colon cancer – Oral Cancer News

PTEN loss, PIK3CA mutation predicted resistance to cetuximab in HNSCC

June 2, 2013Source: Helio.com CHICAGO — PTEN loss or PIK3CA mutation predicted resistance to treatment with cisplatin plus cetuximab in a cohort of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, according to phase 3 study results presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting. “Cetuximab is the only targeted therapy in use in head and neck cancer, and although it prolongs survival, the effects are modest. For patients who receive [cetuximab] in the setting of metastatic or recurrent disease, median survival remains less than 1 year,” Barbara Burtness, MD, a medical oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center who specializes in head and neck cancers and a HemOnc Today Editorial Board member, said in an interview. “In colon cancer, patients are tested for KRAS mutations to detect patients with upfront resistance to cetuximab, but KRAS mutation is rare in head and neck cancer, and we haven’t had a biomarker to separate the sensitive from resistant patients.” Burtness and colleagues compared cisplatin plus placebo vs. cisplatin plus cetuximab (Erbitux, Eli Lilly) in 117 patients. The researchers also assessed PIK3CA mutations and loss of PTEN expression in the cohort. Results indicated that 34% of tumors studied had a loss of PTEN expression and 4% had PIK3CA mutations in the three hotspots studied. Researchers did not observe any statistically significant differences in OS, PFS or overall response rates. However, among patients with PIK3CA and PTEN expression, median PFS was 4.2 months for those assigned to cetuximab vs. 2.9 months for those assigned to placebo (adjusted [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-06-03T10:20:56-07:00June, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Fatal Infusion Reactions to Cetuximab: Role of Immunoglobulin E–Mediated Anaphylaxis

Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology To the Editor: In Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tronconi et al1 report a fatal hypersensitivity reaction to cetuximab in a 63-year-old patient with metastatic colon cancer and outlined a 0.1% incidence of death in the literature. We greatly acknowledge the authors' desire to communicate the risk of fatal anaphylactic reaction with cetuximab. Over the past 2 years in our center in Tours, France, four instances of grade 4 anaphylactic reactions occurred in patients treated for head and neck cancer (locally advanced or metastatic), with one immediately fatal; another patient died within 5 days (unpublished data). Seven lethal anaphylactic reactions were registered in a pharmacovigilance survey in France, based on spontaneous declarations (Grandvuillemin et al, manuscript in preparation). Anaphylaxis to cetuximab is a problem that merits serious clinical attention. In the authors' words, “the pathogenic mechanisms underlying the development of this phenomenon remain to be elucidated.”1 They raise the hypothesis of immunoglobulin E (IgE) –independent mechanisms, even in the context of a paradoxic atopic history. Moreover, Tronconi et al suggest that the field “search for reliable risk factors that can facilitate the safe selection of patients as candidates for cetuximab-based treatment.”1 These comments are quite surprising, because they do not integrate major contributions that have been previously published. Indeed, it has been known for 3 years that anaphylaxis to cetuximab is the result of antidrug IgE antibodies present in patient serum before therapy.2 These IgE antibodies are directed against galactose-α-1, 3-galactose (α3Gal) residues, present in the [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-01-19T10:24:57-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

FDA Approves Cetuximab for Late-Stage Head and Neck Cancer

Source: The Oncology Report The Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 7 approved cetuximab as an initial treatment of late-stage head and neck cancer in combination with chemotherapy. Cetuximab, marketed as Erbitux by Bristol-Myers Squibb, is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antagonist, administered as an intravenous infusion. Previously, it was approved in combination with radiation therapy for the initial treatment of locally or regionally advanced squamous cell carcinoma. It was also approved for use alone in patients with recurrent locoregional disease or metastatic disease whose disease has progressed following platinum-based chemotherapy. The newly approved indication is for the treatment of these recurrent or metastatic patients as an initial therapy in combination with platinum-based therapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a BMS spokesperson said. (At press time, the company had not yet issued a statement on the approval.) Erbitux was initially approved in 2004 to treat EGFR-positive late-stage colon cancer after patients stopped responding to chemotherapy and was approved in 2006 for the treatment of head and neck cancer. The newly approved indication is for "recurrent locoregional disease or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in combination with platinum-based therapy with 5-FU," according to the revised label, posted on the FDA Web site. The two previously approved indications for head and neck cancer were for "locally or regionally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in combination with radiation therapy," and for "recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck progressing after platinum-based therapy. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-09T11:05:16-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Mice with toys and friends have better anti-cancer responses

