Recommendation in Joining the Founding 100

I chose to join this group because I believe that it is on the cutting edge of cancer patient medical treatment.
The following is an explanation of their group.

Joining the Founding 100

What is "Is My Cancer Different?™"
IsMyCancerDiffererent.com is a first-of-its-kind GE Healthcare-sponsored website that educates people about the benefits of asking for more personalized cancer treatment. Our goal is to empower patients, their families, and friends by informing them of the advanced testing options available to them by asking a simple question: Is My Cancer Different?™ The answer to which we believe is always the same: YES.

If you have a blog and would like to join this wonderful group, then go to the following website:

http://ismycancerdifferent.com/founding-100/#!prettyPhoto[iframes]/0/

Inflammation and Breast Cancer Cells

A new report published by Private MD Labs discusses the research that has determined that women that have inflammation in their body such as arthritis may lead to the spread of breast cancer cells.

Women with an inflammatory disease my want to see lab testing for breast cancer. The article states that prior studies in mice have shown that individuals with arthritis are more likely to develop breast cancer. The new findings are among the first to show that this inflammatory joint condition may play a role in the spread of tumor cells throughout the body.

For the study, researchers from the University of North Carolina studied the effects of breast cancer in mice bred to have arthritis. The results showed that these mice were more likely to have tumor cells spread to the lungs and bones. Pro-inflammatory molecules associated with the joint condition appeared to play a role in the metastasis.

"The clinical implications of this research are huge," said lead researcher Lopamudra Das Roy. "We already have data that show that women with breast cancer and arthritis have lower survival as compared with women with breast cancer and no arthritis.

Das Roy added that the finding could help researchers find new drug targets that prevent the spread of breast cancer.

http://www.privatemdlabs.com/blood-testing-news/Breast/Inflammatory-molecules-linked-to-breast-cancer-metastasis--$800743607.php

Three Types of Transplants For Cancer Treatment

Transplants have played a vital role in cancer treatment in the past few years. Many leukemia and lymphoma patients have benefited from this procedure.  Many lab tests have to be performed before becoming a candidate to receive a transplant. There are three types of transplants that are available in the medical community.

Autologous

Autologous HSCT requires the extraction (apheresis) of haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) from the patient and storage of the harvested cells in a freezer. The patient is then treated with high-dose chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy with the intention of eradicating the patient's malignant cell population at the cost of partial or complete bone marrow ablation (destruction of patient's bone marrow function to grow new blood cells). The patient's own stored stem cells are then returned to his/her body, where they replace destroyed tissue and resume the patient's normal blood cell production. Autologous transplants have the advantage of lower risk of infection during the immune-compromised portion of the treatment since the recovery of immune function is rapid. Also, the incidence of patients experiencing rejection (graft-versus-host disease) is very rare due to the donor and recipient being the same individual. These advantages have established autologous HSCT as one of the standard second-line treatments for such diseases as lymphoma. However, for others such as Acute Myeloid Leukemia, the reduced mortality of the autogenous relative to allogeneic HSCT may be outweighed by an increased likelihood of cancer relapse and related mortality, and therefore the allogeneic treatment may be preferred for those conditions. Researchers have conducted small studies using non-myeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as a possible treatment for type I (insulin dependent) diabetes in children and adults. Results have been promising; however, as of 2009 it was premature to speculate whether these experiments will lead to effective treatments for diabetes.

