(Press-News.org) TUCSON, Arizona — The results of a clinical trial led by researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showed that chemotherapy combining three different types of drugs did not improve overall survival for patients with advanced stage, inoperable biliary tract cancers.
“Biliary tract cancer is comparatively rare, but it’s aggressive and spreads fast. Our accrual of more than 450 patients in a little more than two years really shows there is a need for new ways to help people with biliary tract cancer,” said Rachna Shroff, MD, the associate director of clinical investigations at the U of A Cancer Center and leader of the clinical trial that included researchers from 17 other cancer centers.
“The two-drug regimen was the standard for over 10 years, and it’s not particularly effective,” said Shroff, a professor and chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson. “While there are some newer precision treatments that are helpful to a small segment of the overall population, we need more and better options for all patients.”
The study was the first Phase III clinical trial conducted entirely in the United States for newly diagnosed, advanced biliary tract cancer patients. Aaron Scott, MD, co-leader of the U of A Cancer Center Clinical and Translational Oncology Program and an associate professor at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson, co-chaired the study and was a contributing author.
“Triplet chemotherapy has been shown to be somewhat effective in treating advanced and inoperable pancreatic and colorectal cancers,” said Shroff, a member of the BIO5 Institute. “We wondered if a similar approach to treating advanced and inoperable gall bladder and bile duct cancers could also lead to better outcomes. But we now have evidence that it may not work the same way in biliary tract cancers.”
The clinical trial included an analysis of data from 441 participants who were newly diagnosed with inoperable or metastatic biliary tract cancers. They were randomly assigned to either a two-drug regimen of gemcitabine and cisplatin or a triplet chemotherapy consisting of gemcitabine, cisplatin and albumin-bound paclitaxel.
“Comparing results from the two regimens showed no significant difference in the average length of time the patient survived after diagnosis with advanced, inoperable biliary tract cancer,” Shroff said. “Our research also indicates that the three-drug regimen may increase the toxicity of the treatment.”
Shroff noted that the three-drug regimen might still prove to be a viable option for patients with specific biliary tract cancers, such as gallbladder cancer, and for those whose cancer has not metastasized, as the response rates and survival outcomes were higher in these groups.
Ongoing analyses will involve identifying subsets of biliary cancer patients who may benefit from the three-drug regimen. Tissue and blood specimens collected from participants during the trial resulted in the largest repository of biliary cancer specimens in the United States.
The research was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, under award nos. CA180888, CA180819, CA180820, CA180821 and CA180868.
END
U of A Cancer Center clinical trial advances research in treatment of biliary tract cancers
Experimental, three-drug chemotherapy regimen didn’t improve survival rates for patients, but treatment might still prove helpful for a small subset of patients.
2025-01-16
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Highlighting the dangers of restricting discussions of structural racism
2025-01-16
PHILADELPHIA (January 16, 2025) – A new Health Affairs Health Policy Brief highlights the detrimental impact of recent state and federal policies that restrict discussions of “divisive concepts,” including structural racism. It warns that these policies undermine efforts to address health inequities and improve population health.
“By limiting discussions of structural racism, these policies ignore the historical and environmental factors that shape health outcomes,” said co-author Derek Griffith, PhD, the Risa Lavizzo-Mourey ...
NYU Tandon School of Engineering receives nearly $10 million from National Telecommunications and Information Administration
2025-01-16
NYU Tandon, collaborating institutions and industry partners have been awarded nearly $10 million to develop next generation communications technology.
The project, dubbed SALSA (Spectrally Agile Large-Scale Arrays), is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to advance U.S. leadership in open, secure communications infrastructure.
SALSA aims to create advanced wireless systems that operate in the "upper mid-band" spectrum — a region of frequencies relatively ...
NASA scientists find new human-caused shifts in global water cycle
2025-01-16
In a recently published paper, NASA scientists use nearly 20 years of observations to show that the global water cycle is shifting in unprecedented ways. The majority of those shifts are driven by activities such as agriculture and could have impacts on ecosystems and water management, especially in certain regions.
“We established with data assimilation that human intervention in the global water cycle is more significant than we thought,” said Sujay Kumar, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a co-author ...
This tiny galaxy is answering some big questions
2025-01-16
Leo P, a small galaxy and a distant neighbor of the Milky Way, is lighting the way for astronomers to better understand star formation and how a galaxy grows.
In a study published in the Astrophysical Journal, a team of researchers led by Kristen McQuinn, a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute and an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences, has reported finding that Leo P “reignited,” reactivating during a significant period on the timeline of the universe, producing stars when many other small galaxies didn’t.
By ...
Large and small galaxies may grow in ways more similar than expected
2025-01-16
A team of astronomers led by University of Arizona researcher Catherine Fielder has obtained the most detailed images of a small galaxy and its surroundings, revealing features typically associated with much larger galaxies. The observations provide a rare, elusive glimpse into how small galaxies form and evolve, suggesting that the mechanisms fueling galaxy growth may be more universal than previously thought.
