Lung and colorectal cancer drug Avastin has been tested for the first time against the most common and deadly form of brain cancer.

Duke University researchers used Avastin, known chemically as bevacizumab, in combination with a standard chemotherapy agent in patients with recurrent brain tumors called gliomas. Good news -- the two drugs together stopped tumor growth for twice as long as any other therapy.

Gliomas are mostly incurable in all cases, but this new treatment approach may extend life and may help preserve physical and mental function for a longer period of time for patients fighting this deadly disease.

"These results are exciting because of the possible implications for a patient population that currently has the poorest possible prognosis going into treatment -- those with malignant brain tumors that have recurred after initial treatment," says the lead researcher whose findings appear in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

A study appearing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology reveals there may be something out there that can extend the lives of patients with recurrent prostate cancer.

This something is a new class of anti-cancer targeted drugs that scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles say are quite promising, despite their ineffectiveness in some prostate cancer patients with no previous chemotherapy treatment.

Pertuzumab, a molecular targeted compound that has been used successfully in ovarian cancer patients, has been shown to block the human epidermal growth factor receptor family by binding to and inhibiting the function of HER2 receptors. They essentially block a key pathway that leads to cancer growth. And this blockage can possibly offer a better, longer life for recurrent prostate cancer patients whose diseases no longer respond to traditional chemotherapy.

Pertuzumab, marketed under the brand name Omnitarg by Roche and Genentech, is just one of many targeted cancer therapies that give researchers hope that cancer may one day be a lifetime disease that can be skillfully managed.

I read a two articles about treatments for recurrence of rhabdomyosarcoma recently. I first got interested in this childhood and young adult cancer when I read Karen's blog. Karen was diagnosed as a young adult and wants to raise awareness for this rare cancer, sometimes just called rhabdo, that does not have a great survival rate. I did a post about her and her cancer journey that you can read called Raising awareness about rhabdomyosarcoma.

This brings me to the two articles that I recently read about treatments for recurrent rhabdomyosarcoma:

A Phase II clinical trial was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The drug Camptosar (irinotecan) reduced or eliminated detectable cancer in 11 percent of the children who had relapsed rhabdomyosarcoma. The study states that patients with recurrent disease have a very poor prognosis. Eleven percent, (four out of thirty five patients), does not seem like a very high success rate however, these trials are needed to find treatments to improve survival for this deadly cancer.

The other article I read was also published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. It states that treatment with the chemotherapy drug combination of Camptosar (irinotecan) and vincristine reduced or eliminated detectable cancer in 70 percent of children with metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma. It stated that treatment alone with Camptosar is not good enough. The combination of Camptosar and vincristine, 70 percent of children experienced a partial or complete disappearance of detectable cancer. This is better news!

You can read more about rhabdomyosarcoma in the post called Cancer by the Numbers: Rhabdomyosarcoma.

Hyperthermia therapy with radiation have been added to the 2007 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Breast Cancer as an approved treatment for recurrent breast cancer and other localized cancer recurrences.

According to an explanation by the BSD Medical Treat with Heat website, hyperthermia therapy uses heat, which has been shown to kill cancer cells, in the treatment of cancerous tumors. Hyperthermia therapy also appears to make radiation therapy more effective. "While it has been known for hundreds of years that fevers can kill cancer, only recently has technology been developed that can control and focus heat specifically on tumors. This technology is found in the BSD-500 Hyperthermia System."

The BSD-500 Hyperthermia System is already used in the treatment of skin cancers that are progressive or recurrent despite conventional therapy. To learn more about hyperthermia therapy, request a free information kit, learn treatment options, find a physician, or speak to a patient advisor, visit the Treat with Heat website.

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a complication that can occur after a stem cell transplant. GvHD occurs when infection-fighting cells from the donor recognize the patient's body as being different or foreign. These infection-fighting cells then attack tissues in the patient's body just as if they were attacking an infection. GvHD is often treated with steroids, though this does not always work. GvHD is a serious condition with a high death rate so researchers are constantly evaluating new ways to treat it or reduce the symptoms.

European researchers conducted a study to see if a certain type of stem cell, infused into patients with GvHD that are not responding to treatment, would be effective. Patients were treated with mesenchymal stem cells, that are specific types of stems cells that are collected from the bone marrow of a donor. These stem cells are thought to help suppress the donor's immune cells and reduce the risk of GvHD.

The researcher found that 68 percent of the patients responded, children having slightly better results. They concluded that treatment with mesenchymal stem cells appears to effectively treat recurrent GvHD that would otherwise have been fatal in a majority of patients.

