LungBlog

A new blood test can detect changes in cancer cells, which will help doctors determine if a patient’s treatment is working.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston have found that placing just a teaspoon of blood on a device called a CTC-chip, is enough for scientists to view tumour cells circulating in the bloodstream. The cells can be counted to determine if a patient’s drug therapy is working, and can be observed for mutations.

The home of the cigar, Cuba, has approved what’s billed as the world’s first lung cancer vaccine. It’s now available in the island’s hospitals.

Cuban doctors say it increases patient survival rates. But Australian specialists say they need to see more information about the testing the vaccine went through.

Cuban scientists said on Tuesday the first vaccine to extend lives of lung cancer patients has been approved by Cuban authorities for use and is available in the island’s hospitals.The drug, CimaVax EGF, has been shown to increase survival rates on average four to five months and much longer in some patients, they said in a news conference at Cuba’s Center of Molecular Immunology.

In contrast to chemotherapy, the traditional treatment for lung cancer, they said CimaVax EGF has few side effects because it is a modified protein that attacks only cancer cells.

Thus, as Nexavar’s promise in treating kidney cancer became apparent in 2004, the stock, as noted, hit 60. But by late 2006 after Nexavar flopped in a Phase III trial for advanced skin cancer, shares could be had for $10 and change. Eleven months later, success in liver cancer made headlines and the stock shot up to over $60. But early this year, Nexavar failed a Phase III trial for lung cancer, sending shares plunging below $25. They now sell around $33, roughly half the recent high.

Since measles appears to attack the lungs first, it might have served as a treatment for lung cancer. But researchers were running into some trouble understanding what receptor the measles virus uses to enter the system.

An article in the July edition of The Lancet Oncology suggests that a common treatment for liver cancer - radiofrequency ablation - can also be used to treat lung cancer. A team of European and American researchers calls for randomized controlled trials in order to more robustly investigate this minimally invasive procedure for cancer treatment.

Meanwhile, cancer drug Treanda will likely continue gaining favor and use as an initial treatment for lung cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, said Leerink Swann & Co. analyst Gary Nachman, also citing a survey of physicians.

 Lung cancer patients with little chance of survival have been offered new hope with a treatment that targets tumours in the lungs with radiation.

For patients diagnosed with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), the standard-of-care remains the chemotherapy combination of VePesid® (etoposide) and Platinol® (cisplatin). A recent study indicates that Camptosar® (irinotecan) plus Platinol does not improve survival in SCLC compared with VePesid/Platinol. These findings were presented at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Short-term treatment with high-dose celecoxib reduced expression levels for a biomarker associated with precancerous lung lesions in a chemoprevention study of about 200 current and former smokers, according to data presented June 2 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.The randomized, double-blind prospective study found a significant reduction in Ki-67 expression, as well as reduced levels of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in patients who received 400 mg twice daily of celecoxib (Celebrex) for 3 months.

“We cannot sit here and say that taking celecoxib is going to prevent lung cancer. That needs further, larger-scale studies,” Dr. Edward S. Kim, the lead author and a medical oncologist at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, cautioned at a June 1 press briefing at the ASCO annual meeting.