Cancer Weekly articles from June 2001

Cancer Weekly archives from June 2001

VEGF Production Increases In Serum Of Children With Solid Tumors.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - An angiogenic growth factor is expressed at significant levels in the serum of pediatric patients with solid cancers and could possibly be used as a tumor...

Vascular Growth Factor Expression Mirrors Survival In Thoracic Cancers.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - The jury is still out, but researchers in Chiba, Japan, have suggested that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) associates with survival in patients...

Study Reports Pre-Operative Chemotherapy Almost Doubles Median Survival Time.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers reported that median survival nearly doubled in patients with locally advanced bladder cancer who were treated with chemotherapy before surgery to remove their bladders, compared to...

Major Hurdle In The Development Of An Animal Model Of Hereditary Disease Has Been Overcome.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer in women, with 192,000 new cases expected this year in the U.S. alone. Despite extensive research efforts, scientists have been unable develop a...

Genetically Engineered Poliovirus Fights Brain Tumors.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- What do you get when you cross a poliovirus with the virus that causes the common cold? An efficient mechanism for killing brain tumors, say scientists at Duke University, who have successfully...

Ras Vaccine Prolongs Survival in Patients With Advanced Disease.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - A pancreatic cancer vaccine can stimulate potent immune responses even in patients with advanced disease - responses that translate to prolonged survival....

Whole Blood Suitable For Screening.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Whole blood samples can be effectively used to test for a marker of prostate cancer, enabling such testing to be performed during a single office visit,...

Excessive Medicare Paperwork Taking Away from Cancer Patient Care.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Charles W. Henderson, senior medical writer - Medicare paperwork is keeping doctors from treating their cancer patients. The results of a recently completed American Society of Clinical...

Epoetin Reduces Transfusions In Chemotherapy Patients, But Questions Remain On How Best To Use It.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Epoetin alfa, a synthetic hormone developed to replace the natural hormone erythropoietin, reduces the need for transfusions in cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced anemia, according to a...

Lymphoma Drug To Advance To Phase II Trials.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Lorus Therapeutics, Inc.'s (LORFF; LOR) lead antisense anti-cancer drug, GTI-2040, was the topic of a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), May...

Marijuana Derivative Less Effective Than Hoped In Patients With Advanced Cancer.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A marijuana derivative approved for use in AIDS patients is not as effective at stimulating waning appetites in patients with advanced cancer when compared to standard treatment. The drug,...

Humanized Monoclonal Antibody Approved For Patients With Refractory B-CLL.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared Campath(r) (alemtuzumab) humanized monoclonal antibody for marketing as a treatment for patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia...

Dominant-Negative Mutant Ras Expression In Vivo Inhibits Tumor Growth.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - Transgenic studies in Japan hold promise for the treatment of badder cancer. Researchers there found the expression of a negative H-ras mutant in...

Progestins Stimulate Growth Factor Production In Cancer Cells.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - New research suggests progestins, natural or synthetic hormones that act like progesterone, cause some breast cancer cells to produce a growth factor...

Monoclonal Antibody Elicits Immune Response To Target Antigen.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- AltaRex Corp. (AXO, ALXFF) presented results from the company's Phase I study of BrevaRex(R) monoclonal antibody (MAb) that demonstrate the ability of the antibody to elicit cancer-killing B- and...

Drug Treatment For Unresponsive Tumors In Patients At End Of Life "Hard To Justify".(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- One-third of patients receive chemotherapy at the end of life, even if cancer is not responding, finds a new study. Chemotherapy is commonly given to cancer patients at the end of life,...

Cancer Vaccine Produces Response In Patients With Late Stage Disease.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Early results from a small study of metastatic lung and colorectal cancer patients indicate that a vaccine made from genetically-altered cancer cells resulted in a dramatic regression of cancer in...

Chemotherapy Before Surgery Extends Survival.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The addition of a short course of chemotherapy before surgery yields promising improvement in overall survival in patients with esophageal cancer as compared to surgery alone, say researchers at the...

Paxil Is Effective Against Depression But Not Cancer-Related Fatigue.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A commonly-used antidepressant significantly relieves depression in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, but has less effect on fatigue, according to a study sponsored by the U.S. National...

Incidence In Children Has Increased 35% In 20 Years.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Evidence indicates that pediatric head and neck cancers, second only to leukemia in incidence, have increased 35% over the last 20 years, a greater increase than that of childhood cancer in general....

