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.

The Good Bead company wants you to show your support for the fight against breast cancer with their pink ribbon collection.

Here at The Good Bead we believe supporting the community never looked so good. We are focused on supporting worthy causes by custom creating high-quality, affordable products that engage consumers and raise awareness in the community.

The Good Beads new product Fondangles are quite possibly the most unique line of cell phone straps available. Their unique designs, high quality materials and optional o-ring make will attach to almost any cell phone. The Good Bead will be donating a percentage of sales from Fondangles to the Young Survival Coalition. Fondangles will be available beginning July 9th at Best Buys stores in New York City (Madison Avenue, Union Square, Noho, and 86th & Lexington); Riverside, CA (Tyler Street and Canyon Springs Parkway); Jacksonville, FL; Kennesaw, GA; Douglasville, GA; Atlanta, GA; and Peachtree, GA.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia in adults. According to the National Cancer Society an estimated 60,000 people are living throughout the United States with CLL.

An article published in The Lancet stated that the chemotherapy combination of Fludara plus Cytoxan improves progression free survival compared to therapy consisting of Fludara alone. The drugs used to treat CLL consist of Fludara, Cytoxan and chlorambucil. Recent studies have shown that Fludara in combination with Cytoxan to be the most effective treatment for CLL.

Researchers wanted to test to see if higher anticancer responses were seen with the combination of Fludara plus Cytoxan, treatment with Fludara alone or treatment with chlorambucil.

According to a New England Journal of Medicine article, the answer is no. Women with the breast cancer mutations BRCA1 and BRCA2 seem to have similar survival rates as women without these gene mutations.

A clinical trial was conducted including 1,500 patients. The researchers wanted to see if the patients with gene mutations had worse outcomes then those that did not have the gene mutations.

The researchers found:

• Overall, deaths rates from breast cancer were not significantly different among patients with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations from those without the mutations.
• Among patients who underwent treatment with chemotherapy, death rates from breast cancer were not significantly different between patients with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations from those without the mutations.

It's funny the random things you remember from your past. I was thinking the other day of a guy I went to high school with, who told us one day that, seeing as his uncle and grandpa both died of cancer, there was no doubt in his mind that he would too. 'He's fishing for sympathy', I scribbled furiously to a friend, 'What a whiner'. I'm not nearly as judgmental in adulthood, but some things don't change: I still don't like that kind of negative thinking. Yeah, my dad, grandparents and aunts died of cancer, but so what? I'm not them.

What reminded me of that story was this one, about Shirley McQueen, who's seen 14 relatives -- including all of the women in her family -- die of breast cancer. She says she feels like she's 'standing in the middle of the M25 waiting for a lorry to hit her', and with those odds, I don't blame her. But I truly believe in the power of positive thinking, and if I were in a similar situation, I hope with every fiber of my being that I can muster up enough faith to steadfastly ascertain that cancer will not, under any circumstances, be the end of me, like I've seen so many brave survivors do. I think without that sort of hope, we're just a bunch of lost souls, floundering, preparing for death and not looking towards the future.

How have you found hope in your battle with cancer?

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.

Christine Sansone was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 at the age of twenty-five. She passed away a few days ago after battling bone metastasis for eight years. She recently had leg surgery and never recovered. I met Christine a few times at the Young Survival Conference held by LBBC and the YSC.

Christine was featured in The Beautiful Eight -- An educational video for women living with metastatic disease.

She was recently quoted in the March/April issue of MAMM magazine.

"Living longer and stronger - Women with metastatic breast cancer are bringing new hope and energy to their cause." -- Christine Sansone.

Christine's story..

Femara (letrozole) provides both anticancer responses and disease stabilization in a significant number of patients with recurrent, estrogen receptor positive ovarian cancer. The results of the study were published in Clinical Cancer Research.

Femara blocks levels of estrogen in the body, ultimately reducing or preventing growth of estrogen positive cancer cells. Femara has been demonstrated to be effective for estrogen positive breast cancer, but has not yet had a clear influence in women with ovarian cancer.

Forty two patients were part of a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Femara. At three months, 42 percent of patients achieved disease stabilization and 9 percent achieved a regression of their disease. At over six months, 26 percent of patients still did not have progression of their disease measured by CA125 levels in the blood.

The researchers concluded that Femara may provide an effective and well tolerated treatment alternative for patients with recurrent, estrogen positive ovarian cancer.

Discussions about cancer often include mention of age. We talk about how old someone is at diagnosis, how old a person is at each year of survival, the age of an individual at the time cancer claims his or her life. Age reveals a lot. It dumps us into statistical categories. Most patients diagnosed with gallbladder cancer, for example, are older than 65. Age sometimes predicts prognosis. Young women diagnosed with breast cancer tend to have more aggressive forms of the disease. This can compromise chances for survival. Age also solicits judgments. "You are too young," some people told me after learning I'd been diagnosed with breast cancer.

I think about my age all the time. I think about how I was 34 when I found my lump, how I happily arrived at age 35, how I made it to 36, and how today, I am 37. Come November, I will have survived my disease for three years. Three years will remain before I make it out of my 30s and land on 40 -- the age when women should begin receiving regular annual mammograms.

I didn't ask for much this year for my birthday. A candle, a bathing suit, dinner out with my husband, and time with family are all I really want -- because the best gift has already arrived. I turned 37.

A report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has stated that cisplatin has better response rates than carboplatin in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The two main types of lung cancer, accounting for over 90 percent of all lung cancers, are non-small cell and small cell cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for most of that 90 percent.

Advanced NSCLC means that the patient's cancer has spread to other organs or areas of the body. There has been research done to evaluate which drug is better for NSCLC -- cisplatin or carboplatin. Nine clinical trials were analyzed to see what regime is a better treatment option.

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.