In a Phase III trial involving 878 lung cancer patients, the drug bevacizumab, known as Avastin, increased the overall survival rate to 35 percent when combined with the chemotherapy drugs paclitaxel and carboplatin. Patients who were given paclitaxel and carboplatin without Avastin had a 15 percent chance of responding to treatment.

Two months ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved Avastin as a first-line treatment for patients with inoperable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer. Avastin works by stopping the formation of blood vessels that feed oxygen and nutrients needed for tumor growth. Because the drug is a targeted therapy, in that it leaves healthy tissue alone while going after cancer cells, some of the traditional side-effects from conventional chemotherapy, such as hair loss, nausea, or vomiting, are avoided.

According to Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Chief of Hematology/Oncology's Dr. Joan Schiller, "Twenty years ago, we thought no treatment could help patients with advanced lung cancer. Ten years ago, we found that chemotherapy could improve survival of these patients. Now, we are finding out that this very unique drug called Avastin can also help improve survival even more. Avastin is the first of this very exciting family of drugs to be approved for lung cancer, and there are several other drugs of this type under development which may prove to work even better."

Safety Reggie Nelson is headed to Arizona where he and his Florida Gator teammates will battle the Ohio State Buckeyes for the 2007 National Championship title. It's a chance of a lifetime for Nelson -- who says he would give it all up if if his mom was headed on the road to recovery.

Nelson's mom has been battling recurrent breast cancer and is confined to her home as a result of chemotherapy and other cancer treatment. She can't sit in the stands and watch her son in all his glory but she still plays an active role in his life. She calls him after every game and is known for offering both critiques and motivation. What she doesn't offer is much detail on her condition -- because she doesn't want her son to worry.

Nelson says he would do anything to save his mom from the ravages of her disease. He has little power over her fate, however, so he pours his blood, sweat, and tears into football -- with his mom just a phone call away.

"I talk to my mom 24/7," Nelson said. "My mom's my life and my best friend. Everything I do is because of her. She's always in my mind."

There's no doubt she will be on Nelson's mind on January 8 -- when he takes to the field in one of football's greatest battles, in honor of his mom and her own great battle.

Recurrent ovarian cancer patients usually do not have many effective treatment options and long term survival is low. Research continues to evaluate ways to improve outcomes for patients with this disease.

An article published in Gynecologic Oncology said that Thalomid (thalidomide) appears to be safe and may provide an effective treatment option for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. Thalomid is a pill that helps block angiogenesis. Anti-angiogenesis medication inhibits blood vessel formation so that cancer growth is limited by the lack of blood supply to the tumor. The drug is also thought to cause activity that stimulates the immune system to help fight cancer cells.

Researchers from Stanford University recently conducted a clinical trial evaluating Thalomid in the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer. The trial included 17 patients who had received prior therapy. Three patients achieved an anticancer response, 18 percent and six patients achieved stabilization of their cancer, 35 percent. After one year of treatment, nearly 67 percent of patients who either achieved an anticancer response or disease stabilization had not experienced a progression of their disease.

Oncophage (vitespen) is a vaccine that may help your immune system fight cancer. This vaccine is created from cells of your own body, targeting tumor cells and not healthy ones. After the vaccine is injected the patient's immune system can then identify the cancerous cells as foreign and attack them.

Gliomas start in the brain or spinal cord tissue. They do not spread to other areas of the body but can spread throughout the nervous system. Recurrent glioma is considered incurable at the present time. A clinical trial has showed that the investigational cancer vaccine, Oncophage may improve outcomes of those diagnosed with a recurrence of glioma. The first six patients treated with Oncophage have exceeded the historical median overall survival of nearly 15 months following diagnosis.

This vaccine is also being studied and clinical trials ongoing to see if it can help other cancers as well.

Patients with breast cancer that have disease progression after being treated with chemotherapy drugs, anthracyclines and taxanes, are left with limited treatment options. Researchers are always looking to find new drugs to keep the drug arsenal full for these women so they don't run out of treatment options. One chemotherapy might stop working on the cancer and it can become resistant so we need to have a plan B, C, D, E ...etc.

An article published in the British Journal of Cancer says that vinflunine provides anticancer activity among women who's cancer has recurred or progressed following prior therapy. This new chemotherapy drug is classified as a vinca alkaloid. The study showed that the anticancer response rate was 30 percent.

The positive results of this study will prompt further studies. Patients with recurrent breast cancer may wish to speak to their physician regarding their individual risks and benefits of participating in a clinic trial further evaluating vinflunine.