Fielder presented the findings at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in National Harbor, Maryland, during a press briefing ...
The ins and outs of quinone carbon capture
2025-01-16
Carbon capture, or the isolation and removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during industrial processes like cement mixing or steel production, is widely regarded as a key component of fighting climate change. Existing carbon capture technologies, such as amine scrubbing, are hard to deploy because they require significant energy to operate and involve corrosive compounds.
As a promising alternative, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed carbon capture systems that use molecules called ...
Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester launches IFE-STAR ecosystem and workforce development initiatives
2025-01-16
The University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) has been awarded a $2.25 million grant over three years from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. This funding establishes the Inertial Fusion Energy Science and Technology Accelerated Research (IFE-STAR) ecosystem that brings together academia, national laboratories, and the private sector to develop a clean, safe, and virtually limitless energy source, built on US leadership in inertial fusion.
Inertial ...
Most advanced artificial touch for brain-controlled bionic hand
2025-01-16
For the first time ever, a complex sense of touch for individuals living with spinal cord injuries is a step closer to reality. A new study published in Science, paves the way for complex touch sensation through brain stimulation, whilst using an extracorporeal bionic limb, that is attached to a chair or wheelchair.
The researchers, who are all part of the US-based Cortical Bionics Research Group, have discovered a unique method for encoding natural touch sensations of the hand via specific microstimulation patterns in implantable electrodes in the brain. This allows individuals with spinal cord injuries ...
Compounding drought and climate effects disrupt soil water dynamics in grasslands
2025-01-16
A novel field experiment in Austria reveals that compounding climate conditions – namely drought, warming, and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) – could fundamentally reshape how water moves through soils in temperate grasslands. The findings provide new insights into post-drought soil water flow, in particular. Soil water, though a minuscule fraction of Earth's total water resources, plays a critical role in sustaining terrestrial life on Earth by regulating biogeochemical cycles, surface energy balance, and plant productivity. Soils also govern ...
Multiyear “megadroughts” becoming longer and more severe under climate change
2025-01-16
Severe droughts are becoming hotter, longer, and increasingly devastating to ecosystems as climate change accelerates, according to a new study, which reports that temperate grasslands, including in parts of the United States, are facing the worst effects. The findings provide a global quantitative understanding of multiyear droughts (MYDs) – prolonged events lasting years or decades – and offer a benchmark for understanding their global trends and impacts. As droughts become more frequent ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
How sound moves on Mars
Increasing plant diversity in agricultural grasslands boosts yields, reducing reliance on fertilizer
Scientists uncover a new role for DNA loops in repairing genetic damage
AI chatbots can effectively sway voters – in either direction
Study reveals 'levers' driving the political persuasiveness of AI chatbots
'Tiny' tyrannosaurid, Nanotyrannus lancensis, was a distinctive species, not juvenile T. Rex
Scientists capture first detailed look inside droplet-like structures of compacted DNA
Return of the short (tyrant) king: A new paper by Dinosaur Institute researcher shows Nanotyrannus was not a juvenile T. Rex
New study confirms Nanotyrannus holotype was distinct species from T. rex
Carnegie Science names Michael Blanton 12th Observatories Director
From mice to humans in five years: Microglia replacement paving the way for neurodegenerative disease therapies
To treat long COVID, we must learn from historical chronic illnesses, medical researchers say
Volcanic eruptions set off a chain of events that brought the Black Death to Europe
Environmental science: Volcanic activity may have brought the Black Death to medieval Europe
Public trust in scientists for cancer information across political ideologies in the US
Adverse experiences, protective factors, and obesity in Latinx and Hispanic youths
Researchers identify bacterial enzyme that can cause fatal heart conditions with pneumonia infections
Single enzyme failure found to drive neuron loss in dementia
Sudden cardiac death risk falls in colorectal cancer, but disparities persist
From lab to clinic: CU Anschutz launches Phase 1 clinical trial of promising combination therapy for resistant ovarian cancer
Renuka Iyer, MD, named new Chief Medical Officer for National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
New organ-on-a-chip platform allows the testing of cancer vaccine efficacy in aging populations
No, we don't need more and more data about nature. We need more people to use the data
Research explores effect of parental depression symptoms on children’s reward processing
Phonetic or morpholexical issues? New study reveals L2 French ambiguity
Seeing inside smart gels: scientists capture dynamic behavior under stress
Korea University researchers create hydrogel platform for high-throughput extracellular vesicle isolation
Pusan National University researchers identify the brain enzyme that drives nicotine addiction and smoking dependence
Pathway discovered to make the most common breast cancer tumor responsive to immunotherapy
Air pollution linked to more severe heart disease
[Press-News.org] U of A Cancer Center clinical trial advances research in treatment of biliary tract cancersExperimental, three-drug chemotherapy regimen didn’t improve survival rates for patients, but treatment might still prove helpful for a small subset of patients.