The Daily Scan

GlaxoSmithKline tests Tykerb against Herceptin in early breast cancer

Forbes reports GlaxoSmithKline tests Tykerb against Herceptin in early breast cancer

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it has launched large-scale trials comparing its late-stage breast cancer drug Tykerb against Herceptin in early-stage breast cancer.

The trial will evaluate and compare the rate at which cancer cells disappear in the breast following treatment with lapatinib, the active ingredient in Tykerb, and/or trastuzumab, the active ingredient Genetech Inc's Herceptin, before surgery in women with early-stage ErbB2-positive (HER2-positive) positive breast cancer.

The implications for digital pathology are minimal; patients would still be tested for Her2 positivity using IHC, FISH, etc, but it might provide a more effective drug with fewer side effects than Herceptin. If nothing else the competition could lower the cost of treatment…

Scientists provide explanation for how cancer spreads

I came across an interesting research paper about the possible origins of metastasis; bone marrow-derived cells fuse with normal and transformed intestinal stem cells.  The research by John Pawelek's team at Yale seems to indicate that metastasis begins when a cancer cells merges with a white blood cell, which then enters the bloodstream and moves to another part of the body.  Via after cancer, now what, who comment:

The fusion theory was first proposed in the early 1900s and has attracted a lot of scientific interest over the years. Pawelek and his colleagues began their research several years ago by fusing white blood cells with tumor cells. These experimental hybrids the researchers observed, were remarkably metastatic and lethal when implanted into mice. In addition, the scientists noted, some of the molecules the hybrids used to metastasize originated from white blood cells, and these molecules were the same as those used by metastatic cells in human cancers. Pawelek and his team then validated previous findings that hybridization occurs naturally in mice, and results in metastatic cancer.

This could be a really import finding, as it may direct development of drugs which inhibit metastasis when a tumor has been detected.

Diagnostic test could pinpoint origins of cancers

SFGate: Diagnostic test could pinpoint origins of cancers:

Pathologists at the Stanford University School of Medicine are trying out a new test from a Sunnyvale company that could give cancer patients a better chance of getting the most effective treatment.

The test, developed by Pathwork Diagnostics Inc., is part of a growing drive to use genetic analysis and molecular markers to guide the choice of therapies in many disease types. Pathwork's test was designed to ferret out a key fact that helps determine which treatment would work best for each patient with advanced cancer.

This is very cool.  Molecular diagnostic tests do offer the best chance of determining the original source of tumor cells - and that [often] determines the best course of treatment.  This isn't the first test of its kind, and as the article notes it isn't the last either; two other companies are working on the same concept.  Regardless the outcome will be better patient care - yay.

Will Ware: More developments in cancer treatment

I just discovered Will Ware's blog, via this post: more developments in cancer treatment.  (Note Will's blog is suntitled aftercancernowwhat.)  These developments all use nanotechnology in some way to attack or prevent cancer.  Such treatments are still in the future, but perhaps it is the near future.  Let's hope so.  In the meantime, please enjoy Will's blog...

using telepathology to train residents

Keith Kaplan: using telepathology to train residents, a presentation from a team at the University of Arizona.  They used a hardware system to track eye movements as students viewed digital slides. 

These data are similar to the information provided by the Tracking feature of Aperio's ImageScope viewer.  Perhaps the most interesting slide shows the way an experienced pathologists zeros right into the areas of medical interest, while a less experienced student views much more of the slide in a more random fashion:

The technique used by the University of Arizona researchers - hardware to track eye movements - might possibly be useful to compare the way people view slides on a microscope vs the way they view them on a computer monitor; that would be fascinating.

when slide rules ruled

Perhaps many of you are too young to remember, but back in the day the humble slide rule was a key piece of experimental paraphernalia in science...  this great article from the Scientific American commemerates the era: when slide rules ruled.  Enjoy!

Yes, I am that old - although just barely...

store 4,000 digital slides for $189

Today I was at Fry's Electronics and found an acomdata 1TB external hard drive for $189.  There was one per customer so I bought two :)

A typical digital slide is about 250MB, so this drive can hold 4,000 digital slides.  That works out to about four cents per slide, to store them forever.  The little blue light along the front even flashes purple as the drive is accessed, so you get a free light show to go with your inexpensive bits.

