Showing posts with label lung cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lung cancer. Show all posts
Monday, May 13, 2013
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Beta Blocker-Old Drug, New Uses-Ask Your Oncologist
Recent retrospective study published in Annals Of Oncology made me sit up and notice beta blockers closely.
Beta blockers are predominantly used as anti-hypertensive and anti-arrhythmic drug. They are also used to control tremors in Parkinson's disease. But here i am talking about its role in improving survival of lung cancer and breast cancer patients.
The article in Annals of Oncology from M D Anderson Cancer Center estimates a 22% improvement in median overall survival for those who took beta blockers.This was in a cohort of patients who had received definitive radiotherapy. The molecular mechanism being hypothesized for the benefit from beta blocker should improve survival for all kinds of lung cancer patients. There is a need to do a prospective study but practitioners and patients should explore the use of beta blockers considering the data available for its safety.
Improvement in overall survival is not a small thing when most new costly agents struggle to show meaningful difference in progression free survival!
Reach out today to your doctor and if you are a doctor read more and start thinking!!
The benefit of beta blocker is also there for patients having breast cancer and melanoma.
References:
1. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/777342
2. http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/01/01/annonc.mds616.full
3. http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/29/19/2635.abstract?ijkey=dc966043b03d255244605330d386a363baad8d7a&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
4. http://www.nature.com/nrclinonc/journal/v8/n9/full/nrclinonc.2011.123.html
Conflict of Interest None.
There may be publication bias but asking questions and searching available data can help us in using old weapons against new targets. Academic institutes can do this kind of study.
Beta blockers are predominantly used as anti-hypertensive and anti-arrhythmic drug. They are also used to control tremors in Parkinson's disease. But here i am talking about its role in improving survival of lung cancer and breast cancer patients.
The article in Annals of Oncology from M D Anderson Cancer Center estimates a 22% improvement in median overall survival for those who took beta blockers.This was in a cohort of patients who had received definitive radiotherapy. The molecular mechanism being hypothesized for the benefit from beta blocker should improve survival for all kinds of lung cancer patients. There is a need to do a prospective study but practitioners and patients should explore the use of beta blockers considering the data available for its safety.
Improvement in overall survival is not a small thing when most new costly agents struggle to show meaningful difference in progression free survival!
Reach out today to your doctor and if you are a doctor read more and start thinking!!
The benefit of beta blocker is also there for patients having breast cancer and melanoma.
References:
1. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/777342
2. http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/01/01/annonc.mds616.full
3. http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/29/19/2635.abstract?ijkey=dc966043b03d255244605330d386a363baad8d7a&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
4. http://www.nature.com/nrclinonc/journal/v8/n9/full/nrclinonc.2011.123.html
Conflict of Interest None.
There may be publication bias but asking questions and searching available data can help us in using old weapons against new targets. Academic institutes can do this kind of study.
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
Vaccines In Cancer
We all are aiming and waiting for the day when one can get vaccinated against cancer!
Vaccines can be of two types prophylactic and therapeutic. Prophylactic ones have been developed for few cancers.
Hepatitis B vaccine is predominantly encouraged to prevent oneself from Hepatocellular cancer. This has helped in keeping the rate of liver cancer in check. Liver cancer is a leading problem in China, Taiwan, India etc. In US, hepatitis C infection is expected to create a huge burden of liver cancer in baby boomers. Efforts are on to bring better therapy for hepatitis c.
Another vaccine which has the potential to make an impact is HPV vaccine. HPV vaccines from GSK and Merck are expected to decrease the incidence of cervical carcinoma. There are many types of HPV virus and these vaccines take care of HPV 16, 18. The immunity against these is expected to help fight against other HPV's also. Vaccinated or not, it is highly recommended to get oneself screened for cervical carcinoma.
Provenge, sipuleucel-T, for prostate cancer is a successful therapeutic vaccine for prostate cancer used in metastatic setting.
There are plenty of therapeutic vaccines in clinical trials for lung cancer, head and neck cancer, brain cancer, melanoma.
Next few years are interesting but none of the vaccines are any near to cure.
Reference: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/cancer-vaccines
Vaccines can be of two types prophylactic and therapeutic. Prophylactic ones have been developed for few cancers.
Hepatitis B vaccine is predominantly encouraged to prevent oneself from Hepatocellular cancer. This has helped in keeping the rate of liver cancer in check. Liver cancer is a leading problem in China, Taiwan, India etc. In US, hepatitis C infection is expected to create a huge burden of liver cancer in baby boomers. Efforts are on to bring better therapy for hepatitis c.
Another vaccine which has the potential to make an impact is HPV vaccine. HPV vaccines from GSK and Merck are expected to decrease the incidence of cervical carcinoma. There are many types of HPV virus and these vaccines take care of HPV 16, 18. The immunity against these is expected to help fight against other HPV's also. Vaccinated or not, it is highly recommended to get oneself screened for cervical carcinoma.
Provenge, sipuleucel-T, for prostate cancer is a successful therapeutic vaccine for prostate cancer used in metastatic setting.
There are plenty of therapeutic vaccines in clinical trials for lung cancer, head and neck cancer, brain cancer, melanoma.
Next few years are interesting but none of the vaccines are any near to cure.
Reference: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/cancer-vaccines
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