New Treatment Combination Reduces The Number Of Patients Who Must Have Voicebox Removed.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Patients with locally advanced cancer of the larynx treated simultaneously with chemotherapy and radiation preserve the use of their voicebox significantly longer than patients treated with...

Laparoscopy Provides Early Indication Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma In HCV.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Laparoscopic findings may yield important information about the potential for developing liver cancer in patients with hepatitis C virus-associated liver...

Non-Myeloablative Stem Cell Grafts Suitable For Initial Treatment.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Hematologists in France are recommending that initial treatments for multiple myeloma should include non-myeloablative stem cell transplantation (NM-SCT) as...

Measles Virus Found In Patients' Tumor Cells.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The measles virus, never before suspected of being related to cancer, has been shown by Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev researchers to be present in the tumor cells of patients suffering...

Researchers Identify Novel Gene Target For Cancer Therapy.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - With limited therapies for such cancers as non-small cell lung carcinoma, researchers in France have turned their attention to developing a novel...

Hospital Stays For Children After Chemotherapy Can Be Reduced, Study Finds.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Under certain circumstances pediatric cancer patients recovering from chemotherapy can be treated as successfully as outpatients as they would be if hospitalized, University of Texas Southwestern...

Mass Spectroscopy Test Associates Blood Protein With Disease.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Matritech, Inc. (NMPS) says data from a study of the company's proprietary blood test under development for men with, or at risk of, prostate cancer, show that a specific blood protein is associated...

Two New Drugs Appear To Help Slow Metastatic Disease In Bone.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two novel drugs designed to block the spread of metastatic prostate cancer in bone appear to significantly slow clinical progression of the cancer in men. Approximately 30% of men with prostate...

Contrast Agent Distinguishes Solid Tumors From Subretinal Effusion.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2001... 2001 JUN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - The contrast agent Levovist is somewhat useful for visualizing tumor vascularization in uveal melanoma, but it is more effective for distinguishing solid...

Enzyme Linked to Angiogenic Growth In Primary Liver Cancers.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Scientists believe excess production of the enzyme heparanase causes cancer invasion and angiogenesis in primary liver cancer. Primary liver cancer,...

COX-2 May Be Marker For Differentiation.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A Korean study shows differentiated liver cancer cells significantly express COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2), suggesting a potential use for COX-2 inhibitors in...

High-Dose Chemotherapy Improves Survival.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A short additional course of high-dose chemotherapy in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in children most at risk of relapse significantly improved their survival in a recent study. ...

Virtual Colonoscopy As Effective For Screening As Standard Invasive Technique.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Many older adults dread colon cancer screening, because the most effective screening tool, colonoscopy, is uncomfortable and invasive. A new study from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center...

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Block Calcium, Cell Proliferation.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - New research shows store-operated calcium blockage may be the mechanism by which non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) prevent cellular growth in...

CD34 Cells May Be Linked To Poor Prognosis.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients carrying CD34(+) malignant cells may have less positive prognoses than other APL patients, researchers say. ...

Recruitment For Clinical Study Of Screening Test Begins.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Matritech, Inc. (NMPS) announced that it has begun patient recruitment for a multicenter clinical study of its NMP66 blood test for the early detection of breast cancer. The clinical study,...

Antigen Unnecessary For Antitumor Activity Of ALVAC-CEA B7.1 Vaccine.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - An adjuvant that was proposed to enhance the efficacy of a canarypox virus vaccine for metastatic cancer has failed to pass muster. Nevertheless, the...

Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity Promotes Cancer Metastasis.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) act like machetes in a forest: they clear a path to allow cell movement. Now researchers have found that they also chop up the proteins that keep cells anchored in...

Screening Test Does Not Require Dietary Restriction.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Enterix, Inc. has announced the results of four independent clinical trials for its new !nSure(TM) Immunochemical Fecal Occult Blood Test (marketed as !nform(R) Annual Bowel Check(R) in Australia)....

Rasburicase Superior To Allopurinol For Hyperuricemia.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers say that rasburicase, a modified version of urate oxidase, is more effective than allopurinol for reducing excessive uric acid levels in...

Novel Tetracycline Transactivators Allow Nontoxic Transgene Regulation.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - Gastroenterologists at the Medical School of Hannover, Germany have created novel, nontoxic tetracycline-responsive transactivators for the...

Add 'Infotherapy' To Your List Of Medical Terms.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NewsRx Network, Atlanta, Georgia, the leading provider of life science databases and daily and weekly health news, now has coined a new medical word: "infotherapy." The new word is the...