Allogeneic

Allogeneic HSCT involves two people: the (healthy) donor and the (patient) recipient. Allogeneic HSC donors must have a tissue (HLA) type that matches the recipient. Matching is performed on the basis of variability at three or more loci of the HLA gene, and a perfect match at these loci is preferred. Even if there is a good match at these critical alleles, the recipient will require immunosuppressive medications to mitigate graft-versus-host disease. Allogeneic transplant donors may be related (usually a closely HLA matched sibling), syngeneic (a monozygotic or 'identical' twin of the patient - necessarily extremely rare since few patients have an identical twin, but offering a source of perfectly HLA matched stem cells) or unrelated (donor who is not related and found to have very close degree of HLA matching). Unrelated donors may be found through a registry of bone marrow donors such as the National Marrow Donor Program. People who would like to be tested for a specific family member or friend without joining any of the bone marrow registry data banks may contact a private HLA testing laboratory and be tested with a mouth swab to see if they are a potential match. A "savior sibling" may be intentionally selected by preimplantation genetic diagnosis in order to match a child both regarding HLA type and being free of any obvious inheritable disorder. Allogeneic transplants are also performed using umbilical cord blood as the source of stem cells. In general, by transplanting healthy stem cells to the recipient's immune system, allogeneic HSCTs appear to improve chances for cure or long-term remission once the immediate transplant-related complications are resolved.
A compatible donor is found by doing additional HLA-testing from the blood of potential donors. The HLA genes fall in two categories (Type I and Type II). In general, mismatches of the Type-I genes (i.e. HLA-A, HLA-B, or HLA-C) increase the risk of graft rejection. A mismatch of an HLA Type II gene (i.e. HLA-DR, or HLA-DQB1) increases the risk of graft-versus-host disease. In addition a genetic mismatch as small as a single DNA base pair is significant so perfect matches require knowledge of the exact DNA sequence of these genes for both donor and recipient. Leading transplant centers currently perform testing for all five of these HLA genes before declaring that a donor and recipient are HLA-identical.
Race and ethnicity are known to play a major role in donor recruitment drives, as members of the same ethnic group are more likely to have matching genes, including the genes for HLA.

Synogeneic 

Syngeneic bone marrow transplantation is a procedure in which a person receives bone marrow donated by his or her healthy identical twin.  This is more of a specific term for a for the procedure above.


For more information:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/bone-marrow-transplant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngeneic_bone_marrow_transplantation

 

A Gene Predicts Recurrence In Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Researchers identify a gene that predicts recurrence in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck—which typically arises from thin, flat cells that line moist surfaces inside the mouth, nose and throat—is the sixth most common type of cancer worldwide, and it has a relatively low five-year survival rate and a high recurrence rate. Recently, the disease has become even more prevalent among adults 40 years of age or younger. These statistics underscore the need for a greater understanding of the molecular underpinnings of this form of cancer. Toward this goal, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have identified a gene that predicts disease recurrence in individuals with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

The new findings, which will be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012 on Monday, April 2, show that patients with one common variant of a gene which encodes the cytochrome P450 (CYP1B1) protein are likely to have a longer time-to-recurrence than those with the more typical form of the gene.
"This is the first study to look at the association between CYP1B1 variants and time-to-recurrence in head and neck cancer, and the findings could lead to personalized treatment strategies for patients with this type of cancer," says Fox Chase study author Ekaterina Shatalova, Ph.D., research associate in the lab of Margie L. Clapper, Ph.D., also senior investigator on the study.
Shatalova, Clapper and their colleagues focused on CYP1B1 because this enzyme is known to produce carcinogens by metabolizing tobacco smoke and alcohol—substances that increase the risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. This protein is also abundant in tumor tissue from a wide range of organs, including the breast and lung.

The results could have important implications for the treatment of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Clinicians could use information about variations in the CYP1B1 gene to identify individuals who are at risk for faster recurrence. That subset of patients could receive "a treatment regimen that is tailored to be more aggressive," Clapper says. "Using a personalized medicine approach, we could impact the duration of the disease-free interval for these individuals if we knew ahead of time which ones were more likely to experience recurrence at a faster rate."

To read the complete article: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-gene-recurrence-squamous-cell-carcinoma.html
 

New Drug For Late Stage Breast Cancer Shows Success

This is great news for those women who wait to have mammograms or the mammograms did not show the existing cancer.  When breast cancer is found in Stage 4 the prognosis has not been good.  So there is hope because of a successful drug trial.

Roche Holding AG ROG.VX +0.06% Friday reported positive results from a late-stage study that compared its experimental breast cancer drug trastuzumab emtansine to a rival product from GlaxoSmithKline GSK -0.11% PLC, paving the way to file the potential blockbuster drug for regulatory approval in Europe and the U.S. later this year.
The Basel-based drug maker said women whose breast cancer had spread despite earlier treatment lived longer without their disease getting worse when treated with Roche's trastuzumab emtansine, or T-DM1, compared with those who received Glaxo's Tykerb plus chemotherapy.
The study involved 991 women previously treated with another Roche drug Herceptin plus chemotherapy, whose cancer spread after this initial treatment.
"We believe this suggests that the observed benefit is likely to be a meaningful one and that at least a trend toward a survival improvement is likely," Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note to investors. Roche said data to show if the drug helps prolonging patients life wasn't available yet.