One of the key factors in the adoption of digital pathology is the way advances in basic computer technology have driven the cost down.  Really great 24" monitors are now $600.  High-bandwidth DSL connections are available just about everywhere for $50/month.  Servers cost a fraction of what they did five years ago, and a smaller fraction of what they did ten years ago.  And the biggest factor is the incredible increase in storage capacity and corresponding decrease in storage cost.  This 1TB drive isn't an outlier, it is just the latest data point in a steady curve.

Cancer death rates stay stagnant

USNews reports Cancer death rates stay stagnant.

Cancer death rates seem to have stagnated, a new report shows, as the smoking prevention and mammography screening efforts that fueled recent declines appear to have leveled off. The trends, detailed in the American Cancer Society's annual report, Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts and Figures 2008, point to a need for more effort.

There is a lot of good news in this report, too.  Substantial progress has been made, and it is behavioral factors that matter the most.  Obesity, especially among young people, is the next biggest hurdle in terms of lowering the risk factors for cancer.

Renewing the war on cancer

Lance Armstrong, writing in the Boston Globe: Renewing the war on cancer.

Now, what is our government's victory plan?

After six years on the President's Cancer Panel, I can say with reasonable certainty that there isn't one. Few of our leaders, with the exception of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, are still devoted to this fight. And to be fair, cancer is one of many causes competing for resources and attention in Washington.

Still, you'd expect the number one killer of Americans under 85 to merit more outrage, more opposition, more resources. But funding for the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health is static or declining in recent years. There is no central command, no general who looks over the broad spectrum of this disease and is able to deploy resources where they will save lives and advance this fight. A pessimist would say that cancer is winning. Luckily, I'm not one.

Lance is one of my personal heros, not only for his personal and athletic accomplishments, but because he has channeled the fame and fortune those accomplishments created into this critical fight.  Let's hope he is successful, but more than that, let's all support him in any way we can.

Effective Colon Cancer Prevention Treatment Discovered

ScienceDaily reports Effective Colon Cancer Prevention Treatment Discovered.

"Using a combination of a targeted cancer-fighting agent called DFMO and a low dose of an anti-inflammatory drug, UC Irvine researchers have reduced the risk of reoccurring colorectal polyps, an early sign of colon cancer, by as much as 95 percent with fewer toxic side effects. The study marks a breakthrough in the effort to combat colon cancer, the third leading cause of cancer in men and fourth in women, according to Dr. Frank L. Meyskens Jr., the Daniel G. Aldrich Chair at UC Irvine and director of its Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center."

This is excellent.  And in addition to the efficacy, the study also found no side effects or increased toxicity among the study group, vs patients taking a placebo.

‘Cautious Optimism’ Over Cancer Vaccine

WebMD reports ‘Cautious Optimism’ Over Cancer Vaccine.

"Vaccines that rev up the immune system to seek out and destroy tumor cells are showing promise for the treatment of cervical and breast cancer.  One vaccine significantly cut deaths in women with an aggressive type of breast cancer. A second vaccine curbed or stopped the growth of tumors in women with cervical cancer.

Excellent!  These therapies work by telling the immune system to attack cancer cells as if they're foreign invaders.  A very promising technique...

Medicine 2.0 at the digital pathology blog

Keith Kaplan is hosting this weeks' Medicine 2.0 blog carnival; if you have a chance please give him a click.  This is a great compilation of forward-looking articles on a whole bunch of different blogs and websites; in addition to being interesting reading, they are also a great introduction to a lot of new sites to follow.

the odds of dying different ways

Speaking of the odds of dying somehow, this great chart shows that the odds of dying from cancer are 1 in 7; compare that to a car accident (1 in 84) or a bicycle (1 in 5,000).  Heart disease is still the worst at 1 in 5.  (Yeah, I know you can't read it; click it to enlarge.)  Good to know.

I find it very weird that suicide is 1 in 119.  Wow.  Can that be right?  Also weird: earthquakes (1 in 117,000) are worse than floods (1 in 144,000).  Not shown, but found in the table of the linked National Safety Council report: cataclysmic storms (e.g. hurricanes) are much worse, at 1 in 4,300.

I guess we'll have won the war on cancer when your odds of dying from it are less than your odds of dying while riding a bike.  So be it.

Cancer rates decrease for some groups

Good news from the front, the LA Times reports Cancer rates decrease for some groups.

"The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, released in October, found that cancer incidence rates have stabilized and, for many of the most common forms of cancer, are actually dropping.

