text/video: Can Aspirin Reduce Risk for Cancer Metastasis? Cancerwise/MD Anderson

Can Aspirin Reduce Risk for Cancer Metastasis?: Results from a report released today in a leading medical journal indicate that low dose daily aspirin reduces the risk of metastasis of several cancers. According to articles in The Lancet, the protective effect occurs within 3-5 years of beginning aspirin use.

Read more about the study in a post from our Cancer Frontline blog.

Raymond DuBois, M.D., Ph.D, MD Anderson's provost and executive vice president and a professor of cancer biology and cancer medicine, shares his insights on the study's significance and addresses questions about aspirin dose, and how cancer patients should respond to this news.

press release: Adelson Medical Research Foundation Sponsored Research Uses Unique Model System to Identify Effective Drug Combinations to Treat Ovarian Cancer (PI3K/mTOR-pathway inhibitors)

"NEEDHAM, MA--(Marketwire - Feb 13, 2012) - The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation (AMRF), a private foundation funding collaborative translational science programs, announced today a significant publication in the February 14, 2012 issue of the journal Cancer Cell. The paper by AMRF-funded investigators Joan Brugge and lead author Taru Muranen of Harvard Medical School, in collaboration with Gordon Mills of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, uses a unique three-dimensional cellular model of ovarian cancer to explore mechanisms of resistance to targeted cancer therapies in a more physiological context and more predictably identify effective combinations of drugs to treat ovarian cancer...."

""There are high hopes for the new generation of PI3K/mTOR-pathway inhibitors, but potential resistance to these drugs in epithelial cancers is a concern. Dr. Brugge and her colleagues have developed a powerful three-dimensional model of ovarian tumors that more accurately captures cancer mechanisms such as vascular intravasation and matrix-associated resistance," noted Dr. Kenneth H. Fasman, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of AMRF. "Their model reveals that resistance is found only in subpopulations of tumor cells associated with the extracellular matrix, potentially explaining why these drugs are not uniformly effective on all cells in the tumor. This new publication demonstrates an approach to efficiently testing such targeted therapeutics in combination with others in the hope of overcoming this resistance.""

Improving Wait Time for Chemotherapy in an Outpatient Clinic at a Comprehensive Cancer Center (MDA)

"Purpose:
We conducted our study at the Ambulatory Treatment Center (ATC) of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, a network of six outpatient treatment units for patients receiving infusion therapies. Excessive patient wait time for chemotherapy was a primary source of ATC patient dissatisfaction. ATC employees expressed frustration, because often, patients arrived physically on time but were not treatment ready. Additionally, ATC staff emphasized challenges associated with obtaining finalized treatment orders for prescheduled appointments (ie, placeholder appointments without associated physician treatment orders). We aimed to decrease mean patient wait time from check-in to treatment in one ATC unit by 25%."

Survey: GCF/University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (follow-up for those without a recurrence)

 

The Gynecologic Cancer Foundation is cooperating with researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to learn your opinion about follow-up care after your initial treatment if you have not had a recurrence of your cancer.

This online survey has been approved by the MD Anderson Institutional Review Board and will take about 15 minutes of your time.

The Gynecologic Cancer Foundation does not share its mailing list and your contact information, including your e-mail address, will not be placed into any other database as a result of your participation in this survey.

Because cancer treatments continue to improve, the number of women surviving is increasing.  Researchers at MD Anderson are interested in learning about how patients with gynecologic cancers want to be followed after completing their treatments and your participation in this survey will assist them.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Dr. Matthew Schlumbrecht at MD Anderson at 713-563-4583 or mpschlumbrecht@mdanderson.org.

Instructions and consent information are included in the survey information.  To participate, please click here.

Research uncovers possible new targets for attacking ovarian cancer - Cancerwise | Cancer blog from MD Anderson Cancer Center

Note: in research

Two studies led by scientists at MD Anderson open new areas of research that could potentially improve ovarian cancer treatment.

The discoveries published today in the journal Cancer Cell are preclinical - they employ laboratory experiments to better understand the molecular processes that drive formation and growth of cancer. Both studies found previously unknown roles for two proteins, singling them out for further research and possible drug development. ...cont'd

podcast: CA-125 Change Over Time Shows Promise as Screening Tool for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer

CA-125 Change Over Time Shows Promise as Screening Tool for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer

Blood test currently approved to find recurrence full of new possibility; invasive, high-grade disease uncovered at curable stage
MD Anderson News Release 05/20/10

PODCAST: Listen as Dr. Lu and
Dr. Bast speak about a new screening
tool to detect ovarian cancer.

M.D. Anderson, Texas A&M and UT to forge cancer research partnership - Houston Business Journal

Phase I clinical trials in 85 patients with gynecologic cancer: The M. D. Anderson Cancer Center experience

Note: the abstract does not detail outcomes/disease specific sites