Why this cancer website is a ‘game changer’

Decreasing anxiety, expense and suboptimal care of cancer patients is the goal of a new website tracking the inconsistent availability of cancer drugs by province across the country. Launched by the Cancer Advocacy Coalition of Canada, the free site cancerdrugaccess.ca reveals the access to and funding for drugs for current cancer treatment, as well as their usage by type of cancer and when they were approved by Health Canada. Read more here.

Study finds link between fish oil and higher prostate cancer risk

A new study is raising questions about omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in oily fish and fish supplements, suggesting that men with high levels of the oils in their bloods might also have a higher risk of prostate cancer. Omega-3 fatty acids have long been hailed for their apparent ability to lower blood pressure and cholesterol and perhaps protect against heart disease. They’ve also thought to have anti-inflammatory properties that might help prevent a number of forms of cancer. But a new study has found that men with prostate cancer were more likely to have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood than similar men without prostate cancer. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Brasky TM, et al. Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acids and Prostate Cancer Risk in the SELECT Trial. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2013 Jul 10. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23843441

ASCO: Breast cancer chemoprevention talk encouraged

Kala Visvanathan, M.D., M.H.S., from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues on ASCO's Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Guideline Update Committee, conducted a literature review to identify randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses published from June 2007 through June 2012 with breast cancer incidence as the primary outcome of interest. The resulting updated American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) clinical practice guideline appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Visvanathan K, et al. Use of Pharmacologic Interventions for Breast Cancer Risk Reduction: American Society of Clinical Oncology Clinical Practice Guideline. J Clin Oncol. 2013 Jul 8. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23835710

Soy protein supplementation does not reduce risk of prostate cancer recurrence

Among men who had undergone radical prostatectomy, daily consumption of a beverage powder supplement containing soy protein isolate for 2 years did not reduce or delay development of biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer compared to men who received placebo, according to a study in JAMA. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Bosland MC, et al. Effect of soy protein isolate supplementation on biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2013 Jul 10;310(2):170-8. PMID: 23839751

FDA approves new treatment for a type of late-stage lung cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Gilotrif (afatinib) for patients with late stage (metastatic) non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors express specific types of epidermal growth factor receptor gene mutations, as detected by an FDA-approved test. Gilotrif is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that blocks proteins that promote the development of cancerous cells. Read more here.

Experimental melanoma vaccine promising

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are experimenting with a new vaccine for treating advanced melanoma patients.  This vaccine, considered cutting-edge and quite possibly the future of cancer treatment, "uses a patient's own cells to enhance an immune response to the attacking cancer cells and slow their growth."

To read more about this study, click here 

Why young adults with cancer have distinct needs

There’s a growing realization that traditional methods of dealing with cancer are not working for the 15-29 age group, who account for 30 per cent of all new cancer cases and 17 per cent of cancer-related deaths in Canada. A conference hosted by Young Adult Cancer Canada this week in Nova Scotia provides the opportunity for young adults to discuss these issues. Read more here.

Connect to the Young Adult Cancer Canada website here.

Annual report card on cancer in Canada

The recently released Cancer Advocacy Coalition of Canada (CACC) 2012-2013 Report Card on Cancer in Canada™ reveals that government funding and support is desperately needed consistently across the country to improve the current landscape for cancer care, treatment and prevention in Canada. The Report Card highlights the crucial need for regulatory approval and funding of precision medicine through targeted therapy and biomarker testing, which would lead to more efficient use of expensive cancer drugs. Read more here.

Download the document here.

Particulate air pollution contributes to lung cancer risk in huge European study

A study including 17 cohorts with a total of more than 300,000 individuals found that ambient air pollution of various types contributes to lung cancer incidence across nine European countries. The new study, known as ESCAPE, analyzed data from a number of cohorts across Europe featuring patients with a wide range of exposure levels to pollution. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Raaschou-Nielsen O, et al. Air pollution and lung cancer incidence in 17 European cohorts: prospective analyses from the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE). The Lancet Oncology, Early Online Publication, 10 July 2013.

AHRQ Releases New Guide to Help Hospitals Engage Patients and Families in Their Health Care

A new resource available online today from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) gives hospitals four evidence-based strategies to engage patients and families in their care. The field-tested strategies outlined in AHRQ's new Guide to Patient and Family Engagement in Hospital Safety and Quality can help hospitals make care better and safer by bridging the communication gaps among patients and families and their health care providers. Read more here.