Source: Medscape Blogs Author: Alok Khorana, MD As clinicians, we know that patients with excellent support systems will (in general) do better than patients without. I had personally always thought of this as being secondary to better reporting and oversight - for instance, a patient with a spouse is more likely to be brought in with a fever whereas a patient living by him/herself is more likely to try and ride it out, leading to more dangerous complications. In a fascinating animal model study published in Cell, researchers led by Cao et al at identify even more of a therapeutic benefit for having such an "enriched environment". The authors show this by placing mice with different types of cancers (melanoma, colon cancer) in two different types of environments: one, the usual laboratory housing (5 mice per cage) and the other "enriched" with "groups (18-20 mice per cage) in large cages of 1.5 m x 1.5 m x 1.0 m supplemented with running wheels, tunnels, igloos, huts, retreats, wood toys, a maze, and nesting material". The results all clearly favored having an enriched environment: "In the mice housed in enriched environment for 3 weeks prior to tumor implantation, the mean volume of the tumor was 43% smaller than those in the control housing (p < 0.05). For the 6 week groups, the tumor mass in EE mice was reduced by 77.2% p < 0.001). Notably, all mice in the control groups developed solid tumors, whereas 5% of mice with 3 weeks [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-07-25T20:12:24-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer researchers “play it safe” due to grant system

Source: NYTimes Author: Gina Kolata Among the recent research grants awarded by the National Cancer Institute is one for a study asking whether people who are especially responsive to good-tasting food have the most difficulty staying on adiet. Another study will assess a Web-based program that encourages families to choose more healthful foods. Many other grants involve biological research unlikely to break new ground. For example, one project asks whether a laboratory discovery involving colon cancer also applies to breast cancer. But even if it does apply, there is no treatment yet that exploits it. The cancer institute has spent $105 billion since PresidentRichard M. Nixon declared war on the disease in 1971. TheAmerican Cancer Society, the largest private financer of cancer research, has spent about $3.4 billion on research grants since 1946. Yet the fight against cancer is going slower than most had hoped, with only small changes in the death rate in the almost 40 years since it began. One major impediment, scientists agree, is the grant system itself. It has become a sort of jobs program, a way to keep research laboratories going year after year with the understanding that the focus will be on small projects unlikely to take significant steps toward curing cancer. “These grants are not silly, but they are only likely to produce incremental progress,” said Dr. Robert C. Young, chancellor at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and chairman of the Board of Scientific Advisors, an independent group that makes recommendations to the cancer institute. The [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-30T04:29:16-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Regular aspirin use may reduce stomach cancer risk: researchers

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk Author: Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor Aspirin is recommended for the prevention of heart attacks in people at high risk and some studies have suggested it may reduce the risk of colon cancer. New research based on 17 studies of a total of more than 300,000 people aged between 50 and 71, found taking the drug weekly or daily reduces the likelihood of some forms of stomach cancer. In the UK there are around 8,000 people diagnosed with stomach cancer each year and most occur in people aged over 50. Rates of the cancer have halved in the UK since the 1970s but it remains extremely lethal with only 15 per cent of people surviving for five years after diagnosis. Stomach cancer is mostly associated with a bacterial infection in the lining called Helicobacter pylori. The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer also found a 36 per cent reduction in the cancer found in the middle or lower part of the stomach in people who had used aspirin at least once in the past year. People who used other drugs in the same class, called non-steriodial anti-inflammatory drugs, had a 32 per cent reduced risk of the cancer if they had taken them at least once in the past year. In contrast to results of previous studies, the researchers found that aspirin does not protect against oesophageal or throat cancer and cardia gastric cancer, which is cancer of the top of the stomach. The study authors acknowledge [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-02-07T13:56:08-07:00February, 2009|Oral Cancer News|