Among men, incidence rates for lung cancer (the leading cause of cancer death in men) decreased by 1.8% a year from 2001 to 2004, and rates for colorectal cancer fell by more than 2% annually. Perhaps most impressive were the changes in the incidence of breast cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer death in women, behind lung cancer. Those rates for women dropped by 3.5% a year during this period."

Excellent.  As people live longer, more will get cancer - it tends to be the thing that kills you in the end - but we are now increasing the quality of life for the average person.

Many Scientists using Performance Enhancing Drugs

I honestly don't know what to make of this: Many Scientists using Performance Enhancing Drugs.

"A new poll published in Nature shows unprecedented levels of cognitive performance-enhancing drug abuse by top academic scientists. The poll, conducted among subscribers to Nature, surveyed 1,400 scientists from 60 nations (70% from the US).  20% reported using performance-enhancing drugs. Among the drug-using population, 62% used Ritalin, 44% used Provigil, and 15% used beta-blockers like Inderal.  Frequency of use was evenly divided among those who used drugs daily, weekly, monthly, and once a year.

Well why not – whatever works…  perhaps one of these performance-enhanced scientists will find a cure for cancer.

However for me I’m sticking with the tried and true performance enhancers like caffeine and chocolate!

Heading for the [ca]BIG time

Also from the Scientist: Heading for the big time, a nice overview of the NCI's caBIG initiative.

"The NCI's bioinformatics network,caBIG, integrates cancer data from across the United states.  Its goal: to speed the transition from research to therapy.

We are watching this closely at Aperio - many researchers want to be able to include digital pathology images in the data managed by this network.

Cancer Vaccine Approved by Russian FDA

This is interesting: The Scientist reports Cancer Vaccine Approved by Russian FDA.

First cancer vaccine approved in Russia: A New York-based biotech company announced today (April 8) that it has received approval for the first therapeutic cancer vaccine -- in Russia.  It is the first approval by a regulatory body of a cancer immunotherapy.

The therapy's approval in Russia won't in itself boost its chances for approval in the US or the EU, or improve the prospects of other cancer vaccines that are in the biotech pipeline, Ren Benjamin, senior biotech analyst at the New York investment firm Rodman and Renshaw told The Scientist. But Russia is "novel ground" for small biotech, he said: Seeking first approval in a country outside of the US and EU is a bold move, and both biotech companies and investors will be closely watching to see how lucrative a market Russia turns out to be.

It comes after the treatment didn't pass muster with the FDA, despite $425 million spent developing the treatment over 12 long years.

It would be interesting if small biotech firms find that gaining approval outside the U.S. and EU is a faster path to commercialization, leading to the possibility of using other countries as clinical trials for the U.S. market.  Stay tuned...

A great new online cancer resource: cancer.net

There's a great new online cancer resource: cancer.net, from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.  It is amazing how great the Internet resources for medicine have become...  particularly for patients.

Especially interesting is the slide-deck series; a bunch of Powerpoints that explain various types of cancer.

the Cancer Research Blog Carnival

Wow, who knew?  There's a Cancer Research Blog Carnival.  This week it is hosted by the skeptical alchemist. 

You might ask "what's a blog carnival?"  Good question.  There are many of them, originally they were just "interesting stuff" but recently they've become a lot more focused, such as "cancer research".  One blog each week offers to host the carnival, and a bunch of other bloggers submit posts from their blogs which are relevant to the subject.  Then the host blogger compiles a single post which is that week's carnival, with links to all the other blogs and usually accompanies by a brief synopsis or even the host blogger's thoughts about the linked post.
Next week the scene shifts and another blogger hosts the moveable feast.  In this way each week there is a compendium of interesting posts all about the particular subject.

If you're interested in Cancer Research - as a lot of the readers of this blog are - then check out this post, and also make a note of next week's location at Hematopoiesis.  Happy blog-reading!

Court rejects new USPTO rules meant to kill patent backlog

From Ars Technica: Court rejects new USPTO rules meant to kill patent backlog.

"New rules issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office last year that were intended to reduce the patent filing backlog were rejected yesterday by a federal judge who ruled that the USPTO had exceeded its authority. The rules, which imposed limitations on continuation filings and restricted the number of claims that could be included in individual patents, will not be implemented as many had hoped.

This is not good news; patent reform is need urgently.  Special interests are apparently going to tie up reforms as long as they can.  Stay tuned...