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The FDA-approved lung cancer drug osimertinib (sold under the brand name Tagrisso) slashes the risk of death by 51% for certain patients whose cancer is caught early, according to new trial data. “This should be the new standard of care for these patients,” Nathan Pennell, co-director of the Cleveland Clinic Lung Cancer Program, who wasn’t involved in the drug’s development, said in a statement for the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The drug: Lung cancer is the second-most common cancer in the world, with 2.2 million new diagnoses every year. The vast majority fall into a category called “non-small cell...

Researchers led by Prof. Neta Erez identified and characterized a new mechanism that facilitates the formation of brain metastases and found that impairing this mechanism significantly reduced the development of brain metastases in mice. Brain metastases are one of the deadliest forms of cancer metastasis. The researchers show that Lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is a key factor in inducing neuroinflammation in the brain. Moreover, the researchers found that high LCN2 levels in patients' blood and brain metastases from several types of cancer are associated with disease progression and reduced survival. LCN2 is a secreted protein that functions in the innate immune system...

COVID Boosters Trigger Metastasis Patient after patient in stable remission are now suddenly experiencing an explosive relapse Oncology doctors are sounding the alarm – the COVID boosters appear to be triggering metastasis. Patient after patient in stable remission are now suddenly experiencing an explosive relapse, triggering the appearance of new tumors just days or weeks after being forced to have a booster. STORY AT-A-GLANCE Cancer rates have increased since the introduction of the COVID shots and is now one of the top three leading causes of premature death among younger adults — a trend that in turn is driving down...

A short, simple and safe drug treatment developed at Tel Aviv University reduced the risk of the spread of cancer metastases after surgery to remove the primary tumor. The research was led by Prof. Shamgar Ben-Eliyahu. The risk of metastases after tumor removal is estimated at 35% among colon cancer patients. Prof. Ben-Eliyahu explains, "The stress and inflammation reactions and anxiety of cancer recurring—all have an adverse effect on the body's ability to fight metastatic processes." "The good news is that we know how to treat both stress and inflammation using off-the-shelf medications." The researchers gave 34 colon cancer patients...

A new study could recontextualize metastasis in cancer Cancer’s ability to spread through the body is one of its most devastating tricks. Scientists at Cambridge have now identified a protein that plays a key role in metastasis, which not only hints at a new potential treatment but reveals for the first time that this process isn’t unique to cancer. No matter where in the body it originates, cancer can eventually begin to colonize other organs and tissues through a process known as metastasis, which makes it much harder to treat. Unfortunately, there’s still much about metastasis that scientists don’t understand,...

Researchers have uncovered how cancer cells that have spread to the brain (metastasis) are able to resist the effects of radiotherapy. The study reveals a new biomarker detected in a blood test to indicate whether a patient will respond to radiotherapy. The researchers also discovered a specific type of drug, called a RAGE inhibitor, which can enter the brain and reverse the resistance to radiotherapy. Radiotherapy is considered the gold standard treatment for tumors that have spread to the brain from elsewhere in the body, but these tumors are resistant to treatment in many cases. The researchers discovered that one...

Obamacare’s apologists, tired of being laughed at for claiming “it’s working,” have adopted a new talking point that they hope will produce less mirth. They now claim the law is such an integral part of our health care system that it is no longer susceptible to repeal or even revision. As President Obama recently put it, “This is now part of the fabric of how we care for one another.… This is health care in America.” This is a perfectly absurd claim to make about a law that has been in effect for only a year and a half. The...

A newly published study shows that white blood cells and a cancer cells can fuse and initiate a tumor, providing the first proof in humans of a long proposed theory.Yale Cancer Center scientists, together with colleagues at the Denver Police Crime Lab and the University of Colorado, have found evidence that a human metastatic tumor can arise when a leukocyte (white blood cell) and a cancer cell fuse to form a genetic hybrid. Their study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, may answer the question of how cancer cells travel from the primary tumor’s site of origin to distant organs...

Research could lead to new drug therapies to fight cancerRIVERSIDE, Calif. – Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have identified components in pomegranate juice that both inhibit the movement of cancer cells and weaken their attraction to a chemical signal that promotes the metastasis of prostate cancer to the bone. The research could lead to new therapies for preventing cancer metastasis. Performed in the lab of Manuela Martins-Green, a professor of cell biology, the research was presented today (Dec. 12, 2010) at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology taking place in Philadelphia. Prostate cancer...

Cancer often strikes its final, fatal blow when a tumor spreads to other organs. A new study published online today in Science sheds light on this poorly understood process, called metastasis. The researchers report that mutations in mitochondrial DNA can spur metastasis and that it can be reversed with drugs, at least in mice. Mitochondria are the tiny organelles inherited from your mom that serve as the cell's powerhouses. They have their own DNA, called mtDNA. Ten years ago, cancer researchers noticed that mtDNA in tumor cells tends to be riddled with mutations--far more than in normal tissues. (This is...

Researchers pinpoint protein 'boss' that controls gene expression. Link to Getty photo from a microscope Will it spread? One protein controls the expression of many genes that dictate whether breast cancer will metastasize. GettyA protein that determines whether breast cancer will spread and become deadly has been found. Researchers say that the protein, which is found inside the nuclei of cells, would be difficult and potentially dangerous to target with drugs. But monitoring for the protein could help patients to know how dangerous their cancer is before it spreads elsewhere, and help them to decide which treatment to chose. Because...

Researchers say they have identified a switch that makes dormant breast cancer cells that have traveled to the lungs swell to lethal proportions—completing the dreaded process of metastasis or cancer spread. A team from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, N.Y., reports that it staved off full-blown metastasis in mice by preventing mini-tumors in the lungs from recruiting stem cells called endothelial progenitors, which assemble into blood vessels to nourish the malignancy. Researchers do not know if the same thing would work for other types of cancer or cancer cells lodged in other body organs. Still, they hope to...