New Drug Shrinks Basal Cell Carcinoma Tissues - First of its Kind

from Mayoclinic.org

It’s the most common form of skin cancer, but in its advanced stages, basal cell carcinoma has the potential to become disfiguring and life threatening. An international phase 2 study headed by Mayo Clinic led to the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the first drug of its kind to help advanced basal cell carcinoma patients who have few treatment options.

The study found the drug Erivedge (vismodegib) shrank advanced basal cell carcinoma tumors in 43 percent of patients with locally advanced disease and in 30 percent of patients whose disease spread to other organs.

 “This targeted therapy represents a new paradigm in cancer treatment,” says lead researcherAleksandar Sekulic, M.D., Ph.D., a dermatologist and cancer researcher at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He explains how Erivedge can shrink a tumor by targeting a molecular signaling pathway that fuels the cancer cells and shut it down.

CT Scans Increase Children’s Cancer Risk, Study Finds

from NYtimes.com

CT scans in children can cause small but significant increases in the risk of leukemia and brain cancer, a new study finds.

Researchers say the results do not mean that CT scans should be avoided entirely — they can be vitally important in certain situations, like diagnosing severe head injuries — but that the test should be performed only when necessary, and with the lowest possible dose of radiation.

CT, or computed tomography, scans take X-rays from various angles and combine them to create cross-sectional images, and they involve much more radiation than traditional X-ray techniques. Concern about potential harm from the scans has grown as their use has climbed steeply; at least four million children a year receive scans in the United States, and researchers estimate that a third of the scans are unnecessary or could be replaced by safer tests like ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging, which do not use radiation.

The new study, published online on Wednesday in The Lancet, a British medical journal, is based on the records of nearly 180,000 children who had scans from 1985 to 2002 in Britain. There were 74 cases of leukemia and 135 cases of brain cancer in the group. The authors estimated the radiation doses and found that the more scans the children had and the more radiation they received, the higher their risk.

Children under 15 who had two or three scans of the head had triple the risk of brain cancer compared with the general population, the researchers found, and 5 to 10 scans tripled the risk of leukemia. But the baseline risk is extremely low — 4.5 cases of leukemia per 100,000 people under 20, and 3.5 cases of cancer of the brain or central nervous system — so that even tripled, it remains small.

See the complete story on childhood cancer risk.

Turkey Tail Mushrooms Help Immune System Fight Cancer

From huffpost healthy living

By Paul Stamets - Founder, Fungi Perfecti; Advisor, Program of Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Medical School, Tucson

A promising clinical study shows that the turkey tail mushroom (Trametes versicolor) improves the immune systems of breast cancer patients. The multiyear study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), tracked whether or not turkey tails could positively affect the immune system of patients rebound after they ended their radiation therapy.

Immunity -- as measured by the number of lymphocyte cells and natural killer cell activity -- usually declines dramatically after radiotherapy. Natural killer (NK) cells protect us from tumors and viruses. Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School and Bastyr University Research Institute hypothesized that breast cancer patients' health can be improved after radiation treatment if NK cell counts increased quickly to attack remaining cancerous cells.

The study titled "Phase I Clinical Trial of Trametes versicolor in Women with Breast Cancer," recently published month in the ISRN Oncology Journal, shows that turkey tail mushrooms can augment conventional therapies for treating breast cancer by increasing NK cell activity. This study suggests that turkey tail mushrooms are an effective adjunct to conventional chemotherapeutic medicines and radiation therapy. The authors concluded "research by our center continues to indicate that Trametes versicolorrepresents a novel immune therapy with significant applications in cancer treatment."

Due to its long history of therapeutic use, however, turkey tail prepared and packaged as an immune therapy drug is unlikely to be patentable, deterring big pharmas from conducting costly clinical studies. Typically, the longer the historical use of natural medicines for treating an ailment, the less likely derivatized drugs from these natural products will be patentable. To fill this research gap, the NIH established The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (www.nccam.nih.gov), which funded and oversaw this study. NIH's interest is not surprising -- more than 70 percent of new drugs are estimated to originate from natural sources.

Read the rest of the story on Turkey Tail Mushrooms 

New Breast Cancer Treatment Targets Cancer Cells, Prolongs Survival

From WSJ.com

CHICAGO—An experimental drug being developed by Roche Holding AG delayed progression of disease and appeared to improve survival in women with a specific type of breast cancer in a study that illustrates the potential of an emerging new strategy for treating cancer.

The study involved a drug known as T-DM1, which combines Roche's cancer drug Herceptin with a potent chemotherapy agent in a treatment designed to be delivered directly to the cancer cell. The intent is to hit the tumor with a double punch that is more powerful than Herceptin alone and that limits the side effects associated with chemotherapy.

Read more about T-DM1

FDA Warns About Fakes of ADHD Drug Adderall

From WSJ.com

A fake version of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s Adderall, a drug for children and teenagers with chronic sleepiness and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, is for sale on rogue websites, the Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday.

The counterfeits, which mimic 30-milligram pills that have been in short supply, could pose a health risk to patients because they are made from ingredients used in pain medicines, but the FDA hasn't received any reports of harm, an agency spokeswoman said. And because they lack the active ingredient, the fakes won't provide the appropriate treatment, she said.

See the Adderall story here.