The active ingredient in cannabis can improve the appetites and sense of taste in cancer patients, according to a new study published online in the cancer journal, Annals of Oncology [1]. Loss of appetite is common among cancer patients [2], either because the cancer itself or its treatment affects the sense of taste and smell, […]
Category: Cancer
Losing hair at 20 is linked to increased risk of prostate cancer in later life
Men who start to lose hair at the age of 20 are more likely to develop prostate cancer in later life and might benefit from screening for the disease, according to a new study published online in the cancer journal, Annals of Oncology. The French study compared 388 men being treated for prostate cancer with […]
Researchers predict nearly 1.3 million cancer deaths in Europe in 2011
There will be nearly 1.3 million deaths from cancer in Europe in 2011 according to predictions from a study published in the cancer journal, Annals of Oncology [1]. The estimates, which have been reached after researchers used for the first time in Europe a new mathematical model for predicting cancer mortality, show a fall in […]
Childhood cancer research in danger; long-term funding and better collaboration needed to maintain improvements in survival, report says
At a time when the effects of paediatric oncology research have meant that more and more children survive cancer, its funding is too low and dependent on short-term grants to be able to sustain this improvement in the long-term, says a report supported by the EU-funded 7th Framework Programme project Eurocancercoms and published on-line in […]
Researchers find new target for stopping tumours developing their own blood supply: phase I trial shows first drug to inhibit ALK-1 receptor is safe and effective
Researchers have found that a newly developed drug, which is aimed at a particular receptor involved in the development of blood vessels that sustain tumour growth, is active in patients with advanced cancers and, in some cases, has halted the progress of the disease. The drug, ACE-041, targets a different molecular pathway to other anti-angiogenesis […]
Cough medicine could help doctors identify how breast cancer patients metabolise tamoxifen, enabling them to improve individual treatments
Cough medicine could be used as way of predicting how well individual patients metabolise tamoxifen used in the treatment of their breast cancer, according to new research presented at the 22nd EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Berlin today (Friday). The findings suggest that it could be possible to use cough […]
New drug targets vitamin D receptors in hormone resistant prostate cancers: promising results from first clinical trial
A new anti-cancer drug aimed at vitamin D receptors on cancer cells has prompted encouraging responses in the levels of PSA (prostate specific antigen) in men with prostate cancer that has become resistant to hormonal therapies. Results of the phase II(a) clinical trial will be presented at the 22nd EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets […]
PARP inhibitor, MK-4827, shows anti-tumour activity in first trial in humans
A new drug that targets proteins responsible for helping cancer cells to repair damage to their DNA has shown promising anti-tumour activity in its first trial in humans. Some patients with a range of solid tumours, many of whom had been treated unsuccessfully for their cancer with other therapies, have seen their tumours shrink or […]
Tiny Trojan horses attack brain cancer cells
Scientists in Germany have developed a way of smuggling an anti-cancer drug past the protective blood-brain barrier and into brain tumours and metastases using a nanocarrier – a tiny capsule specially designed to pass through cell membranes and deliver its anti-cancer drug to the cancer cell. The blood-brain barrier is formed by a network of […]
Researchers map the way to personalised treatment for ovarian cancer
Researchers have shown that point mutations – mis-spellings in a single letter of genetic code – that drive the onset and growth of cancer cells can be detected successfully in advanced ovarian cancer using a technique called OncoMap. The finding opens the way for personalised medicine in which every patient could have their tumour screened, […]