(Press-News.org) New Orleans, LA – LSU oncologist Vince D. Cataldo, MD, is the lead author of a review article reporting two chemotherapy drugs now indicated for second and third-line therapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer are remarkably effective in treating a certain subset of these patients. Dr. Cataldo, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, practicing at LSU's Earl K. Long Medical Center and Hematology-Oncology Clinic in Baton Rouge, and his colleagues say these drugs should be considered as a first-line treatment in people who are known to carry an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) mutation. The paper is published in the March 10, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The drugs, Erlotinib and Gefitinib, which are in a class of highly-specific small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, work by blocking the activation of EGFR which is involved in cell survival and growth, as well as the development of a nourishing blood supply and metastasis.
"Targeting the genetic mutation contributing to the development of the cancer, this class of drugs produced a response rate that exceeded 70% in these patients," notes Dr. Cataldo.
The drugs, taken by mouth, also had fewer side effects. Unlike traditional cytotoxic agents, Erlotinib and Gefitinib do not typically cause myelosuppression, neuropathy, alopecia, or severe nausea.
Lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, accounted for an
estimated 157,300 deaths in the United States in 2010. Approximately 85 to 90% of
all cases of lung cancer are non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) which is also associated with smoking. Advanced-stage NSCLC is currently considered an incurable disease for which standard chemotherapy provides marginal improvement in overall survival at the expense of substantial morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, less than 30% of patients with
metastatic NSCLC have a response to platinum-based chemotherapy, the most commonly
used initial treatment in this stage of the disease. Even with the addition of newer agents, such as bevacizumab, to chemotherapy, the median overall survival of patients with metastatic NSCLC remains approximately 1 year, and only 3.5% of patients with metastatic NSCLC survive 5 years after diagnosis.
"The EGFR mutation is just one of the mutations associated with non-small-cell lung cancer," says Dr. Cataldo. "These results also provide a model for identifying others, which we are currently pursuing. Treatment targeting the causes of this cancer will not only improve quality of life, but may also improve survival of this devastating disease."
The University of Texas the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine also participated in the review.
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LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's academic health leader, LSUHSC New Orleans consists of a School of Medicine, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, Schools of Allied Health Professions and Graduate Studies, and the only School of Nursing within an academic health center in the State of Louisiana. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu and http://www.twitter.com/LSUHSCHealth.
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COPENHAGEN (11 March 2011) — Recent droughts and floods have contributed to increases in food prices. These are pushing millions more people into poverty and hunger, and are contributing to political instability and civil unrest. Climate change is predicted to increase these threats to food security and stability. Responding to this, the world's largest agriculture research consortium today announced the creation of a new Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change.
Chaired by the United Kingdom's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir John Beddington, ...
Earth's biodiversity—the number of microorganisms, plants, and animals, their genes, and their ecosystems (such as rainforests and grasslands)—is declining at an alarming rate, even faster than the last mass extinction 65 million years ago. In fact, two thirds of the terrestrial species that exist today are estimated to be extinct by the end of this century. Humans are an integral part of this extensive network of life. We depend on biodiversity for goods and services; we impact biodiversity via rapidly expanding human population growth, consumption of resources, and ...
Postmenopausal women have a new health message to hear. Two annual dental checkups aren't enough. Older women need more, according to research findings from the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine and the Cleveland Clinic.
That message comes from a comparison study of women on and off bone-strengthening bisphosphonate therapies for osteoporosis.
Leena Palomo, assistant professor of periodontics from the dental school, and Maria Clarinda Beunocamino-Francisco from the Center for Specialized Women's Health at the clinic, set out to study the ...
HOUSTON – (March 10, 2011) – Stem cells derived from a patient's own bone marrow were safely used in pediatric patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to results of a Phase I clinical trial at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The results were published in this month's issue of Neurosurgery, the journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
"Our data demonstrate that the acute harvest of bone marrow and infusion of bone marrow mononuclear cells to acutely treat severe TBI in children is safe," said Charles S. Cox, Jr., ...
MIAMI – March 10, 2011 -- Scientists from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science were part of a national research team to find two plumes of oil-based pollutants downwind of the BP Deep Water Horizon oil spill. In a study published in this week's issue of the journal Science, the research team offers new insight into the mechanism by which the crude oil traveled from the sea surface to the atmosphere.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-led research team collected data of atmosphere gas and aerosol concentrations ...
[EMBARGOED FOR MARCH 11, 2011] Low bone mineral density in HIV-infected patients is common and raises concerns about increased risks of fracture. Although there have been several studies regarding bone mineral density, there have been few data on rates of fracture in this population. A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online (http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/cid/ciq242.pdf) examined differences in the rates of bone fractures between HIV-infected patients and the general population and found higher rates of fracture among HIV ...
NEW YORK (March 11, 2011) -- During a regular annual physical exam, blood is usually drawn to check the health of a person's heart, kidneys and liver. Now, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center say a blood test that detects the early development of emphysema -- well before symptoms occur -- may someday also be offered.
In the March 14 online edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the researchers say that because most cases of emphysema are caused by smoking, the test they are developing can warn smokers ...
The development of a new measurement technology under a research project funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation is probing the structure of composite and biological materials.
"Our results have provided some of the first microscopic insights into a sixty year old puzzle about the way polymeric networks react to repeated shear strains," said Dr. Daniel Blair, Assistant Professor, and principal investigator of the Soft Matter Group in the Department of Physics at Georgetown University.
Blair, Professor Andreas Bausch ...
Still worried about hyphens? Rearranging sentences to avoid the issue?
It's all about clarity - that is the main point of grammar; if your sentence is ambiguous, then you've failed to communicate. Look at the headline below (courtesy of Edit, Edit, Edit):
Policeman Helps Dog Bite Victim
See how a hyphen would clear this up?
Hyphens frequently provide clarity in a sentence that could otherwise be ambiguous.
A "small-business owner" is not necessarily the same as a "small business owner".
When dealing with compound adjectives, a good rule of thumb is to ...
Lanner, the simulation software specialist invites senior food and beverage executives to discover how simulation optimization can transform food and beverage industrial process improvement into a source of robust solutions, delivering new innovations and increasing business protection this March 29, 2011.
Summary: Many of the world's most prominent food and beverage companies already rely on WITNESS software to help improve their profitability, including Mars, Diageo, Coors, Cadbury Trebor Bassett, Kraft, Campbell's and Coca Cola to name a few.
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