The European Medicines Agency extends indications for lapatinib

The European Medicines Agency Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion recommending a variation to the terms of the marketing authorisation for the medicinal product lapatinib (Tyverb). Lapatinib is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with breast cancer whose tumours overexpress HER2 (ErbB2) in combination with capecitabine or an aromatase inhibitor. The CHMP has now recommended it for the treatment in combination with trastuzumab. Read more here.

New trial alert: High dose-rate brachytherapy in low and intermediate risk prostate cancer

The Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is presently recruiting patients for a clinical trial aimed at determining the effects of a single high dose rate brachytherapy (HDR) treatment together with a short course of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for men with low and intermediate risk prostate cancer.  The primary outcome of this study is to investigate patient reported toxicity and health-related quality of life after a one-year period. 

To read more about this randomized phase II trial, click here

Canadian Community Health Survey, 2012

This release presents data from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey, featuring information on more than 30 health indicators, including perceived health, smoking, second-hand smoke at home, access to a regular medical doctor (family doctor or specialist), physical activity during leisure time, obesity, high blood pressure, drinking, fruit and vegetable consumption, diabetes, asthma, arthritis and perceived life stress. The CCHS is an on-going survey that collects a wide range of information about the health status of Canadians, factors determining their health status and their use of health care services. Read more here.

Hitting the road to improve cancer screening rates

Cancer Care Ontario is driving access to cancer screening – literally – with the introduction of two new Screen for Life coaches for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening. The new Screen for Life coaches are capable of travelling to different communities in northern Ontario and the Hamilton-area, bringing much needed services closer to home for women who face barriers to screening. Read more here.

MASCC/ISOO symposium webcasts available online

Webcasts from the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer International Symposium on Supportive Care in Cancer held in Berlin, Germany, June 27-29, 2013 are now available online. View the webcasts here.

Measuring patient experiences in primary health care: a review and classification of items and scales used in publicly-available questionnaires

Monitoring information about patients’ experiences is essential to stimulate innovation, track changes in quality, and help Canadians become more informed about their health care system. Measuring the quality of the primary health care system from patients’ perspectives has been identified as a crucial step towards defining areas of improvement and monitoring the impact of change. The purpose of this review was to identify items and scales to inform the composition of a core Patient Experience Survey for use across Canada. Read more and download the full report here.

Higher risk for development of brain metastases in long-survivors from colorectal cancer with concomitant lung metastases and KRAS mutations

An Italian study met its primary endpoint of reporting an high incidence of brain metastases in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and concomitant KRAS mutations, lung metastases and a survival time from the first occurrence of metastases ≥ 10 months. The study was presented by Dr Federica Zoratto of the Oncology Department, Santa Maria Goretti Hospital, University of Rome, Latina, Italy at the ESMO 15th World Congress in Gastrointestinal Cancer (3-6 July 2013, Barcelona, Spain). Read more here.

Influence of prognostic factors on survival in phase III, MPACT study of weekly nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine in metastatic pancreatic cancer

Dr Josep Tabernero of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain presented on the first day of the ESMO 15th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer (3-6 July 2013, Barcelona, Spain) the results from a sub-study on influence of prognostic factors on overall- and progression-free survival from the MPACT phase III trial of weekly nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. The most important predictors of longer overall survival and progression-free survival were higher Karnofsky performance status, age < 65 years, absence of liver metastases, and geographic region. Read more here.

Study helps answer question: How do you stop children from smoking?

A recent systematic review published in The Cochrane Library found that smoking prevention programs do work. Overall, smoking rates dropped by 12 per cent compared to the control group. “Helping young people avoid smoking is a widely endorsed public health goal,” says Dr. Roger Thomas, a University of Calgary professor and family doctor who was the lead author on the paper. “It makes sense to target kids with smoking prevention in schools, that’s the simplest way.”

Study mentioned: Thomas RE, McLellan J, Perera R. School-based programmes for preventing smoking. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Apr 30;4:CD001293. PMID: 23633306

'Low-risk' prostate cancer diagnosis may not work for black men

Black men diagnosed with very-low-risk prostate cancer are much more likely than white men with the same diagnosis to actually have aggressive cancer that is not detected by current diagnostic methods, a new study reveals. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Sundi D, et al. African American Men With Very Low-Risk Prostate Cancer Exhibit Adverse Oncologic Outcomes After Radical Prostatectomy: Should Active Surveillance Still Be an Option for Them? J Clin Oncol. 2013 Jun 17. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23775960

European Medicines Agency recommends granting marketing authorisation for sipuleucel-T

The European Medicines Agency Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorisation for the medicinal product sipuleucel-T (Provenge) to Dendreon UK Ltd. The indication recommended by the CHMP is as follows: “Provenge is indicated for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic (non-visceral) castrate resistant prostate cancer in male adults in whom chemotherapy is not yet clinically indicated.” Read more here.

