Researchers Focus on Lung Cancer Treatment
Finding better ways to treat lung cancer is a priority for researchers in medical centers around the world. New therapies are badly needed because lung cancer causes more deaths among Americans than any other cancer. Lung cancer is often difficult to treat, and most patients don’t have any symptoms until the cancer has spread too far to be cured.
Lung-MAP study
A new kind of large research study is currently testing 5 different experimental drugs at the same time, all for advanced squamous cell lung cancer.
Most research trials of new treatments test only 1 drug and try to figure out which patients might be helped by it. In the Lung-MAP trial, researchers are looking at the DNA from each volunteer patient’s lung tumor to find out what changes are causing it to grow. They are using the results of the DNA screening to assign the patient to the arm of the study that’s testing a drug designed to target those specific genetic changes.
Squamous cell lung cancer represents about 25% – 30% of lung cancer cases. Chemotherapyis the main treatment for advanced disease, but its effects are often limited. A goal of the Lung-MAP trial is to improve patients’ access to promising new drugs, as well as making it easier for researchers to find patients to help them test the drugs.
The trial is being conducted at more than 200 medical centers around the country. To learn more about the study or find a participating medical center, visit the Lung-MAP website or clinicaltrials.gov.
Radiation therapy
Recent studies have found promise using radiation therapy to help some people with hard-to-treat types of lung cancer.
In a study by Dutch and British researchers, adding chest radiation to standard treatment with chemotherapy helped people with advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC) live longer and reduced the chances of the cancer coming back in the chest.
The trial involved 498 people in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Belgium with advanced SCLC who had improved with chemotherapy. They were randomly assigned to receive either radiation to the brain only, or radiation to the brain and chest.
After 2 years of follow-up, 13% of those treated with chest radiation were still alive compared with only 3% of those treated with standard care but no chest radiation. Also, 24% of those who had chest radiation survived for 6 months without their lung cancer getting worse compared with only 7% who did not have chest radiation. In addition, cancer came back in the chests of only 20% of those who had chest radiation compared with 46% of those who did not.
The study was published online September 14, 2014 in The Lancet and presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in San Francisco.
Another study presented at the ASTRO meeting found that a specialized form of radiation therapy might be a reasonable treatment option for some patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who aren’t healthy enough for surgery.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and colleagues studied 55 people with early-stage NSCLC. Surgery is sometimes part of the main treatment for these cancers, but these people couldn’t have surgery because they had other serious medical conditions. Instead, they received stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), a type of external beam therapy that delivers high doses of radiation to the tumor in a short amount of time while limiting exposure to surrounding healthy organs.
Five years after treatment, 40% of the patients were still alive, and 26% still had no signs of any remaining cancer.
A larger study is going to look at whether SBRT might be a reasonable option even in patients who would be eligible for surgery.
Targeted therapies, immunotherapies
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this year approved Zykadia (ceritinib) for a type of late-stage NSCLC. Zykadia is a kind of targeted drug that works by blocking a protein that helps cancer cells grow. It specifically targets cells with mutations (changes) in the ALK gene.
Only a small percentage of NSCLC patients test positive for the ALK gene mutation. Zykadia is intended for these people when the cancer has spread (metastasized), after they were treated with Xalkori (crizotinib), the only other FDA-approved drug that targets cells with a mutated ALK gene.
The FDA based its decision on a clinical trial of 163 people with metastatic ALK-positive NSCLC. All of them were treated with Zykadia. Tumors shrank in about half the patients, and the improvement lasted on average for about 7 months.
Perhaps the most exciting new approach to lung cancer treatment is the development of drugs that use the body’s immune system to fight the cancer. For example, cancer cells often have a protein called PD-L1 on their surface that helps them evade the immune system. New drugs that block the PD-L1 protein, or the corresponding PD-1 protein on immune cells called T cells, can help the immune system recognize the cancer cells and attack them.
In early studies, an anti-PD-1 drug known as nivolumab shrank tumors in about 1 out of 5 people with NSCLC, while a drug targeting PD-L1 (known as BMS-936559) shrank tumors in about 1 out of 10 people. Many of the tumor responses have been long-lasting so far. Larger studies of these and other, similar new drugs are now being done, but they are still only available in clinical trials.
The Hittite jewelry bringing goodness to the world
How Elon Musk Crushed Detroit in Ten Years
Timeless, luxurious fashion: Aigner
Panama hides fortunes of thieves but could not earn enough for own people
g Claim Conference Call Trading Software Recovery Transfer Gas Electricity Classes Rehab Treatment Cord Blood forex everquote mesothelioma asbestos paypal luxury handmade travel college education university prices Insurance Loans Mortgage Attorney Credit Lawyer Donate Degree Hosting Claim Conference Call Trading Software Recovery Transfer Gas Electricity Classes Rehab Treatment Cord Blood forex everquote mesothelioma asbestos paypal
In spite of the debilitating of Trump, the demise of Trumpcare/Ryancare in the bunk has been a gift to almost everybody not named Paul Ryan, and that incorporates Donald Trump. Had Ryancare moved toward becoming law, it would have been terrible for a great many people underneath the Republican neediness line, i.e., $200,000 a year for a group of one, and Democrats would have received the political benefits. Undoubtedly, Trump has taken a goliath hit by battling hard for the bill and seeing it flop in any case, however he’ll have opportunities to recuperate, on the off chance that he doesn’t self-destruct. He can proceed onward to other battle guarantees, even disputable ones, such as building a fringe divider. At any rate these are more prevalent than Ryancare, as are generally things. Auto fumes is more prominent than Ryancare.
Indeed, even Paul Ryan has a moment demonstration in front of him. He now proceeds onward to battle for things nearer to his heart, similar to tax reductions for the rich. While he has most likely sunk considerably encourage in Trump’s estimation, he has a decent possibility of being saved Trump’s immediate fierceness. Trump needs Ryan (I attempted to clarify their harmonious relationship yesterday), and there’s no undeniable substitution for him, either. Pence stays critical as an emissary, regardless of the possibility that his direction will endure a drop in esteem. In this way, if Trump needs somebody to mishandle, it will be Reince. Maybe Priebus will be told to twist around when drawn closer by Trump, to take into account less demanding kicking. Obviously, it’s not reasonable that Priebus, a man of some stature in his current past, ought to need to go up against such a part, yet Chris Christie is in New Jersey.
Outside the White House, the Freedom Caucus, at whose feet a significant part of the fault for annihilation of the bill can be laid, will climate a few assaults from the White House. Possibly some frightful midnight tweeting takes after this end of the week. Be that as it may, it will be O.K. Its individuals are likelier now to oblige some other enactment that they don’t love however feel committed to bolster, so as to repair the crack. Divider subsidizing is a simple approach to do that—minimal effort, with respect to most different things, and reasonable as a method for avoiding spending on things like social administrations for individuals who might some way or another advance wrongfully over the outskirt. Tax reductions are constantly well known as well, in spite of the fact that the expenses related with Obamacare will require that they be littler.