Published: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 11:30 in Health & Medicine

Compared to conventional chemotherapy, autologous stem cell transplantation can extend “event-free survival” for breast cancer patients. Clinical trials provide proof of this for breast cancer with and without distant metastases.

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: December 15, 2009

SAN ANTONIO — A novel form of trastuzumab (Herceptin) with a chemotherapy-like conjugate attached appears to substantially improve outcomes in heavily-pretreated metastatic breast cancer, researchers said.

Researchers find out why estrogen-positive tumors stop responding to commonly used drugs, pointing a way to new therapies
Washington, DC – Researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center have found a way to cleverly override signals that tell breast cancer cells to keep surviving in the face of anticancer treatment. The investigational agent they used renews the sensitivity of these breast cancer cells to treatment by fulvestrant (Faslodex®) which had stopped working.

They add that this method will likely work equally well with tamoxifen, the world’s most commonly used breast cancer drug. Both fulvestrant and tamoxifen are used in women with estrogen-receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Tumours cannot only spread through the body by sending out tiny cells called seeds, but they can re-seed themselves, researchers said in a report that may help explain why tumours grow back even after they are removed.

They said their findings, published in the journal Cell, may also help lead to the development of new drugs to stop the process of cancer spread, or metastasis.