Genetic Cause Identified For Digestive Tract Condition.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the University of Iowa have identified a new gene that causes juvenile polyposis (JP), a condition where patients develop polyps in the gastrointestinal tract and colon and are at...

Deaths In U.K. From Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Have Doubled In 30 Years.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Deaths from liver cancer have almost doubled in the past 30 years in the U.K. A relatively rare type of liver cancer arising from the bile ducts - intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma - accounts for...

Benefits of Living Donor Procedures Depend On Several Factors.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A report issued by medical investigators in Europe proposes that several factors weigh heavily on life expectancy and cost-effectiveness in living-donor...

New Screening Approach Could Target Early-Stage Disease.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Research presented at the American Thoracic Society meeting shows that a new screening approach for lung cancer can detect the disease in its early stages when it may be treatable. The pilot...

Long-Term Survivor Shows Tumor-Specific Immune Response.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Solving the mystery of long-term survival in people with a deadly form of cancer could help scientists gain critical insight for vaccine development. ...

TA90-IC Marker Indicates Clinical Efficacy Of CancerVax.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - TA90, a tumor-associated glycoprotein antigen expressed on most melanoma cells, is a proven marker of subclinical tumor burden in melanoma. Now, a new...

Chemotherapy With Antiretroviral Treatment Effective For HIV Patients.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers say combining full-dose chemotherapy and potent antiretroviral treatments is safe and effective for managing HIV associated non-Hodgkin's...

Dismantling of Lymphocyte Activity Underlies Dim Prognosis.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - The inability of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) to reach pancreatic tumor cells, and their loss of CD3 zeta, limits their potency against pancreatic...

Trial of Angiogenesis Inhibitor Shows Reversible Neurological Side Effects.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2001... 2001 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Men with androgen-independent prostate cancer may experience reversible neurological side effects when taking the angiogenesis inhibitor TNP-470,...

New Approach Reduces Toxicity Of Stem Cell Transplantation.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For people over 50 years of age with leukemia or some other potentially fatal blood cancers, there may now be the option of treatment with a donor stem cell transplant. Researchers report that...

Study Reveals Molecular Key To p53 Activity.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New research published in the June 8, 2001, issue of Science explains for the first time how an important tumor suppressor gene, p53, is activated in response to DNA damage to keep cancer tumors in...

Dendritic Cell Vaccine Shows In Vivo Activity.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Some patients with colorectal cancer are able to respond to a vaccine prepared from their own dendritic cells, but long-term clinical effects are not yet...

Altered Tumor Suppressor Gene Linked To Increased Risk.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), Boston, Massachusetts, and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) have discovered nearly half of pre-menopausal women...

Annual Report Shows Overall Decline in U.S. Cancer Incidence and Death Rates.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The rates for new cancer cases and deaths for all cancers combined continued to decline in the United States, according to a report that includes new data for the period between 1992 to 1998. ...

COX-2 Expression May Define Prognosis In Primary Liver Cancers.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Bell-Nichols, senior medical writer - Researchers in Japan have added hepatocellular carcinoma to the growing list of diseases associated with cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) activity. COX-2...

Gene-Based Immunotherapy May Prove A Potent New Weapon Against Advanced Disease.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Cancer Center have shown for the first time that immunotherapy delivered via gene therapy may prove to be a potent weapon in the...

Hormone Agonist Treatment May Cause Men To Lose Bone Mass.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Men may be losing bone mass at an alarming rate as a result of a commonly used treatment for prostate cancer, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC),...

Clinical Trial Data Reported For Thalidomide Treatment Of Kidney And Brain Cancers.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Officials with Celgene Corp. (CELG) announced that based on results from clinical trials, the company plans to "pursue a major trial designed to evaluate Thalomid(R) [thalidomide] as a potential...

Maintenance Therapy With Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Not Advantageous.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Patients with vesical carcinoma in situ or high-grade superficial bladder tumors receive no clinical benefit from continued administration of intravesical...

Larger Lesions, Insufficient Treatment Linked To Recurrence After Therapy.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Combination therapy with transcatheter arterial embolization and percutaneous ethanol injection is used to treat patients with unresectable hepatocellular...

Combining Chemo- And Radiation Therapy Can Help Preserve Voice.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Results of an eight-year clinical trial in the U.S. show that combining chemotherapy and radiation treatment at the same time offers patients with advanced cancer of the larynx, or voice box,...

Transplantation Is Effective For Some Patients.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Toronto have found that liver transplantation appears to be a viable alternative for some patients with liver cancer, a group that...

