#Cancer Research

[reasonsforhope]

"Doctors have begun trialling the world’s first mRNA lung cancer vaccine in patients, as experts hailed its “groundbreaking” potential to save thousands of lives.

Lung cancer is the world’s leading cause of cancer death, accounting for about 1.8m deaths every year. Survival rates in those with advanced forms of the disease, where tumours have spread, are particularly poor.

Now experts are testing a new jab that instructs the body to hunt down and kill cancer cells – then prevents them ever coming back. Known as BNT116 and made by BioNTech, the vaccine is designed to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of the disease.

The phase 1 clinical trial, the first human study of BNT116, has launched across 34 research sites in seven countries: the UK, US, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Turkey.

The UK has six sites, located in England and Wales, with the first UK patient to receive the vaccine having their initial dose on Tuesday [August 20, 2024].

Overall, about 130 patients – from early-stage before surgery or radiotherapy, to late-stage disease or recurrent cancer – will be enrolled to have the jab alongside immunotherapy. About 20 will be from the UK.

The jab uses messenger RNA (mRNA), similar to Covid-19 vaccines, and works by presenting the immune system with tumour markers from NSCLC to prime the body to fight cancer cells expressing these markers.

The aim is to strengthen a person’s immune response to cancer while leaving healthy cells untouched, unlike chemotherapy.

“We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials to investigate the treatment of lung cancer,” said Prof Siow Ming Lee, a consultant medical oncologist at University College London hospitals NHS foundation trust (UCLH), which is leading the trial in the UK.

“It’s simple to deliver, and you can select specific antigens in the cancer cell, and then you target them. This technology is the next big phase of cancer treatment.”

Janusz Racz, 67, from London, was the first person to have the vaccine in the UK. He was diagnosed in May and soon after started chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

The scientist, who specialises in AI, said his profession inspired him to take part in the trial. “I am a scientist too, and I understand that the progress of science – especially in medicine – lies in people agreeing to be involved in such investigations,” he said...

“And also, I can be a part of the team that can provide proof of concept for this new methodology, and the faster it would be implemented across the world, more people will be saved.”

Racz received six consecutive injections five minutes apart over 30 minutes at the National Institute for Health Research UCLH Clinical Research Facility on Tuesday.

Each jab contained different RNA strands. He will get the vaccine every week for six consecutive weeks, and then every three weeks for 54 weeks.

Lee said: “We hope adding this additional treatment will stop the cancer coming back because a lot of time for lung cancer patients, even after surgery and radiation, it does come back.” ...

“We hope to go on to phase 2, phase 3, and then hope it becomes standard of care worldwide and saves lots of lung cancer patients.”

The Guardian revealed in May that thousands of patients in England were to be fast-tracked into groundbreaking trials of cancer vaccines in a revolutionary world-first NHS “matchmaking” scheme to save lives.

Under the scheme, patients who meet the eligibility criteria will gain access to clinical trials for the vaccines that experts say represent a new dawn in cancer treatment."

-via The Guardian, May 30, 2024

[amalgamasreal]

SOURCE

Honeybees can detect biomarkers of lung cancer in human breath, as discovered by Michigan State University researchers.

The bees can differentiate between different types of lung cancer cells based on smell, potentially aiding in early diagnosis.

Researchers plan to develop a noninvasive test using a sensor based on honeybee brains to analyze breath for cancer chemicals and report results wirelessly.

[cbirt]

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have published their findings on SJ3149, a chemical with broad efficacy against various cancer types, particularly acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Scientists worked together to discover and improve a chemical molecule that functions as a molecular “super-glue” for a variety of tumors. SJ3149 binds to cancer-related protein casein kinase 1 alpha (CK1α), causing its elimination. The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Have you ever wished you could just put a “Do Not Enter” sign on a faulty protein in a cancer cell? Thanks to molecular glue degraders, scientists are coming closer to doing just that. These ingenious tiny molecules function as matchmakers, bringing together a protein designated for destruction (the target) and the cellular executioner (an E3 ligase) in a lethal embrace. As a result, the target protein is tagged and disposed of, providing a fresh approach to cancer treatment.

Molecular glues work by hijacking the cell’s natural protein recycling system. The molecular glue binds the targeted protein to an enzyme, marking it for destruction via proteasomal degradation. For many cancer-related proteins that conventional small molecule inhibitors cannot effectively target, molecular glues may be a feasible therapeutic option. This prompted scientists at St. Jude to create a vast proprietary library of molecular glues and screen it against a variety of cancer cell lines, resulting in an early hit.

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[useless-englandfacts]

Following the news that Kate Middleton has in fact been diagnosed with cancer, I’d like the take the time to offer some information on cancer in afab people and some charities to support.

