Breaking Research News from sources other than Breastcancer.org
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it is like every time I want to read an article they want me to sign up but I’m not going to do that it’s really getting annoying. I’m not going tohave 10 million passwords floating around.
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Springdaisy, I was able to read the article without a password by selecting the option for a physician.
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Springdaisy, usually abstract is enough to know if you want to read deeper. I'd say I am usually directly interested in 5 % of articles, and try to get those by choosing physician:) or looking around for other free-access. Saulius
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New technology makes [mouse mammary] tumor eliminate itself
Scientists at the University of Zurich have modified a common respiratory virus, called adenovirus, to act like a Trojan horse to deliver genes for cancer therapeutics directly into tumor cells. Unlike chemotherapy or radiotherapy, this approach does no harm to normal healthy cells. Once inside tumor cells, the delivered genes serve as a blueprint for therapeutic antibodies, cytokines and other signaling substances, which are produced by the cancer cells themselves and act to eliminate tumors from the inside out...
With [this] system [called SHREAD: for SHielded, REtargetted ADenovirus] the scientists made the tumor itself produce a clinically approved breast cancer antibody, called trastuzumab, in the mammary of a mouse. They found that, after a few days, SHREAD produced more of the antibody in the tumor than when the drug was injected directly. Moreover, the concentration in the bloodstream and in other tissues where side effects could occur were significantly lower with SHREAD. The scientists used a very sophisticated, high-resolution 3D imaging method and tissues rendered totally transparent to show how the therapeutic antibody, produced in the body, creates pores in blood vessels of the tumor and destroys tumor cells, and thus treats it from the inside.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/uo...
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debbew, I came here to post the same news. It sounds so promising. They are trying to apply their process to covid 19, I wonder if it will help streamline clinical trials for actual patient use.
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This sounds interesting, if still a ways off:
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From April 21: Patients undergoing hormone therapy for breast and prostate cancers may be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) as they age and should be closely monitored for potential cardiovascular events, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA).
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Lymph Node Findings on PET: Cancer or COVID Vaccine?
— Post-jab radiotracer uptake "could prompt unnecessary biopsies and treatments"
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On COVID vaccine and cancer:
Cancer Patients Develop 'Adequate' Immune Response to COVID Vax
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Joyner, thanks for posting that link. These two paragraphs really stood out to me, which were not quite as optimistic as the headline, but I'm still glad people are beginning to study this. (I added the bold, for emphasis.)
"A total of 92 of the 102 cancer patients in the study were found to be seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 antispike IgG antibodies after the second dose of vaccine, compared with 100% of the controls, the researchers reported, adding, however, that the median IgB titer in cancer patients was significantly lower than in controls (1,931 vs 7,160 AU/mL).
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"As the correlation between antibody levels after vaccination and clinical protection has not yet been established, further research is required to determine the magnitude and duration of protection the vaccine provides to patients with cancer," the authors concluded. "Nonetheless, our findings do suggest that vaccinating such patients during anticancer treatment of any kind should be a top priority."
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Immunotherapy & chemotherapy together might NOT give very good covid 19 vaccination response - or it might be having breast or lung cancer that drove the difference
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/full...
"the only treatment regimen associated with significantly lower IgG levels on multivariable analysis was chemotherapy with immunotherapy; however, only 14 patients received this combination therapy, and no association was seen with either chemotherapy or immunotherapy alone. Given that chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy is only used in select cancer types (eg, lung cancer, triple-negative breast cancer), it is possible that other cancer-specific factors drove the observation in this small subset."
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Some good insights from ASCO 2021 how science is slowly wining and how bad MBC actually is:
1095 Survival among patients with untreated metastatic breast cancer. JK Plichta, SM Thomas, S Sammons, et al
Take-Home Message
- This study evaluated the survival outcomes of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients who opted to receive no treatment for their disease. The medial unadjusted overall survival (OS) in the untreated group was 2.5 months versus 36.4 months in the treated group (P < .001). Higher tumor grade, higher comorbidity score, increased age, and triple negative (vs HR+/HER2−) tumor subtype (all P < .05) were all associated with decreased OS in the untreated cohort; however, the number of metastatic sites was shown not to be associated with OS.