The treatment combination of Revlimid (lenalidomide), Oncovin (vincristine), Doxil (pegylated doxorubicin) and dexamethasone appears to be highly effective in multiple myeloma that has recurred or progressed following prior therapies.

According to an article published in the Annals of Oncology, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic conducted a clinical trial to evaluate this combination of drugs. The trial included 62 patients, 75 percent of the patients achieved an anticancer response and 29 percent of patients achieved a complete or near complete disappearance of detectable cancer.

The researchers note that determining treatment choices for those patients who recur after initial therapy is more challenging than treating patients that have not received prior therapy. Multiple myeloma is usually treated with chemotherapy -- however -- new treatments are evolving that are better tolerated, especially in older patients who cannot handle aggressive chemotherapy. The researchers continue to evaluate strategies in order to offer patients individualized treatment options.

A type of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) called mantle cell lymphoma accounts for about five to ten percent of all lymphomas. According to an article recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Velcade (bortezobib) is an effective treatment option for patients with mantle cell lymphoma that has stopped responding to prior treatments.

Velcade is an agent known as a proteasome inhibitor. Proteasome inhibitors are drugs that block the action of proteasomes, proteins found in virtually all cells that regulate several aspects of cellular activity. By blocking the activity of proteasomes it can lead to the death of cancer cells. Bortezobib is the first therapeutic proteasome inhibitor to be approved for use in the United States.

Researchers conducted a clinical trial to evaluate Velcade in the treatment of fifteen patients with mantle cell lymphoma that has recurred or progressed following prior therapies. Anticancer responses occurred in 33 percent of patients and after over 13 months follow up, over half the patients were still surviving.

Interferon is an agent that stimulates the immune cells to help fight cancer. In an article published in Bone Marrow Transplantation it said that the addition of interferon following an autologous stem cell transplant improves survival for children with recurrent Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Patients that have their Hodgkin's lymphoma return after initial treatment may undergo an autologous stem cell transplant. In an autologous stem cell transplant a patients own cells are collected prior to high-dose chemotherapy and then re-infused.

The researchers wanted to evaluate whether the addition of interferon to the stem cell transplant could improve outcomes. The trial included 13 children with recurrent Hodgkin's lymphoma who were treated with an autologous stem cell transplant. Ten of these patients then went on to receive the interferon.

Follow up at five years shows that nine of the ten patients treated with interferon are alive and cancer free. The researchers concluded that interferon provided significant anticancer activity following the transplant.

Eli Lilly and Company has announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration, FDA, has approved gemcitabine HCl, known as Gemzar, in chemotherapy cancer treatments for women facing recurrent ovarian cancer. Gemzar is only approved for the treatment of ovarian cancer when used in combination with carboplatin, another chemotherapy drug currently used to treat women with advanced and recurrent ovarian cancer.

Gemzar is already approved as a cancer drug in the treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and metastatic breast cancer. Clinical studies reviewed by the FDA showed that patients treated with a combination of Gemzar and carboplatin experienced a significant improvement in survival and response rates compared to carboplatin alone.

"Ovarian cancer is marked by one of the highest recurrence rates of all women's cancers," states Dr. Robert Ozols, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center. "The Gemzar combination can help us aggressively address this recurrent disease with increased clinical efficacy and generally manageable side effects."

For more information about the chemotherapy drug Gemzar, visit Eli Lilly's Gemzar website.

Every promising drug therapy has a potential dark side. Hycamtin -- topotecan hydrochloride -- a cancer-fighting drug used to treat patients with ovarian and lung cancer, has received FDA approval for treatment of late-stage cervical cancer. When surgery or radiation is not a viable option for women diagnosed with recurrent or incurable cervical cancer, Hycamtin can be added to cisplatin as a combination chemotherapy drug therapy shown to provide life-lengthening benefit.

Combining Hycamtin with cisplatin is not a cure, and in clinical trials showed an additional survival benefit of three months when compared to treatment with cisplatin alone. Who would not choose to live as long as possible, even if you are measuring life in months? However, the combination drug therapy is likely to increase the risk in lowering white cell counts, decreasing blood platelets, inducing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and hair loss. Quantity of life versus quality of life is the dark side of this drug therapy promise. One woman might choose quantity of life, and another woman choose quality of life. There is no wrong or right but when making a choice it needs to be made with eyes wide open.

For more information, there is a Hycamtin website offering information on how the chemotherapy drug is administered and the side effects a woman can expect during treatment. While it is written for ovarian and lung cancer patients, I believe the basic over all information should be the same for cervical cancer patients.

Thanks to Joel Arellano of Autoblog for this news tip!