BiotechMashup

(JAMA and Archives Journals) Use of gemcitabine, a drug that can be effective in treating advanced and resected pancreatic cancer, did not result in improved overall survival after pancreatic cancer resection (surgical removal) compared to patients who received fluorouracil and folinic acid, another treatment regimen that has shown effectiveness, according to a study in the Sept. 8 issue of JAMA.

(American Friends of Tel Aviv University) The new drug compound Salirasib, developed at Tel Aviv University, has shown positive results against pancreatic cancer and recently passed Phase I/II clinical trials. The drug, given in combination with gemcitabine, the standard drug used to combat pancreatic cancer, almost doubled the life expectancy of those who received it.

(The Translational Genomics Research Institute) Patients at Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials at Scottsdale Healthcare were the first in the nation to participate in a clinical trial to determine the safety, tolerability and effectiveness for usage of a new drug combination consisting of a standard drug called gemcitabine and a drug called nab-paclitaxel for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The study results are published in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Researchers have discovered a novel way of treating pancreatic cancer by activating the immune system to destroy the cancer's scaffolding. The strategy was tested in a small cohort of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, several of whose tumors shrank substantially. The team believes their findings -- and the novel way in which they uncovered them -- could lead to quicker, less expensive cancer drug development.

Chemotherapy is the best broad defense against cancer recurrence after surgical resection. However, it is difficult to predict which patients will benefit from which regimen of anticancer drugs, if at all. Building on existing knowledge, a new study has analyzed the usefulness of adjuvant chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer based on the histoculture drug response assay.

The new cancer medication sorafenib looks promising. Sorafenib is used for advanced liver and kidney cancer and also appears to be effective against cancer stem cells in pancreatic cancer. Researchers in Germany recently tested the new substance in mice and pancreatic cancer cells.

(International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer) Chemotherapy is the best broad defense against cancer recurrence after surgical resection. However, it is difficult to predict which patients will benefit from which regimen of anticancer drugs, if at all. Building on existing knowledge, a study published in the September edition of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, analyzed the usefulness of adjuvant chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer based on the histoculture drug response assay.

Researchers have found one reason that pancreatic cancer tumors are so difficult to treat with drugs. They have shown how a molecular switch steps up pancreatic cancer cell survival as well as resistance to a standard chemotherapy drug, and have identified alternate routes cancer cells take to avoid the effects of the therapy.

(Fox Chase Cancer Center) Pancreatic cancer kills more than 40,000 people every year. For 80 percent of patients, the disease is so advanced that treatment is unlikely to provide significantly life-extending benefits. For patients diagnosed with localized pancreatic cancer, the five-year survival rate remains barely above 20 percent. New research from Fox Chase shows that a protein called survivin could be a useful tool in understanding pancreatic cancer -- particularly for identifying which patients will most likely respond to treatment.