We have just published our study on colon cancer clinical outcomes in women versus men. The facts that premenopausal women are protected against developing colon cancer and that postmenopausal women who take hormonal replacement therapy have reduced risk for colon cancer suggest that female hormones are protective. This can be very confusing since estrogen replacement therapy is not recommended for breast cancer patients. Read the rest of this entry »
New Study for Patients with Microsatellite Instability (MSI)
Posted by on September 3rd, 2009
You may have heard the exciting data on PARP inhibitors for patients with mutations in the BRCA genes reported at ASCO 2009. Patients who carry these mutations are deficient in DNA repair which makes them very sensitive to PARP inhibitors which play a significant role in DNA repair.
Why does that matter for colon cancer? Well, the genetic predisposition HNPCC is caused by another DNA repair deficiency linked to mutations in MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS1 and PMS2. The landmark sign for mismatch repair deficiency is microsatellite instability also called MSI. Read the rest of this entry »
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Aspirin for Every Patient with Metastatic Colon Cancer?
Posted by on August 31st, 2009
A recent study suggested that patients with colon cancer lived longer when taking aspirin.
Aspirin is a very interesting drug which has showed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and colon cancer risk and is a great pain reliever. The mechanism of action is the inhibition of an enzyme called COX-2. Read the rest of this entry »
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Clinical Trials with Novel Compounds from Germany
Posted by on July 28th, 2009
I wanted to share with you another novel clinical trial using a compound targeting two receptors on tumor cells. Both receptors we know very well: one is HER2, the target for Herceptin, and the other one is EGFR, the target for Erbitux.
One compound targeting both receptors is on the market known as Tykerb® (lapatinib) which is approved for breast cancer patients in combination with Xeloda® (capecitabine). Read the rest of this entry »
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Novel Therapeutics: We’re Getting Smarter About Who and With What to Treat
Posted by on July 26th, 2009
You may have heard the very exciting data about patients with breast cancer who carry BRCA mutations. These mutations indicate a genetic predisposition for breast cancer.
The function of BRCA is DNA repair, very similar to the genes associated with familial colorectal cancer known as Lynch syndrome or HNPCC (hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer) which are the DNA mismatch repair genes. Read the rest of this entry »
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