This work is still early, but it’s been interesting to see a lab-based correlate emerge along with with the observation of women, and particularly older women, doing better in lung cancer studies (several prior posts here). Last year, the folks at Cell Therapeutics, Inc., analyzed results from their trials with Xyotax (post here), which […]
0 CommentsOver the past few years, sex-based differences in lung cancer have become increasingly recognized as relevant in prognosis overall and potentially in predicting response to treatment, such as EGFR inhibitors and other targeted therapies. At ASCO 2007, a group led by Dr. Kathy Albain, long committed to learning more about sex differences in lung […]
5 CommentsThe study I was just discussing, the French trial of Iressa at 250 mg daily for advanced BAC (abstract here), provided interesting clinical information, especially when viewed in the context of previous work on EGFR inhibitors in BAC. But in 2007 we’re also interested in the next generation of questions, including trying to identify which patients are […]
0 CommentsThroughout their development over the past years, the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors Iressa (gefitinib) and Tarceva (erlotinib) have been identified as seeming to be particularly helpful in women compared with men. Only Tarceva is commercially available in the US, but Iressa is widely used in other parts of the world, including Asia, where it […]
2 CommentsWhile we are still working on figuring out the mechanisms underlying differences in the lung cancers of women vs. men, the efficacy and survival paint a consistent picture that women with lung cancer live longer than men regardless of the lung cancer subtype, stage, or treatment used (summary here). Large studies have reported that […]
0 CommentsWe have rarely divided cancers along the lines of sex, except for the obvious ones like breast, prostate, testicular, ovarian, etc., but there is growing evidence to begin to consider patient sex in the field of lung cancer. (As a semantic point for the delicate souls out there who will wonder why I use […]
3 CommentsIn light of a growing focus on the issue of lung cancer in never-smokers, it makes sense to try to identify potential causes in this population. Among the leading candidates as a cause of lung cancer in never-smokers is secondhand, or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure. This potential cause was identified more than 25 years […]
2 CommentsMy good friend Heather Wakelee, along with her colleagues at Stanford, just published an important study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on the incidence of lung cancer among never-smokers, essentially the first and most comprehensive work defining the magnitude of the problem. I’ve mentioned that never-smokers with lung cancer are a particular interest of […]
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