Fox Chase Cancer Center News

PHILADELPHIA (June 14, 2011) – Fox Chase Cancer Center, one of the nation’s leading cancer research and treatment institutions, today announced it has entered into an agreement with Life Technologies Corporation that will underpin a new program to provide next-generation sequencing analysis of solid tumors. The agreement is a foundational element in the planned Cancer Genome Institute at Fox Chase, a facility that will foster new discoveries and treatments and establish the institution as a leader in developing personalized medicine strategies for cancer care.

CHICAGO, IL (June 6, 2011) –– When women with a history of breast cancer learn they have breast cancer again, one of the first questions they and their doctors ask is: Has my cancer come back, or is this a new case? Now, new data from Fox Chase Cancer Center suggest that both new and recurring cancers will differ significantly from the original tumors, regardless of how many months or years women spent cancer-free, and doctors should tailor treatment to the specific qualities of the second tumor, regardless of whether it's old or new.

CHICAGO, IL (June 5, 2011) — Each year, kidney cancer is diagnosed in nearly 60,000 people in the U.S. Many of these patients undergo surgery to remove the affected kidney, but this procedure can be risky for the elderly and those who have other health problems. Unfortunately, the prognosis of kidney cancer patients often cannot be determined until tumor samples are surgically removed and evaluated.

CHICAGO, IL (June 4, 2011) — The standard treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a combination of two old-fashioned cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs. The combination, however, comes with substantial toxicity. Now, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers report that a combination of two molecularly-targeted agents may provide similar therapeutic benefit with less toxicity.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (May 16, 2011) — Today’s anticancer drugs often work wonders against malignancies, but sometimes tumors become resistant to the effects of such drugs, and treatment fails. Medical researchers would like to find ways of counteracting such resistance, but first they must understand why and how it happens.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

PALM BEACH, FL (May 1, 2011) – Some studies have shown that blood-thinning medications, such as aspirin, can reduce biochemical failure––cancer recurrence that is detected by a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level––the risk of metastasis and even death in localized prostate cancer. These studies, although very telling, have all emphasized the need for more data. Now, with researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center having concluded the largest study on this topic, and there is substantial data suggesting that aspirin improves outcomes in prostate cancer patients wh