In addition to several molecular targets that have been well studied for several years, such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), new targets are emerging as potentially fruitful approaches to combating cancer. One of these is the insulin-like growth factor receptor, or IGF-1R. […]
0 CommentsThere’s a new class of anti-cancer drugs that are being studied, including in lung cancer, known as heat shock proteins, or HSPs. These are sometimes referred to as “stress proteins” because they can be induced to be generated in higher concentrations in response to stresses like heat, cold, low oxygen levels, etc. But HSPs are […]
1 CommentsTo many outside of oncology, thalidomide is primarily known for causing severe birth defects in women who received it in the 1960s as a sedative and treatment for morning sickness. These birth defects, in which babies were born with no arms or legs but with hands and feet directly attached […]
0 CommentsMuch of the focus on novel agents has been on strategies like inhibition of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) that can stimulate tumor growth, or anti-angiogenesis, blocking the tumor blood supply. But there are other, novel therapies that are also being tested in lung cancer as well. One of these is […]
0 CommentsFirst, I want to thank members Jim (dadawg001) and Neil (neilb) for bringing up this topic in the Discussion/Q&A Forum yesterday. Amazingly, yesterday morning I happened to be reviewing slides in my collection on a novel agent and approach that I thought would make a good topic for a post here: the […]
7 Comments I’m surprised to find that I’m moving to a topic that may actually be more controversial than a Michael Moore movie, but in fact, I think that’s where I’m headed.
Several months ago, I wrote a post about dichloroacetate, or DCA, which is a chemical used to treat a childhood […]
I’ve got a lot of things on my list of things to cover in the near future…patient sex differences in lung cancer and estrogen, an update I’m trying to generate on DCA (dichloroacetate), the concept of pharmacodynamic separation of chemo and EGFR inhibitors, more on the trials from ASCO that may be […]
9 CommentsWhile there have been studies of the COX-2 inhibitor celebrex in combination with chemo for treating NSCLC, the palpable buzz about celebrex in treating lung cancer has been from a trial by my friend Karen Reckamp, formerly at UCLA, now recently moved to City of Hope Cancer Center in nearby Duarte, CA. […]
2 CommentsOne emerging class of targeted therapy for cancer that is just entering clinical trials is a group of agents called aurora kinases. A kinase is a protein that modifies the structure and function of other proteins by adding a phosphate group to it, which is like flipping an on/off switch. Aurora […]
2 CommentsI received a question on the discussion forum, in the setting of a lot of internet discussion, about an an agent called dichloroacetate, or DCA, as a potential anticancer therapy. This excitement is based on a study out of the University of Alberta in Canada, that appeared in the journal Cancer […]
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