Cancer is a very personal and scary thing to face, and according to Cancer Research UK, every two minutes in the uk someone is diagnosed with cancer. Over 182000 women in the uk are diagnosed every year.

Almost half of all cancer cases are diagnosed at stages 3 & 4, and screening rates for breast and cervical cancers have fallen in the last few years in England and Scotland.

According to The Eve Appeal, around 60 afab people are diagnosed with gynecological cancers alone every day in the uk, and 21 of them will not be able to receive appropriate treatment in time.

People around the world are woefully uneducated about cancer as a whole, but the stigma and lack of proper knowledge given to the public and young afab people about our own bodies means that we often go under diagnosed, or are too afraid or ashamed to see a doctor until it’s too late.

I’ll be listing some informational pages to help people learn about the signs of breast and gynecological cancers that I believe every young person with an afab reproductive system needs to know. On the pages from The Eve Appeal and Breast Cancer UK there is also information for transgender and intersex people.

All of these sites have information on how to identify possible markers of cancer, information on how to get tested, and on how to donate to their charities. I highly suggest everyone regardless of gender identity have a look through to potentially help yourself or a loved one.

-Roe

[mindblowingscience]

In a medical first, scientists have hindered the growth of bowel cancers in mice by harnessing immune cells in the large intestine. One of the most exciting new cancer treatments is immunotherapy, which works by training the body's immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells. However, most current immunotherapies only benefit a small minority of patients with bowel cancer – fewer than 10 percent. "We have discovered that an important group of immune cells in the large bowel – gamma delta T cells – are crucial to preventing bowel cancer," says immunologist Lisa Mielke from the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute at La Trobe University in Australia.

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[kathryn-helms-perspectives]

Buy a copy of Perspectives to support cancer research and funding for families with children battling cancer!

[shannendoherty-fans]

Published Aug 1, 2024

The Cancer Community Says After The Loss of Shannen Doherty, It’s Important To Keep Going- A Legacy of Bravery

The 'Beverly Hills, 90210' star candidly shared about her day-to-day fight with metastatic breast cancer up until the end.

By Marissa Sullivan.

An Inspirational Icon

The loss of Shannen Doherty, who died on July 13 of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer at age 53, affected fans and loved ones from around the world, and the cancer community was hit particularly hard by this profound loss.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 actress gave people hope, and despite her passing — which can be especially devastating for other late stage survivors, it’s important to keep going in her honor and not give up that hope that she instilled.

After the death of a loved one or someone you looked up to, it’s key to remember that grief may look different for everyone. The stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These labels help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. These stages can also occur in any order.

As far as your own cancer journey, don’t give up. There are more and more options becoming available for patients to manage symptoms of advanced stage disease, and it’s best to talk about specific treatment plans and what is best for you with your own doctor.

The loss of Shannen Doherty, who died on July 13 of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer at age 53, affected fans and loved ones from around the world, and the cancer community was hit particularly hard by this profound loss.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star gave people hope, and despite her passing — which can be exceptionally heavy on other late stage survivors, it’s important to keep going and not lose faith in your own journey.

Doherty was over four years into her advanced stage diagnosis and had gained a powerful voice in the health space with her Let’s Be Clear podcast, holding nothing back as she aired out past personal struggles in her career and love live, and candidly spoke of her day-to-day fight.

Actress Shannen Doherty became a household name after starring in hit shows like ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ and ‘Charmed.’ “This is what I am currently facing. #cancer #life,” Doherty captioned what would be her last video post.

The day the world woke up to the tragic news, comments came pouring in on Instagram for the late pop culture icon.

“Rest in peace. I’m donating to metavivor today in your honor,” one fan commented, while actress Selma Blair shared: “Thank you for showing us how to keep going.”

CEO Alana Stewart — who runs the Farrah Fawcett Foundation in honor of her late best friend’s cancer mission — wrote, “God bless you, you’re an amazing inspiration.”

How to Cope After Losing a Loved One to Cancer

After the death of a loved one or someone you looked up to, it’s key to remember that grief may look different for everyone.

Everyone is entitled to their feelings, and yes, the emotions are real, even if you consider yourself “just a fan.”

The stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These labels help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. These stages can also occur in any order.

The time it takes to navigate these stages can also vary, so giving yourself grace and patience is essential while navigating your feelings.

“It often gets better over time, but on certain days, it can look like depression, and on other days, people look perfectly normal and can function,” Dr. Scott Irwin, a board-certified psychiatrist and Director of Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

‘Grief Comes in Waves’

Dr. Irwin added that grieving people are coming to terms with “the change in their life; the future they had imagined is now different.”

