Antisoma, a biotechnology company specializing in the development of novel drugs for the treatment of cancer, released a statement that the vaccine ASA404 improves anticancer responses and survival for patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

ASA404 is known as a vascular disrupting agent (VDA). ASA404 is different from angiogenenesis inhibitors that disrupt the new formation of blood vessels. This vaccine disrupts established blood vessels that feed cancer cells.

The researchers concluded that ASA404 appears promising in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. A Phase III clinical trial is expected to begin in 2008. This is the last step prior to FDA review.

There are several treatment options for liver metastasis, one being surgery. Results published in the Archives of Surgery state that repeat surgery to remove cancer that has spread to the liver provides significantly improved survival among patients with colorectal cancer.

The surgery, called hepatectomy, is the surgical removal of cancer and the surrounding tissue. Researchers recently evaluated data including treatment with repeat hepatectomies among patients with colorectal cancer and liver metastasis. The study included 64 patients who underwent one or more hepatectomies followed by chemotherapy.

At five years the overall survival was 53 percent. Among patients who experienced a cancer recurrence, five-year overall survival measured from the first hepatectomy was 73 percent among patients who underwent repeated hepatectomy, compared with 43 percent among patients without repeated surgery.

At the 2007 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, results were presented from a clinical trial that stated -- Continuous maintenance therapy may improve survival among patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Maintenance therapy is used when a patient's cancer is stable and not exhibiting signs of progression. Researchers want to find a way to improve survival, but they also want to find a program that is not too intense and will have limited side effects.

This brings us to the study that was done on 202 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The patients were split in two groups, one group received continuous maintenance chemotherapy with a drug called Eloxatin (oxaliplatin). The second group was only treated again with chemotherapy once their cancer had started to progress.

Cancer is a scary word -- pancreatic cancer is beyond scary. It has one of the highest mortality rates of all cancers. Symptoms of the disease usually are hard to recognize and most patients are diagnosed in the advanced stages.

Anytime I read about a new drug that can increase the survival of this deadly disease I get excited. An early online publication of the Journal of Clinical Oncology states that the addition to the targeted agent Tarceva (erlotinib) to Gemzar (gemcitabine) can improve survival in patients diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.

The Phase III clinical trial included 569 patients who were either treated with Tarceva plus Gemzar or Gemzar plus placebo. At one year the survival of those treated with the drug combination reached 23 percent. Gemzar alone had a 17 percent survival rate at one year. The study also said that more patients treated with the combination of Tarceva/Gemzar achieved stabilization of their disease.

I am hoping that sooner, rather than later this disease will not be beyond scary and will be something that can be treated, controlled and one day cured.

Results of two studies, sponsored by the Adjuvant Breast Cancer (ABC) Trials Collaborative Group, conclude that adding chemotherapy to the estrogen-blocking drug tamoxifen improves survival for those with early-stage breast cancer. The same studies reveal preventing the secretion of estrogen from the ovaries does not offer much benefit for most women.

Researchers studied 1991 patients, ages 28 to 81. All had received five years worth of treatment with tamoxifen therapy with or without standard chemotherapy. Some premenopausal women were also treated with ovarian removal (ablation) or suppression, a technique used to stop the glands from secreting hormones.

While early results, appearing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, fell short of statistical significance, chemotherapy still reduced the overall risk of death by 17 percent, mostly for women younger than 50 and especially for premenopausal women not treated with ovarian ablation or suppression.

Sanofi-Aventis, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, issued a press release that stated Taxotere (docetaxel) improves survival in patients with metastatic prostate cancer.

A Phase III clinical trial named TAX 327 compared Taxotere plus prednisone to Novantrone (mitoxantrone) plus prednisone. The study included a little over a thousand men who had recurrences or spread of disease after hormonal therapy.

The results of the study showed that survival was improved by 21 percent among patients treated with the Taxotere based therapy. The men also were without pain for a longer periods of time than those treated with Novantrone based therapy.

Researchers conclude that these long term results continue to provide evidence that Taxotere based therapy improves survival for advanced prostate cancer patients.

I just ran three miles on my treadmill. I have never been the athletic one in my family. My sister is the one who was born with the athletic streak -- she played softball and lettered in tennis after giving the sport a try with no previous experience and may have helped her high school basketball team win a state championship if it weren't for the major knee injury she suffered just before the big game. I, on the other hand, was born with a streak that has something to do with hair, nails, and lots of shoes. I was never interested in sports, gym shorts, or sweating -- which is what makes running three miles a big deal for me.