- Patients with MBC who choose to forgo treatment are more likely to have comorbid conditions, be of advanced age, and have clinically aggressive disease. The prognosis for untreated MBC is extremely poor.
Saulius0 -
Dear PAKNC, every C is very personal. Science is looking for patterns and medians - it is so darn difficult (maybe even impossible!) to analyze single cases and find correlations. There's something special in her disease, for sure, but also stage 4 is not equal to another stage 4. One small metastasis in one organ is stage 4 too but can hardly be compared to an extensive multi-organ involvement. I am sure her good performance status helped to go through treatments - at stage 4, if we dream of a cure, we have to throw everything at it. Time window is also important. Good metabolism usually negatively correlates with disease progression. Then genetics too. Too many factors. But again, I'd like to meet such a person in person:)
Also some interesting insights from ASCO 2021. Many publications are breath-taking. Like "Mastering the Use of Novel Anti-HER2 Treatment Options" by P. Tarantino that states
"Finally, it is now established that a subset of patients with HER2-positive mBC can achieve long-lasting responses to HER2 blockade. Indeed, the CLEOPATRA trial showed that 16% of patients receiving frontline dual blockade are free from progression after 8 years of treatment.10 This observation raises the
following compelling scientific questions: (1) Are these patients cured? (2) Can we identify this population up front? (3) For how long should these patients receive maintenance anti-HER2? (4) Can we increase this percentage by adopting more intensive treatment strategies?"Scientist are extremely careful about asking a question "Are these patients cured", so if they ask it, they believe there are some cures. Cures in MBC! With first line treatment! And yet there are 4-5 new treatment lines (very effective ones!) after the first one for this population, so... WE ARE GETTING THERE!
Saulius
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Oh, yes, Saulius, possibly curing deNovo HER2+ MBC was discussed at esmo 2021 also. I grabbed four slides that were shared on Twitter, I’ll try to post here. Also, I saw an older YouTube video, which I can’t find anymore, where the researcher talked about the need to study the question and how it could be similar to leukemia patients on Gleevec who were doing very well but no one knew how or when or if the medication could be discontinued until they finallyset up some trials.
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of course at the end he asks “are we crazy” 😂 if daring to think outside the box is crazy maybe so. Wish I could
have seen the whole presentation
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fascinating. Thanks and for posting
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PAKNC, I'd be wondering where her mets are. I know another mTNBC long hauler online and her single solitary met was to a distant lymph node. I know there's discussion about reclassifying those as 3C as those tend to be the outliers in mTN & likely should be treaed with curative intent.
my only takeaway from ASCO at this point is that it is increasingly clear that breast cancer is not one disease & so we can't really talk about a cure for breast cancer any more than it makes sense to talk about a 'cure for cancer' (as in generic cancer). We have some hope for groups in small subsets with very speciic presentations but I don't think that even takes us closer to cures for others - each one has to be painstakingly broken down and the pathways sorted. Given how much variability and how many genes are involved, I don't think it's a simple plan at all.0 -
Dr. Winer is one of the best MO. He is my friend's MO and he was not taking new patients when I tried.
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Yes, Lily, I searched him on YouTube and saw him speak in a few videos, he seems very caring as well as smart
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Dear Olma, yes, I have seen that presentation and have these slides:)P BTW, I have also posted the trial Dana Farber is designing for a HER2+ mbc CURE - but no one reacted:) That comes from SABCS'20. Reposting:) People... there are cures in stage IV already, just they are not proved - time is needed. Drugs are super effective already, now they have to be used wisely and first "official" cures will come... Saulius
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I have an odd question: Early on (2017-2018), when I was on Ibrance/Faslodex, I recall that the folks on the Ibrance string were mentioning/quoting a revered oncologist whose name was "Saulius" or at least something close thereto. Is that you, Saulius, or am I just totally misremembering? I lost sight of that onc visionary and would love to be reminded of whom he(?) was, anyway. Thanks!!
All of this makes me wish I were HER2+ (I guess)!
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very interesting! Thanks, Saulius. Looks like they would hit the cancer with three systemic therapies, then local, then another systemic. Would they recruit only oligo patients or include those with more widespread mets?
