BRITISH actress Jean Simmons 80, who earned two Oscar nominations during a long career that spanned seven decades, died at her home in Santa Monica, California on Friday after losing a battle to lung cancer.

Even when their tumors are shrinking in response to therapy, some non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have a scattering of cancer cells that are undeterred by the drug, causing the tumor to resume its growth, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center scientists report in the January issue of Cancer Cell. The findings suggest that identifying such patients and treating them with a combination of drugs from the very start of therapy can produce longer remissions.

How do you tell people you’re sick? “Welcome to the wonderful World of…..” No, that doesn’t work. “10 things do to while you have cancer…” Nope, can’t think of that many.

“Cancer and the foods we eat”. While that sounds promising it would just be a reminder to eat green things and not get totally whacked each night.

Smokers with lung cancer who have asked “Why quit now, I’m already sick?” may find new motivation in this answer: Doing so could double their odds of survival over five years.

A report published online today in BMJ suggests that people who give up smoking after being diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer live longer than patients who continue the habit.

Quitting smoking after a diagnosis of early stage lung cancer doubles the odds that a patient will live another five years, a new study finds.

“The results are quite dramatic. I don’t think anybody would have expected such a dramatic difference. It’s incredible,” said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association. “The important caveat is that this is early lung cancer.”

Paul Quarrington, 56, a beloved Canadian writer, musician and screenwriter, passed away early this morning after a heroic battle with lung cancer.

BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“BioNumerik”) today announced the treatment of the first patients in a global multi-center Phase III clinical trial of Tavocept (BNP7787) in patients with primary adenocarcinoma of the lung, the most common type of lung cancer. In previous studies, Tavocept demonstrated the potential to substantially increase overall and one year patient survival while concurrently preventing and reducing the incidence and severity of common chemotherapy side-effects as compared to other currently available treatments for advanced lung cancer. Tavocept, originated and developed by BioNumerik, is an investigational new drug with potential for oncology and non-oncology indications.

Zheng Cao performs “You’ll Never Walk Alone”

At the First Annual Golden Gait 5K Walk/Run for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. For more information, go to: lungcancerfoundation.org.

Saturday April 24, 2010 at 4:00pm

Boulder Reservoir

5565 North 51st Street

Boulder, Colorado 80301

Sit. Sprint. Sprawl. Crawl. Dance. Prance. Stroll. Cajole. Saunter. Meander. Hop, skip or jump! Break your stride…for LUNG CANCER at the 1st Annual Bonnie J Addario Lung Cancer Foundation 5K Run/Walk. Proceeds support the eradication of Lung Cancer with patients, surivors and their families through research, early detection, awareness, education, prevention and treatment.

Of the nearly 150,000 abnormal chest X-rays performed each year in the United States, 25 percent of patients will display only benign lung pathologies on further surgical examination.

This false-positive rate has important clinical implications in cost and side effects. A recent report in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that CT scans, often used as a follow-up to X-rays, were linked to cancer because of their high doses of radiation.