I wish I had started running long ago -- because I really like it. I like the loud music that pumps through my MP3 player and the change in my cadence as each new song begins. I like the motivation of knowing I'm pushing my body and accomplishing a physical challenge. I like that my endurance improves with each mile I travel. I like the mental release and the thoughts that run through my head and the cleansing effect I get from running. And I like sweating.

It's possible running would not have appealed to me long ago, even if I had given it a try -- because times were different long ago. I was healthy. I was happy. And I had no reason to marvel at the possibilities of my body. Without a natural impulse for physical fitness and challenge, I was completely satisfied with the status quo. But now I have an acquired impulse -- because cancer has threatened the very body I once took for granted. And I want it to be strong. I want it to be healthy. I want it to stand up to any possible threat. So I run. And when I am not running, I look forward to running.

In just a few weeks, I will run in the 5K Making Strides for Breast Cancer event with my athletic sister. I will run by her side. With my loud music for motivation. With the inspiration that I am making a difference for my body and for women everywhere. With my gym shorts on. And a ball cap covering my hair. With sweat dripping down my face. I can't imagine a better feeling.

A clinical trial was conducted to see if the addition of Gemzar (gemcitabine) to Paraplatin (carboplatin) would improve progression free survival in women with ovarian cancer who had been treated and have since had a recurrence of their disease.

The trial included 356 patients who have received prior chemotherapy. The women in study had a cancer recurrence at least six months following initial chemotherapy. They separated the women into two groups. One group was treated with Gemzar and carbolplatin, the other group of patients only received carboplatin.

A complete disappearance of detectable cancer occurred in over 14 percent of the patients who were treated with Gemzar and carboplatin, compared with only a little over 6 percent for those treated with just carboplatin.

The researches from Europe, Canada, and the United States agree that the results indicate the superiority of the addition of Gemzar to carboplatin for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer that has recurred.

New approaches are needed to treat advanced melanoma. Melanoma is the type of skin cancer that can be deadly if it travels to distant parts of the body. Survival is usually only 6-9 months for patients with metastatic melanoma.

Synta Pharmaceuticals says that an agent called STA-4783 when added to Taxol can double the progression free survival compared with using Taxol alone. STA-4783 can enhance the cancer killing effects of the immune system.

Researchers from 21 clinical sites in the US recently conducted a clinical trial to evaluate the addition of STA-4783 to Taxol in patients with Stage IV melanoma. Anticancer responses occurred in 15 percent of patients treated with STA-4783 and Taxol and only 4 percent had anticancer response from the Taxol alone.

Patients should ask their physicians about the clinical trials that are available for STA-4783 plus Taxol.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is uncommon in adults between 15 and 50 years of age but occurs more frequently in individuals over 50 years of age. The Philadelphia chromosome is a specific gene mutation that occurs in about 20 percent of all ALL cases. The Philadelphia chromosome occurs when specific genetic information is switched. Patients who are Philadelphia chromosome positive typically do not respond well to standard therapies.

Researchers want to find new strategies to improve outcomes for Philadelphia chromosome positive ALL patients. Gleevec has shown some anticancer responses in these patients who no longer responded to standard treatments.

According to a study was done and published in the journal Leukemia, the survival at one year was 66 percent for those patients who received chemotherapy and Gleevec. Among comparison subjects the survival at one year was 43 percent.

What also sounded very promising was that the probability of surviving for one year without a relapse was 58 percent for those in the study and only 11 percent among comparison patients.

Yoga can promote a greater sense of well-being, peace of mind and help cancer patients sleep more soundly, according to previous studies. Can Tibetan yoga relieve the side effects of chemotherapy? The National Cancer Institute, NCI, is interested in finding out and has awarded the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston $2.4 million dollars to continue research to determine if practicing Tibetan yoga can minimize chemotherapy side effects for  breast cancer patients as they undergo treatment. Tibetan yoga involves practices like controlled breathing, mindfulness and visualization. Once shrouded in mystery and considered a secret yoga practiced only by Tibetan monks, it is less known in the West than yoga practices from the Indian tradition, such as hatha yoga.

According to Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director of the Integrative Medicine Program at M. D. Anderson, while the study is designed to look at improvements in quality of life, it could be that Tibetan yoga offers health benefits as well. "Theoretically, if the Tibetan yoga intervention is found to decrease the patient's stress level, it could have an impact on their immune system," Cohen says. "There is extensive evidence showing that stress suppresses cell-mediated immunity, a component of the immune system involved in tumor surveillance. Tibetan yoga also might have an impact on a patient's hormonal activity."