Friday, October 31, 2008

Humor from "The Onion": Loved Ones Recall Local Man's Cowardly Battle With Cancer

I think this one is a hilarious!  I may copy it for my obituary (which I won't need for another 40 or 50 years, of course.)

October Update

Hi, All;

    I went down to St. Louis for my 6-weekly visit on Wednesday.  There were no scans this time, 

so I'll have to wait until my next visit in December to see if there is any shrinkage or growth 

in the tumors.

     I did get some good news.  I've been going down to St. Louis every six weeks, but after my 

next appointment I'll only have to go down every 12 weeks.  I'll still have a 4 weeks on/ 2 weeks 

off schedule for the Sutent, but they'll give me a 2-cycle supply so I won't have to go down there 

so often.  They're still working on getting my oncologist in Lincoln or someone at the Med Center 

in Omaha approved for the study.  That would be great, but this is sure a big help! 

     The side effects weren't nearly as bad this cycle as the one before, forwhich I'm grateful.  There  

are still some new drugs in the approval pipeline that might help with those, but nothing is out yet.

     Sara and the boys came with me this time and we had a mini-vacation.  We went to the Science Center 

and did some shopping and had some fun in the pool.  We visited my sister Marci in Columbia, MO, and 

got to see her new house.  We also got have dinner with Sara's aunt Rosemary and her cousin Pam.  

They took us to a place called "Sage" across the street from the main Anheuser-Busch brewing plant. The 

food and service were excellent.  

And that's about it.  There will be more to report after my next visit to St. Louis on December 10.

Thanks for your continuing prayers and support.  Hope you all have a great Halloween!

John

My Family

Pyzam Family Sticker Toy
Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

MY TURN: I Had A ‘Legitimate Cancer’ from Newsweek.com

Sometimes—if you listen to your mother and the people you grew up with—you can go home again.

ITALIANS IN CANCER BREAKTHROUGH

ITALIANS IN CANCER BREAKTHROUGH
Short chromosome tips spell risk for thyroid
(ANSA) - Siena, October 20 - A group of researchers in Siena have made a breakthrough in cancer research.

The researchers led by Professor Furio Pacini examined the ends of chromosomes of patients with a type of genetically related thyroid cancer.

They found an abnormal shortening of the telomeres, the tips which protect a cell's chromosomes from fusing with each other and are involved in cell ageing.

''We showed that this alteration of the telomeres' DNA is only present in the family-related form of thyroid cancer,'' Pacini told the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

''In this way we were able to identify those relatives of a patient with short telomeres who are most at risk of developing the same tumour,'' he said.

Professor Pacini recently received two prestigious international prizes for his research.

In September he was given the European Thyroid Association's annual ETA-Merck prize and earlier this month received the Paul Starr Award from the American Thyroid Association.

photo: model of DNA's double helix

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Another Advanced Thyroid Cancer Drug

Axitinib Effective in All Subtypes of Advanced Thyroid Cancer

Researchers involved in a multi-center trial have reported that axitinib (AG-013736) has activity for the treatment of advanced thyroid cancer of all histological types. The details of this study were published in the October 10, 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and presented in part at the 2007 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June of 2007.1 

Thyroid cancer is treated by surgery and 131 Iodine. Patients who fail these therapies respond poorly to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Thus, new treatments are needed for patients who fail conventional therapy. Axitinib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor that also inhibits vascular epithelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR) 1, 2, and 3. This agent has shown activity in several cancers, including breast, lung and possibly pancreatic cancer.

In the current study, 60 patients with advanced thyroid cancer were treated with axitinib. These patients were deemed refractory to or unsuitable for treatment with 131Iodine. Approximately half of the patients had papillary histology; 88% had prior surgery, 70% had received prior 131Iodine, 45% had received prior radiotherapy and 15% prior chemotherapy. A partial response was observed in 30% of patients, with an additional 38% having stable disease for 16 weeks or more. Median progression-free survival was 18 months. Axitinib was discontinued in 13% due to side effects or adverse events. The main side effects included stomatitis/mucositis, diarrhea, hypertension and nausea.

The authors also reported that soluble VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 plasma levels decreased with increased VEGF in the blood. They conclude that axitinib has “has compelling anti-tumor activity in all subtypes of advanced thyroid cancer.”

Comments: These findings are very important, as there are very few effective treatments available for refractory advanced thyroid cancer.

Related News:

Axitinib May Be Effective in Advanced Thyroid Cancer (6/21/2007)

Axitinib Provides Activity in Kidney Cancer (10/29/2007)

Axitinib plus Taxotere® Maybe Superior to Taxotere alone for Metastatic Breast Cancer (06/19/2007)

Axitinib, an Oral Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor, has Activity in NSCLC (06/15/2007)

Reference:


1 Cohen EEW, Cohen LS, Vokes EE, et al. Axitinib is an active treatment for all histological subtypes of advanced thyroid cancer: Results of a phase II study. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2008;26:4708-4713.



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These materials may discuss uses and dosages for therapeutic products that have not been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. All readers should verify all information and data before administering any drug, therapy or treatment discussed herein. Neither the editors nor the publisher accepts any responsibility for the accuracy of the information or consequences from the use or misuse of the information contained herein.