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Chemotherapy is one of the most popular ways to treat breast cancer. Even though it has proven to be effective, it also has downsides, such as a higher risk of side effects, as it doesn't only attack the cancer cells but can also affect normal cells. Chemotherapy-related side effects such as fatigue, weakness, and proneness to infections can influence treatment adherence and undermine the effectiveness of the therapy and the patients' quality of life. Probiotics are among the emerging alternative supplements being studied for their potential benefit in cancer treatment. A new study published in the open-access journal Pharmacia explored...

Chemotherapy doesn't just kill cancer cells. It also affects the microbes in the digestive tract. Researchers have discovered that some gut bacteria can reduce the side effects of these potent treatments, and that one family of cancer drugs may actually boost these protective bacteria. The phenomenon could help physicians to predict the severity of a patient's side effects, and it points the way to supplements that could help those whose guts aren't sufficiently protecting them. Turnbaugh's team found colorectal cancer patients taking a class of chemotherapy drugs known as fluoropyrimidines had less diverse microbiomes in their digestive systems. But the...

Opinion Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with millions of new cases reported each year. In 2022 alone, approximately 20 million new cancer cases were diagnosed globally, and 9.7 million lives were lost to the disease. In India, the numbers are equally alarming, with around 100 out of every one lakh people diagnosed with cancer. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), more than 14 lakh cancer cases were estimated in 2023. [1 lakh = 0.1 million] Despite advancements in early detection and treatment, many myths surrounding cancer testing prevent people from undergoing timely...

A new study found that cold therapy protects breast cancer patients from nerve pain caused by chemotherapy. Researchers found that cryotherapy, a treatment that involves exposing the body or specific areas of the body to extremely cold temperatures for therapeutic purposes, helped prevent nerve damage in breast cancer patients who are being treated with the chemotherapy drugs paclitaxel and nab-paclitaxel. These chemotherapy drugs are notorious for causing long-lasting pain or tingling in your hands, feet or legs. Cryotherapy reduced the incidence of peripheral neuropathy from chemotherapy by 55% in this meta-analysis.

A commonly prescribed medication for heart failure was linked to a lower risk of heart damage, or cardiotoxicity, among high-risk cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment using anthracyclines, according to preliminary late-breaking science presented today. Heart failure occurs when damage prevents the heart from pumping blood well enough to supply the body with blood and nutrients. Anthracyclines are a class of chemotherapy medications used to treat many types of cancer. However, one of their potential side effects is cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body....

Results from a randomized, phase 2 clinical trial show that adding high-dose, intravenous (IV) vitamin C to chemotherapy doubles the overall survival of patients with late-stage metastatic pancreatic cancer from eight months to 16 months. "The results were so strong in showing the benefit of this therapy for patient survival that we were able to stop the trial early." In the study, 34 patients with stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer were randomized to receive either standard chemotherapy (gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel), or chemotherapy plus infusions of high-dose vitamin C. The results showed that average overall survival was 16 months for the...

A research team has shown that combining pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug, with standard chemotherapy can improve treatment outcomes for patients with small cell bladder cancer and small cell/neuroendocrine prostate cancer. Small cell carcinomas can arise in various tissues—including the bladder, prostate, lung, ovaries and breast—and are known for their rapid progression, tendency to relapse after initial treatment and poor overall survival rates. The survival time for patients with advanced small cell bladder cancer is only about 7 to 13 months and only 7 to 9 months for patients with small cell/neuroendocrine prostate cancer. The early-stage study showed that using pembrolizumab...

Cancer patients could avoid unnecessary radiation therapy as a result of an international clinical trial, led by Prof Trevor Leong. The TOPGEAR study demonstrated that radiotherapy does not improve survival outcomes for patients with operable gastric and gastro-esophageal junction cancer when compared to chemotherapy alone. More than 2,500 Australians are diagnosed with stomach cancer each year and the study investigated whether adding radiotherapy to the treatment approach of surgery plus chemotherapy would improve outcomes for patients. All trial participants had chemotherapy before and after surgery—the "standard of care" in most countries—while some were randomized to also have radiotherapy before surgery....

Neuromuscular training reduces the onset of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), according to a study. Fiona Streckmann, Ph.D. and colleagues examined whether sensorimotor training (SMT) and whole-body vibration (WBV) training reduce symptoms and decrease onset of CIPN among patients undergoing treatment with oxaliplatin or vinca alkaloids. A total of 158 patients were randomly assigned into three groups: SMT (55 patients), WBV (53 patients), and treatment as usual (TAU; 50 patients). The researchers found that the incidence of CIPN was significantly lower in SMT and WBV groups compared with TAU (30.0 and 41.2 percent, respectively, versus 70.6 percent) in intention-to-treat analysis. The...

