If the cancer has not spread beyond the chest, the patient then receives photofrin 24 hours prior to surgery to remove the tumor. During surgery, he or she receives an appropriate dose of light therapy. Of the 16 patients evaluated to date, at least one-half have lived more than 23 months, which is between three and four times the usual time.