Fox Chase Cancer Center News

CHICAGO, IL (June 7, 2010) – Patients with HER2-positive cancers can have dramatic responses to HER2-targeted drugs but eventually develop resistance to the agents. With that problem in mind, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers are testing a novel type of antibody called MM-111 in patients with HER2-positive disease who have progressed on standard therapy.

CHICAGO, IL (June 6, 2010) – Newly reported results from a major clinical trial show that adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard frontline chemotherapy for women with advanced ovarian cancer and then continuing a maintenance dose of the drug afterwards significantly extends progression-free survival. Women receiving the new treatment regimen saw no worsening of their disease for 14.1 months, compared to 10.3 months for women receiving standard therapy.

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2010) – Fox Chase Cancer Center investigators find that pancreatic cancer patients who have circulating tumor cells tend to have worse outcomes than patients without circulating tumor cells. Additionally, the team has uncovered evidence that not all circulating tumor cells are the same, and some may predict worse outcomes than others.

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2010) – Research from Fox Chase Cancer Center shows that patient’s with stage IIIA NSCLC who receive surgery, lobectomy in particular, have increased overall survival compared to those who received chemoradiation alone––those receiving lobectomy plus chemoradation had survival rates that were higher than previously reported as well.

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2010) – Of the more than 38,000 Americans diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) each year, approximately 20 percent have non-clear cell forms of the disease. New findings shows that a non-clear cell form of kidney cancer known as papillary RCC, which accounts for 12 percent of all RCC, responds differently to sunitinib – a standard frontline treatment for RCC.  In a small but decisive Phase II trial, the researchers found that sunitinib was not effective in patients with this form of the disease. The terms clear- and non-clear cell refer to the general appearance of the cancer cells under a microscope.

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2010) – Investigators at Fox Chase Cancer Center report that women who have had a bilateral oophorectomy tend to have smaller tumors and to have their tumors detected by mammography rather than by physical exam. The use of hormone therapy after surgery, however, wipes out any difference in tumor size or detection method.

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2010) – New research from Fox Chase Cancer Center finds that patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma whose tumors respond most to preoperative chemotherapy and radiation survive four times as long, on average, as those whose tumors respond least.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (June 1, 2010) –  As more Americans continue to be scanned as part of their evaluation for various ailments and symptoms, the number of kidney tumors found serendipitously has increased such that now up to 70 percent of kidney cancers are discovered incidentally.