People battling advanced esophageal cancers should get doses of chemotherapy both before and after tumor-removing surgeries, a new study suggests. "There is considerable disagreement as to whether giving all adjuvant [chemo] therapy upfront versus 'sandwich' adjuvant therapy before and after surgery is the better standard of care" for people whose tumors can be removed with surgery, explained researcher Dr. Jennifer Tseng. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 22,000 Americans will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer this year and over 16,000 will die of the illness. The question of when to administer chemotherapy for esophageal cancer has been a...

cell study from Brown University has found that the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), helps cancer cells survive and resist chemotherapy. According to the study, led by Dr. Wafik El-Deiry, the director of Brown’s Legorreta Cancer Center, spike protein may promote cancer survival and growth through interference with anti-cancer activities, blocking the function of a crucial cancer suppressor gene known as p53. El-Deiry and his colleagues observed that when cancer cells encountered spike protein subunits, it reduced the activity of p53, a protein that helps defend the body against tumors. This allowed the...

Drug shortages have reached an all-time high in the United States, pharmacists are warning.During the first three months of 2024, there were 323 active medication shortages, according to American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and Utah Drug Information Service. Previously, the record high was 320 shortages in 2014.This ASHP started tracking shortages in 2001.MORE: Patients, health care providers face shortages of critical drugs, Senate report finds"All drug classes are vulnerable to shortage," Dr. Paul Abramowitz, CEO of ASHP, said in a statement. "Some of the most worrying shortages involve generic sterile injectable medications, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency medications...

Using patient data from six major U.S. cancer centers, researchers developed a risk prediction model for moderate-to-severe kidney injury after receiving the chemotherapy drug cisplatin in the largest, first generalizable study of its kind Cisplatin is a highly effective chemotherapy that has been used to treat cancer for decades, but it can cause kidney injury that can potentially lead to the discontinuation of life-saving cancer treatments. Investigators developed a comprehensive tool to predict which patients are at highest risk of moderate-to-severe kidney injury after cisplatin. They found the highest-risk patients had as much as a 20-fold higher risk of developing...

On Friday, Catherine, Princess of Wales, published a video explaining that post-operative tests revealed she has cancer and she is undergoing “preventative chemotherapy.” There may be another aspect to Kate’s story which isn’t being publicised and which Dr. Vernon Coleman discusses in the article below.He also discusses some facts about chemotherapy that you won’t read in corporate media.By Dr. Vernon ColemanSadly, Princess Kate has got cancer. We wish her a speedy and complete recovery. Just why they needed to keep the truth secret for so long is a mystery – though there may be an explanation which I’ll discuss in...

The Princess of Wales has announced tonight that she has been diagnosed with cancer aged 42 and is undergoing 'preventative' chemotherapy. In a deeply emotional video message, filmed at Windsor on Wednesday, Catherine revealed the news had come as a 'huge shock' and that she and William 'have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family'. It came days after she was seen smiling with Prince William as they left their favourite farm shop close to their Windsor home.

Kate, Princess of Wales, has revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing preventative chemotherapy. In a personal message, the 42-year-old said planned abdominal surgery in January was successful and it was initially thought her condition was non-cancerous. But tests after the operation found cancer had been present, she said, adding: "This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family."

People who are diagnosed with head and neck cancer often receive a standard type of chemotherapy as part of their treatment. If they are exposed to secondhand smoke during chemotherapy—even if they have never smoked themselves—the treatment may be far less effective at killing cancer cells. In her laboratory, Queimado and her team exposed head and neck cancer cells to secondhand smoke for 48 hours (a control group of cancer cells was not exposed to secondhand smoke). Simultaneously, the cells were treated with cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug commonly used to treat head and neck cancer. The findings were significant: Twice...

Bladder cancer is one of the more common cancers worldwide. Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (tuberculosis vaccine) has been used as adjuvant therapy by urologists since 1976. Unfortunately, BCG fails approximately 40% of patients in two years. Since 2012, BCG has been in a worldwide shortage situation. One of the most promising new strategies for NMIBC is the combination of intravesical chemotherapy drugs used as sequential therapy, one drug after the other, with one-hour bladder dwell time for each drug. Initial results with gemcitabine (Gem) and mitomycin C (MMC) appeared promising but shortages in MMC led to the need to substitute docetaxel...

Researchers have identified a receptor protein known as CHRM1 as a key player in prostate cancer cells' resistance to docetaxel, a commonly-used chemotherapy drug to treat advanced cancer that has spread beyond the prostate. The discovery opens the door to new treatment strategies that could overcome this resistance. The study showed that blocking CHRM1 in resistant prostate cancer cell lines and an animal model based on patient-derived resistant tissue restored docetaxel's ability to kill cells and stop tumor growth. The researchers did this by using dicyclomine, a drug that selectively inhibits CHRM1 activity. Dicyclomine is already on the market as...

Researchers have discovered that a certain type of chemotherapy improves the immune system's ability to fight off bladder cancer, particularly when combined with immunotherapy. These findings may explain why the approach, cisplatin chemotherapy, can lead to a cure in a small subset of patients with metastatic, or advanced, bladder cancer. Researchers also believe that their findings could explain why clinical trials combining another type of chemotherapy, carboplatin-based chemo, with immunotherapy have not been successful but others that use cisplatin with immunotherapy are successful. "We have known for decades that cisplatin works better than carboplatin in bladder cancer, however, the mechanisms...