T-DM1 is an antibody drug which delivers the chemotherapy agent directly inside cancer cells, with the aim of causing fewer side effects. Roche said final results for overall survival aren't yet complete.
Analysts said the trial results, which were expected after a similarly good outcome of intermediate tests, are a sign that the company's strategy to improve standard care through innovative drug discovery is paying off. But they noted that, until the drug proves to work also as first-line treatment, market potential is limited.
"These results enable Roche to register the drug, but as a second-line treatment, the market opportunity is limited," said Andrew Weiss, an analyst in Zurich with Vontobel. "If the second set of data shows it also works as a first-line treatment, then that will open up the market," Weiss said, adding the drug carries a sales potential of 1.7 billion Swiss francs ($1.8 billion) if marketed globally. Another ongoing late-stage study, dubbed MARIANNE, is testing if T-DM1 also works on patients who weren't previously treated with established drugs. This trial's results are expected in 2014.
"We have significantly increased confidence that the front-line trial…will report positively," analysts at Deutsche Bank said, adding that annual sales could reach more than $1.5 billion if the drug was approved for this use.
Mr. Weiss, who has a buy rating on Roche, also said that T-DM1 results, coupled with "stellar" data on experimental compound pertuzumab can help Roche alleviate competitive pressure on its blockbuster breast cancer drug Herceptin. He said Roche is likely to present detailed results at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual ASCO meeting in June.
Roche is developing T-DM1 with ImmunoGen Inc. IMGN +4.73%

ImmunoGen's Chief Executive Daniel M. Junius said in an interview that the top-line results from Roche were symbolically significant because it validated the company's antibody technology.
He also said first-line study data on TDM-1 isn't expected until late 2013 into 2014, but a second-line application is important, representing the most immediate opportunity to make the drug available to patients. He said the current second-line treatment has a limited patient population and hasn't been very successful.
 
 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577313483370438926.html

Quality of Life Parallels Length of Lung Cancer Survival

A new study indicates The way lung cancer patients feel around the time they're diagnosed may be related to how long they survive -- even after taking into account objective measures of the disease.

Researchers found that newly-diagnosed lung cancer patients who rated their quality of life higher generally lived longer with the disease: typically surviving nearly six years, versus less than two years among patients who'd reported a poor quality of life.
And objective measures -- like age, the stage and aggressiveness of the cancer and other health conditions -- did not fully explain the connection.
Quality of life is a "complex construct" that includes a person's feelings of physical, mental and emotional well-being, said Jeff A. Sloan, a professor of oncology and biostatistics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who led the new study.

Blood work and other lab tests are one way of seeing how a patient is doing, according to Sloan. But, he said, doctors have long been aware that two patients can look the same as far as objective cancer-related measures go, yet fare differently.
A number of studies have now shown that quality of life seems to affect the long-term picture for cancer patients, Sloan said.
So doctors at Mayo have begun routinely assessing cancer patients' quality of life, and some other cancer centers are starting to do the same, he added.
The current study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, included 2,442 patients treated for lung cancer at Mayo over 11 years.
Around the time of their diagnoses, patients rated their overall quality of life on a standard scale of zero to 100. The researchers found that 21 percent had a "deficit" in quality of life -- or a score of 50 or lower.
Those patients survived for substantially less time: 1.6 years, on average, versus 5.6 years in the group with a higher quality of life around the time of diagnosis.
There were other differences between the two groups, too. Patients with a poorer quality of life were more likely to be men, current smokers and have more-advanced cancer, for example.
But even when Sloan's team factored in those differences, quality of life was still a predictor of survival time. Overall, the death rate during the study period was 55 percent higher among patients who gave low ratings to their quality of life.
So what can be done when cancer patients have quality-of-life issues? That depends on what seems to be underlying the problem, according to Sloan.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/29/quality-life-tied-to-lung-cancer-survival/#ixzz1qW7U8Gm2

Cancer, A Lab Tech 's Perspective: Waiting On The Pathology Report

Cancer, A Lab Tech 's Perspective: Waiting On The Pathology Report: We have heard these words "Waiting on the Pathology Report" many times in our lives. We have heard these words from doctors, friends, and fa...