Category Archives: Biology

Cancer Immunotherapy – Combining Anti-CCR4 & Anti-PD-1; and CEACAM1 (TIM-3)

A collaboration between Bristol-Myers Squibb and Kyowa Hakko Kirin to test a combination of Kyowa’s Poteligeo (mogamulizumab), an anti-CCR4 antibody, and BMS’ Opdivo (nivolumab) in a Phase I/II trial in advanced or metastatic solid tumors was announced. Also, Merck announced the acquisition of cCAM Biotherapeutics for $605MM for its CM-24 monoclonal antibody that target CEACAM1. Continue reading

Two New Drugs Effective in Kidney Cancer – Opdivo and Cometriq

Opdivo (nivolumab – BMS) and Cometriq (cabozantinib -Exelixis) demonstrated positive results in studies of patients with kidney cancer. Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, accounting for more than 100,000 deaths annually. Globally, the five-year survival rate for those diagnosed with metastatic, or advanced kidney cancer, is 12.1 percent. Continue reading

Circulating Exosomes for Early Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer

The best way to cure cancer is to catch it early when surgical removal of a localized mass can successfully rid the patient of all cancer cells and cancer stem cells. This is no more important than in pancreatic cancer for which late stage therapies have not been shown to be very effective. (Thank you, Elaine, for sending me this article to discuss on the blog.) Continue reading

Lycera’s ROR-gamma agonists for cancer immunotherapy

Celgene and Lycera entered into a $105MM collaboration on its RORϒ agonists for the treatment of cancer, as well as LYC-30937, an oral gut-directed ATPase modulator now in early-stage clinical studies. LYC-30937 is designed to treat IBD without global immune suppression. Continue reading

What do pineapples, glucose, and cancer have in common – mitochondria

I was sent articles by two non-cancer researchers last week – they are quite fitting for discuss on this blog (thank you, Gina and Sherilyn). The first was on DCA (dichloroacetate), a drug approved for congenital lactic acidosis, and the second about bromelain, an enzyme in pineapples. Continue reading

Ibrance plus Faslodex Improves Outcomes in HR+ Breast Cancer

In a Phase 3 Paloma-III study of Pfizer’s CDK4/6 inhibitor (Ibrance – palbociclib) and an estrogen receptor antagonist (Faslodex – fulvestrant), patients receiving the combination had significantly prolonged progression-free survival than women with breast cancer who received Faslodex, alone. Continue reading

Prostate Cancer Genetic Map Unveiled

Researchers have identified a handful of mutations in patients with advanced prostate cancer for which therapeutics are already available, or in development. The genomes of 150 patients with metastatic (Stage 4) hormone-resistant disease were analyzed in order to develop a precision medicine framework for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Continue reading

Cancer-Associated Macrophage-Like Cells (CAML) – Liquid Biopsy for Cancer Diagnosis, Prognosis, Staging, and Monitoring

Cancers are tumors that cross the basement membrane and develop invasiveness, the ability to intravasate into blood vessels, and then to colonize and grow at distant sites. Complex heterotypic cellular interactions inside the tumor are responsible for this.

Dialog

Continue reading

Inhibitory RNA miR-182 Can Turn-Off Glioblastoma

Researchers examined large-scale genomic datasets and found that patients with higher levels of miR-182 had a better chance of surviving glioblastoma (GBM) longer. This prompted them to perform pre-clinical studies to elucidate the mechanism by which miR-182 acts. Continue reading