Inhibition Of uPAR Diminishes Tumor Cell Invasiveness.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - Researchers at the UIC College of Medicine in Peoria, Illinois reduced the invasiveness of lung cancer cells in a nude mouse model using...

University Hospital Breaks Ground In Cancer Vaccine Research.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Rebecca learned she had skin cancer on her son's fourth birthday. "I was on my way out to pick up his birthday cake when I got the news and I thought, 'I'll have to put this on the back...

Angiogenic Growth Factor Detected In Pleural Effusion, Predicts Survival.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Bell-Nichols, senior medical writer - The authors of an Italian study report the basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), an angiogenic growth factor, is a survival predictor in patients...

Neck Dissection Proves Effective In Treating Recurrence.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recurrence of cancer in the nasopharynx (the part of the pharynx that lies above the soft palate) has usually been treated with a second course of radiation. Additionally, the disease is known to...

Squalamine Receives Orphan Drug Status.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genaera Corp.'s (GENR) squalamine has been granted Orphan Drug designation for the treatment of ovarian cancer by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Squalamine, an anti-angiogenic...

DNA-Based Detection From Body Fluids Is Possible.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, senior medical writer - More than 90% of prostate cancers biopsies are characterized by promoter hypermethylation of the glutathione-S-transferase P1 gene (GSTP1) on chromosome...

Drug Delays Progression In Hormone Therapy Nonresponders.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) researchers have shown that a new prostate cancer drug can slow progression of the disease in patients no longer responding to hormone therapy. In a...

Early Radiation Following Prostatectomy Reduces Recurrence.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at Lahey Clinic report that early radiation therapy following a prostatectomy in properly selected patients may reduce the likelihood of cancer recurrence by two thirds. The...

Hormone Therapy After Prostatectomy Reduces Antigens.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The use of hormonal therapy after chemotherapy with docetaxel (Taxotere(R)) and estramustine (Emcyt(R)) rapidly normalizes a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in prostate cancer patients...

Hormone-Based Drug May Reduce Risk Of Disease Progression In Men With Early-Stage Disease.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In data presented from the largest prostate cancer clinical trial program in the world, Casodex (150 mg) was shown to significantly reduce (42%) the risk of disease progression in men with...

Quality Of Life Returns To Pre-Treatment Levels After One Year.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Results of a prospective health-related quality of life (HRQOL) study on prostate cancer patients indicate that by one year post-treatment with one of three therapies assessed, patients' QOL...

Zoledronic Acid Has Fewer Skeletal-Related Events In Metastases Cases.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Men with prostate cancer who are treated with the Novartis Oncology agent Zometa(R) (zoledronic acid for injection) experience significantly fewer skeletal-related events (SREs) associated with...

Laparoscopic Kidney Removal Is Effective Treatment.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2001... 2001 JUN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Minimally invasive surgery can remove a cancerous kidney just as effectively as traditional open surgery while providing patients with equivalent long-term survival, a new study finds. ...

Key Growth Factor Predicts Metastasis.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2001... 2001 JUN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta is not only a major cytokine that directs tumor angiogenesis, but its presence can also predict liver metastasis in...

Immune Response To Peptide Vaccine Best Measured In Lymph Nodes.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2001... 2001 JUN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Although some melanoma patients have benefited from peptide vaccines, their clinical responses have not consistently corresponded to measurements of immune...

Epstein-Barr Virus Protein May Induce COX-2, Play Role In Pathogenesis.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2001... 2001 JUN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Authors of a new study have revealed a protein of the Epstein-Barr virus, identified in over half of nasopharyngeal carcinoma lesions, may mediate...

Rates Rise Among Young Americans.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2001... 2001 JUN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study asserts that even though the overall incidence of head and neck cancers has remained stable, young Americans are being diagnosed with higher rates of oral and tongue cancer. ...

Growth Factor Levels Indicate Likelihood Of Metastasis.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2001... 2001 JUN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Elevated levels of a growth factor indicate which men diagnosed with prostate cancer are likely to need more aggressive treatment, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have discovered. ...

New Technique Could Improve Detection.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2001... 2001 JUN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new diagnostic technique using color Doppler with an ultrasound contrast agent is more effective than conventional systematic biopsy in diagnosing prostate cancer, study results indicate. ...

Retinoic Acid Squelches Vascular Growth Factor.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2001... 2001 JUN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Scientists now say that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a major angiogenic growth factor, is highly expressed in patients with acute...