Moth, unfortunately, made a good point. HER2+ is only 20 - 25% of all breast cancer and then metastatic fewer than that and de novo an even smaller subset.
Although anti HER2 therapy has proved useful for a few other cancer types, such as gastric, and now the HER2 low breast cancer studies...I think the original hope was that it would be more widely useful when the HER2 growth factor was first discovered.
But “ precision medicine “. does seem to be the answer, even though we hear frequently about research that could lead to THE cure for all cancer, nothing ever happens. Like that story from Israel a year or two ago and alsoimmunotherapy . Just saw this one the other day, hope it progresses beyond mouse studies - https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-immunotherapy-revolutionize-cancer-treatment.html
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And on the topic of further personalizing breast cancer treatment, here is a discussion of exactly that. Creating smaller sub-categories based on mutations other than just hormone receptors or lack thereof -
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Thanks for this Olma...an interesting read.
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Olma - thank you for the link. Genetics seems to be the key if we can just learn the markers and targeted therapy. Several years ago when I was sharing my experience with DIY cold capping and how it worked ( how to rotate the caps in the cooler etc) she remarked that she that I was lucky being strongly ER+ and that there were drugs, but she was triple negative with no drugs to treat it. I did not say anything, but I did not feel lucky since estrogen is natural and neccesary even in small amounts after menopause. I wish for ways to attack the cancer without attacking me. This is the 3rd recurrence. Tamoxifen, AIs are all systemic. Do they really work? Would I be much worse off without them?
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Bluegirlredstate
I love the way you said “I wish for ways to attack the cancer without attacking me.“
the truth about anti-estrogens is how much they wreck our bodies- osteopenia, joint degeneration, muscle aches, heart health, dryness-skin, eyes, vaginal etc. we suffer through because they often work.
I am a little miffed when someone said, “at least it’s not chemo.” Yes-I do get to keep my hair and avoid some of the very harsh SE but hormone therapy takes a toll too. It’s not fun to have a golf ball size tumor in my liver, but I am thankful that my trial drug is working to keep the tumors from growing for now.
Dee
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Youre welcome ladies, glad you found the articles useful. Quick comment about hormone therapies- I started feeling worse when I began the anastrozole than I did for my six months on Taxol, Herceptin and Perjeta. And, I quickly put on weight in my midsection.
I joke that the steroids in the Taxol infusion had me sohyped up so I “thought" I felt good...but seriously I was a fortunate one who didn't suffer that much on Taxol.
Yes, hated the baldness and I did have fatigue and low Hgb. But..the anastrozole has me fatigued, achy, makes my hands almost useless at times, muscle cramping especially at bed time, etc.
Tamoxifen carries a risk of uterine cancer, etc.
Sure, taking a pill every day is easier than showing up for infusions, but it's still a systemic therapy that effects our entire bodies.
If or when they perfect an immuno therapy that is a one shot deal, doesn't kill us and worksfor most or all of us — well, now, that will really be an achievement
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Not “breaking research” but the history of the Warburg affect on cancer cells. I read about this nearly four years ago when I was first diagnosed with stage 4 and have been on a keto regime ever since. I started a thread about keto on the site a while back with links to other sites and info if anyone is interested.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ketoscience/comments/nto84d/cbs_this_morning_on_twitter_talks_about_otto/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf0 -
Dear JoynerL, I am not an oncologist - just an ordinary guy from Lithuania who's trying to save his wife. But you know... if I could live my life again (I am not that old- maybe there's still time?:), I could be an oncologist-researcher - what an exciting (and horrible) field. Let's hope it will turn from "horrible" into "exciting-only" soon.
Dear Olma, I am sorry I mostly post on HER2+ MBC because this is the field that is most important to my family. One thing I have to note is that HER2+ drugs (ADCs) are quite quickly making it into HER2low, as they get bystander/pan-inibitor properties. I think in a long term Her2low people will benefit from these drugs, and therefore Her2+ field is so exciting. There are stage IV people already in these threads who got NED on anti-her2 drugs, themselves being her2low (but having her2 mutation).
Saulius
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