SurvivorNet also had a prior conversation with Megan Newcomer, who lost a close friend to metastatic cancer in 2018. She shared her unique way of coping with grief.

Newcomer’s friend was an athlete and soccer player, so to help her cope, she embarked on a marathon race in his honor, and advises others grieving to first “acknowledge your feelings.”

Shannen Doherty was a passionate animal rights activist. Courtesy of Instagram/Shannen Doherty

“Then, think about a way that you could honor the person through a mechanism that is meaningful to you,” she continued. “So that can be artwork, music, or developing a financial fundraising project. It could be something very simple, but I do think having it be intentional is what you’re doing to help honor this person.”

In a column for SurvivorNet, New York-based clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin expressed that it may be helpful to remind yourself that these feelings are “meaningful yet temporary.”

“If you approach them with compassion, kindness, and eventually acceptance, you will come away from this period in your life more connected to your resilience and strength,” Dr. Strongin added.

Understanding Metastatic Breast Cancer

Stage 4, or metastatic breast cancer, means that the cancer has spread to distant areas of the body. Even though there is currently no cure for metastatic breast cancer, doctors have many options to treat this advanced stage of breast cancer.

Hormone therapy, chemotherapy and targeted drugs are all options to talk to her doctor about, depending on your individual needs. Sometimes surgery and/or radiation is considered as part of the treatment, but mainly it is important to focus on improving your quality of life.

Dr. Erica Mayer, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, says clinical trials have shown that hormone medicines are more effective when paired with targeted therapies. At some point, chemotherapy will be introduced. And according to Dr. Mayer, it’s delivered at a dose and schedule that’s as well-tolerated as possible.

“We are so lucky in breast cancer that we have so many effective and well-tolerated treatments,” Dr. Mayer previously told SurvivorNet. I’m so gratified to see that patients are doing better and living longer today with metastatic breast cancer than they have ever done before.”

Bottom line, there are more and more options becoming available for patients to manage symptoms of advanced stage disease, and it’s best to talk about specific treatment plans and what is best for you with your own doctor.

Treating Metastatic Breast Cancer

With metastatic breast cancer, the primary goal of treatment is to control its spread. SurvivorNet offers information about what those options are from targeted therapies to chemotherapy and when these various treatment options can be used.

We also provide information on new, exciting research that is currently being tested in clinical trials and information about when recently approved drugs, like immunotherapies, can be used.

For help finding a clinical trial that may be right for you or a loved one, try our easy-to-use Clinical Trial Finder.

While there have been many developments in recent years when it comes to treating late-stage breast cancer, which therapies can be used will depend on the characteristics of the patient’s cancer.

What are the treatment options for late-stage breast cancer?

“Metastatic breast cancer is a treatable disease,” Dr. Kenneth D. Miller, medical oncologist at the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore shared in a pior interview with SurvivorNet.

“Fortunately, we have so many new treatments for women with recurrent breast cancer and for many women who look at this as a chronic disease that they can live with — often for many years.”

*****

RELATED: ‘Stage Four Needs More’: Metastatic Breast Cancer Requires Dramatically More Research Investment’ Say Advocates Mourning ‘90210’ Actress Shannen Doherty

RELATED: For Patients, The Inspiration of a Famous Actress And Her Quest to Make Sure Her Affairs Were in Order — Mourning Shannen Doherty

RELATED: Crusading to Save Horses, Shannen Doherty Says ‘We Have To Speak For The Voiceless’

RELATED: ‘Not Done Living & Loving’ Said Actress Shannen Doherty– She Placed Hope In Experimental Drug Trials To Treat Metastatic Breast Cancer

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Queen’s University is celebrating its largest-ever private donation for cancer research, described as “transformational” for research capacity, cutting-edge facilities and new training opportunities. Alumnus Murray Sinclair has donated $25 million to the university’s cancer research institute, which will be renamed the Sinclair Cancer Research Institute. Queen’s University, a leading cancer research facility in Canada, will now have enhanced resources to develop new treatments.

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Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The remainder of the crew’s time in orbit was spent carrying out nearly 40 science experiments and research, including some that sought to better understand space adaptation syndrome — a type of microgravity-specific motion sickness.

Gillis, a trained violinist, also brought her instrument along for the mission and delivered a rendition of “Rey’s Theme” from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Gillis’ music was sent back to Earth using SpaceX’s Starlink as a test of the satellite network’s potential to provide in-space connectivity.

Menon also took time to read a book she coauthored — called “Kisses From Space” — to her family as well as a group of patients from St. Jude Children’s Hospital as part of a fundraiser.

Sunday’s anticipated return marks the conclusion of the third trip to space for the specific Crew Dragon capsule powering the Polaris Dawn mission.