Pancreatic cancer: tackling the tumour by targeting its surroundings

The EU funded researchers hope that with the project entitled “Targeting the tumour microenvironment to improve pancreatic cancer prognosis” they will get a much clearer picture of the mechanics involved in the complex network between the microenvironment's components and cancer cells, their resistance to chemotherapy, and how the pancreatic cancer spreads. Once the team has identified the stromal cells that mediate the spread of cancer and chemoresistance, they will be able to pinpoint novel drug targets. Read more here.

European Medicines Agency recommends granting a marketing authorisation for dabrafenib

The European Medicines Agency Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorisation for the medicinal product dabrafenib (Tafinlar), 50 and 75 mg capsules, hard, intended for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma with a BRAF V600 mutation. Read more here.

European Medicines Agency recommends granting a marketing authorisation for regorafenib

The European Medicines Agency Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorisation for the medicinal product regorafenib (Stivarga) 40 mg film-coated tablet intended for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who have been previously treated with, or are not considered candidates for, available therapies. These include fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF therapy and an anti-EGFR therapy. Read more here.

Biomarker predicts risk of breast cancer recurrence after tamoxifen treatment

A biomarker reflecting expression levels of two genes in tumor tissue may be able to predict which women treated for estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer should receive a second estrogen-blocking medication after completing tamoxifen treatment. In their report, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center investigators describe finding that the HOXB13/IL17BR ratio can indicate which women are at risk for cancer recurrence after tamoxifen and which are most likely to benefit from continuing treatment with the aromatase inhibitor letrozole (Femara). Read more here.

Study mentioned: Sgroi DC, et al. Prediction of Late Disease Recurrence and Extended Adjuvant Letrozole Benefit by the HOXB13/IL17BR Biomarker. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2013 Jun 28. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23812955

Protein in blood exerts natural anti-cancer protection

Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University’s Kimmel Cancer Center have discovered that decorin, a naturally occurring protein that circulates in the blood, acts as a potent inhibitor of tumor growth modulating the tumor microenvironment. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Buraschi S, et al. Decorin causes autophagy in endothelial cells via Peg3. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jun 24. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23798385

New understanding of oral HPV infections in healthy men

Scientists report that newly acquired oral HPV infections in healthy men are uncommon and, when present, tend to go away within one year. HPV infection has recently been established as a cause of the majority of oropharyngeal cancers. Aimée R. Kreimer, Ph.D., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI, and her collaborators at the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, also determined that acquisition of oral HPV appeared more common among smokers and unmarried men. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Kreimer AR, et al. Incidence and clearance of oral human papillomavirus infection in men: the HIM cohort study. Lancet. Early online publication, 2 July 2013.

Caregivers and patients receiving palliative care share their experiences in new The Truth of It videos

Sisters. Husbands. Daughters. Fathers. Familiar roles transform when one cares for a family member or close friend living with cancer. The experiences of patients moving to the palliative stage of their cancer journey are uniquely dynamic and difficult. A new selection of videos from the Partnership’s patient video series, The Truth of It, aims to support people taking on caregiver roles or those receiving end-of-life care, as well as the health-care providers working with them.  Read more here.

Red meat tied to worse colon cancer outcomes: study

People who report eating the most red and processed meat before being diagnosed with colon cancer are more likely to die during the next eight years, according to a new study. Marjorie McCullough from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta and her colleagues used data from a study on 184,000 Americans who didn't have cancer between 1992 and 1993, and who were periodically asked about what they ate. Read more here.

Study mentioned: McCullough ML, et al. Association Between Red and Processed Meat Intake and Mortality Among Colorectal Cancer Survivors. J Clin Oncol. Published online before print July 1, 2013.

Long-term night work linked to higher breast cancer risk

Working night shifts for more than 30 years could double women's risk of developing breast cancer, a new study from Canadian researchers suggests. Researchers with Queen's Cancer Research Institute, the British Columbia Cancer Agency and elsewhere, looked at 1,134 Canadian women who had developed breast cancer and compared them to 1,179 similar women without the disease. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Grundy A, et al. Increased risk of breast cancer associated with long-term shift work in Canada. Occup Environ Med. Published online first 1 July 2013.