In a new report Maximizing Our Nation’s Investment in Cancer:Three Crucial Actions for America’s Health the President’s Cancer Panel makes three recommendations to the President that they feel are critical to the battle against cancer in the United States.
Can the body develop an immune response that will destroy cancer cells in the body and prevent cancer from returning after surgery to remove metastatic tumors? If it can, what’s the best way to do that?
Researchers are studying vaccines and immune response in patients whose colorectal cancer has spread beyond their original cancer to their liver or lungs. They’re looking for patients who have completed surgery for a clinical trial of PANVAC-VF. Read the rest of this entry »
Another mutated gene has been discovered that appears to cause resistance to treatment with the EGFR inhibitors Erbitux® (cetuximab) and Vectibix™ (panitumumab).
Only a fraction of patients who receive Erbitux or Vectibix respond to it. There is now convincing evidence that the 30 to 40 percent of colorectal cancer patients whose tumors have mutated KRAS genes don’t benefit, but what about others who have normal or wild-type KRAS and don’t respond either?
Scientists in Italy have found that about 12 percent of wild-type patients have a mutation in their tumor’s BRAF gene, and these patients showed no response to Erbitux or Vectibix. Read the rest of this entry »
Patients whose colorectal cancer tumors had a mutation in the KRAS gene had no benefit from treatment with Erbitux® (cetuximab). They lived no longer after Erbitux treatment began than patients who had no Erbitux. Read the rest of this entry »
The Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center at the University of Maryland is the newest National Cancer Institute Designated Cancer Center. NCI has named just 64 centers across the United States as NCI Cancer Centers in recognition of their research excellence and outstanding patient care. Read the rest of this entry »