The spacecraft — named “Resilience” by the NASA astronauts onboard its first trip to space in November 2020 called (Crew-1) — flew the 2021 Inspiration 4 mission.

That trip, also funded by Isaacman, saw him and three crewmates circle Earth for three days as part of a fundraiser for childhood cancer research.

[amatrudalab]

The L.A. Cancer Challenge supports life-saving research with support from ordinary people committed to making a difference. It will happen on October 21st.

You can participate in Los Angeles or virtually by reporting your steps through the Internet. You can also donate here.

This year, they aim to raise $600,000. As of July 25th, they have already raised $42,356.

The Amatruda Lab thanks everyone who helps us raise money to save lives. We can't do this without the generosity of normal people!

[jbarkerstargazer]

100 skips a day challenge excepted.

Every day this March I am doing 100 skips with the aim to raise £150 for cancer research.

My Dad was only able to have cancer treatment 5 years ago because of developments in research. He's still here. Lets make sure cancer doesn't win.

Please donate here.

Knowledge is power.

[wormwonderland]

If you haven't heard about it you can write a card to a St. Jude patient for free!

Please do this, and share any similar things because I would love to participate and spread love <3

[cbirt]

Researchers from Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute in Spain have designed TALKIEN (crossTALK IntEraction Network), a user-friendly online tool that helps to visualize molecular crosstalk or communication at the cellular level by constructing and analyzing ligand-receptor interaction network (LRIN). Understanding cellular communication is crucial for understanding cancer growth and therapy response. With the ability to perform functional analysis and access information on drugs targeting receptors, TALKIEN becomes an indispensable tool in the quest for deeper insights into cellular communication.

TALKIEN is a tool based on R (a programming language) which has immense applicability in statistical analysis and network analysis. TALKIEN takes a list of genes or proteins representing various cell types as input. It first analyzes the lists to find interactions between ligands (messengers) and receptors (receivers) on cell surfaces and then creates a map or a network of these interactions. Using systems biology techniques like centrality (measuring the importance of certain molecules), component analysis (grouping related molecules), etc., helps the users better visualize and analyze the network by providing different graphical layout options. It also shows the chain of events that occur after cell communication and presents a list of drug-targeting receptors, allowing researchers to see the broader impact of cell communication and potentially obtain unprecedented insights in healthcare.

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[importantwomensbirthdays]

Beatrice Mintz

Cancer researcher Beatrice Mintz was born in New York City in 1921. In 1960, Mintz joined the Fox Chase Cancer Institute of Philadelphia, and went on to become one of its most celebrated researchers. She made groundbreaking discoveries in multiple areas of biology, including epigenetics, embryology, developmental genetics, and gene-transfer technology. Mintz's experiments on mice paved the way for potentially less toxic approaches to cancer treatment, and made it easier for scientists to study melanoma. In recognition of her achievements, she received numerous awards, including the Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research from the AACR, and the American Cancer Society's National Medal of Honor for Basic Research. Mintz was also nominated twice for a Nobel Prize.

Beatrice Mintz died in 2022 at the age of 100.

Image: Smithsonian Institution

[mindblowingscience]

UCLA researchers have developed a new treatment method using a tiny nanocapsule to help boost the immune response, making it easier for the immune system to fight and kill solid tumors. The investigators found the approach, described in the journal Science Translational Medicine, increased the number and activity of immune cells that attack the cancer, making cancer immunotherapies work better.

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[kathryn-helms-perspectives]

What people are saying about “Perspectives”

​"Kathryn Helms's poems are remarkable reflections on living thoughtfully in the world.  They show care, strength, and resolve.  And they are often bold assertions of the promise of new beginnings.  Helms's words - and the energy and vitality evident in her writing - are inspiring and suggest we will see great things from her in the future." - Michael S. Stephens, PhD, Editorial Director, Upper Room Books

"This bright, deep, and lively collection of poems by Kathryn Helms holds both sentiments of restoration and determination to be unbound.  Within each poem is a through line of finding balance, understanding, and seasonal awareness in both the individual's life and the natural world.  I expect this is just the first of may strong collections to come from Helms." - Jennifer Manley Rogers Author of Climate Hero Handbook, project editor for the University of Alabama Press, and owner of Catchphrase Publishing Services

"Kathryn Helms is a young person with her lights on! Profound insights are made even more provocative and captivating by clever, insightful, and self-aware poetry and inspired layout." - Stephen Graham-Ching, Business and Production Manager, Invite Press

"Bold perspectives that belie the author's young age.  Keep an eye on this one."  - Dr. Leonard Wilson Publisher, Invite Press

"The depth of thought and wisdom expressed by this young writer is astounding.  People like Kathryn Helms give me hope for the future." - Laurel Boone, J.D. Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Management, Saint Louis University