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FDA approves a more 'personalized' cancer drug
Cancer treatments are becoming more personal. The Food and Drug Administration recently gave accelerated approval for Keytruda, a pre-existing drug from Merck, for use on patients diagnosed with solid tumors containing a specific biomarker. Rather than basing treatment on where the mutation originated, Keytruda will be used to treat microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) cancers, those that are mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) and are otherwise not able to be surgically removed. These types of tumors affect how the DNA is repaired inside the cell.
Scientists are now 3D printing tumors to help them fight cancer
The idea of 3D printing living cells offers a veritable launchpad of miracle treatments: we could grow new organs or create new skin for burn victims. There's one idea you may not have considered, however -- printing tumors. Researchers are developing a new process for researching cancer treatments that uses 3D printers to create a better in-lab cervical tumor model. Tumor models, used to test treatment methods, are usually grown in a dish, but these traditional "2D tumors" are often a poor analog for the real thing. 3D-printed tumor behave more like naturally cancerous flesh might, growing and reacting to treatments like the real McCoy. A healthier fake tumor means that medical research and drug trials will yield more authentic results. In other words, creating cancer could be the future of treating cancer. Researchers are still developing the process, but anyone who wants to peek in on their progress can find it in the Institute of Physics' Biofabrication journal. [Image credit: Shutterstock]
Researchers develop femtosecond laser that can diagnose, blast cancerous tumors
Researchers at the University of Tennessee's Center for Laser Applications have developed a femtosecond laser that can non-invasively diagnose, map, irradiate and burn cancerous tumors. Utilizing a beam that pulses at one-quadrillionth of a second, the technology is able to seek out growths and obliterate them with an increased burst of intensity. "Using ultra-short light pulses gives us the ability to focus in a well confined region and the ability for intense radiation," says Associate Professor of Physics Christian Parigger. "This allows us to come in and leave a specific area quickly so we can diagnose and attack tumorous cells fast." The swift, precise technique can avoiding heating up adjacent, healthy tissues and has potential for use in outpatient procedures, particularly for people afflicted with brain tumors. For now, however, the scientists are working with the non-profit University of Tennessee Research Foundation to bring their tech to market. Roll past the jump for the press release and a glimpse of the laser in action.
Portable brain tumor treatment system kills cancer while you take out the trash
We've seen robots that perform brain surgery and lasers that cook tumors, and now a team of researchers are well on their way to bringing mobility to the battle against brain cancer. The NovoTTF-100A, which just received FDA approval, is basically a set of insulated electrodes, attached to an electronic box, that pumps low intensity electrical fields to the site of a freshly diagnosed GBM (glioblastoma multiforme) tumor. The fields, known as Tumor Treatment Fields (TTF), play off the electrically charged elements of cancer cells to stunt the tumor's growth, and may in some cases actually reverse it. A recent test of the system showed comparable results to chemotherapy, without the usual lineup of side effects, including nausea, anemia, fatigue, and infection. Given, patients using the system are expected to wear the thing continuously, but we'd say walking around with a cap full of electrodes is a small price to pay for giving cancer the boot. Full PR after the break.
Long-term UK cancer study about to kick off, cellphones in peril again
While we aren't claiming any prophetic abilities, it wasn't exactly hard to assume that just over a month after a thorough Danish study cleared cellphones of any wrongdoings associated with cancers and tumors, we've got a so-called expert lobbying for £3 million ($5.92 million) in funding to prove otherwise. Professor Lawrie Challis, who is in the final stages of negotiation with the Department of Health and the mobile phone industry for the aforementioned dough, seems to think that there's still a "hint of something" that could develop in long-term, heavy mobile users "after 10 years of use." Granted, he has literally books of research disproving this "hint," but as he references cases like asbestos and Hiroshima, he suggests that a study must be done now in order to prevent anything even more dramatic from cropping up in a decade or so. Reportedly, "over 200,000 volunteers, including long-term users, are to be monitored for at least five years to plot mobile phone use against any serious diseases they develop, including cancer, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's diseases." So it seems the circus begins again, and in the meantime, let's just all cross our re-paranoid fingers in hopes that nothing goes awry (and that a counter-test shoots it down) while this study unfolds.[Via Textually]
Cellphones finally cleared of cancer charges
We've seen so many chapters of the "dangerous / not dangerous" chronicles with regard to cellphone radiation that we've lost count, but thanks to a Danish study recently carried out on 420,000 avid mobile users, we can finally put those worries to rest (we hope). While it's no secret that mobile phone antennas emit "electromagnetic fields that can penetrate the human brain," we've been yearning for a study such as this to quiet the tin-foil advocates (and ensure our own safety). Researchers from the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen looked at data on people who had been using mobile phones "from as far back as 1982" in order to draw their conclusions, and after all was said and done, they found "no evidence to suggest users had a higher risk of tumors in the brain, eye, or salivary gland, or developing leukemia." Thankfully, a similar study published earlier this year by the Institute of Cancer Research also concluded that mobile phone use "was not associated with a greater risk of brain cancer." So, there you have it folks, you can safely yap away without fear of mutating into some form of diseased being -- until the next study "proves" otherwise, of course.[Thanks, Billfred]
