Lung cancer is a disease in which the cells of the lung tissues grow uncontrollably and form tumors. There are two kinds of lung cancers, primary and secondary. Primary lung cancer (also called adenocarcinoma) starts in the lung itself. Primary lung cancer is divided into small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, depending on how the cells look under the microscope. Secondary lung cancer is cancer that starts somewhere else in the body (for example, the breast or colon) and spreads to the lungs.
Banning smoking in public places and workplaces is good for the heart — Inhaling secondhand smoke greatly increases risk of heart attack, even among young and nonsmokers. – Public smoking bans appear to significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks, particularly among younger individuals and nonsmokers, revealed by researchers in a new study.
Surgery remans an option for advanced lung cancer after standard chemotherapy and radiation. – Surgery after standard chemotherapy and radiation can be an option for lung cancer patients, revealed by researchers in new study published in the Lancet.
JNCI news brief: Thalidomide does not improve survival in small cell lung cancer – Treating patients with thalidomide in combination with chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) did not improve their survival but did increase their risk of blood clots, revealed by researchers.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves first maintenance drug therapy for advanced lung cancer — Alimta, pemetrexed. – Eli Lilly’s lung cancer drug Alimta (pemetrexed) — the first drug available for maintenance therapy of advanced or metastatic lung cancer, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, USA.
Study finds cancer is the second most frequent cause of death in individuals with schizophrenia – Schizophrenia patients are four times as likely to die from all causes and are 50 percent more likely to die from cancer compared to people in the general population, revealed by researchers.
LIN28, which maintains cell ‘stemness,’ is abundant in advanced cancers and transforms cells to cancerous state – A protein abundant in embryonic stem cells is now shown to be important in cancer, and offers a possible new target for drug development, report researchers from the Stem Cell Program at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Vandetanib Shows Clinical Benefit When Combined With Docetaxel for Lung Cancer. Combination of targeted agent, chemotherapy improves progression-free survival; therapy inhibits both VEGFR and EGFR. – When combined with standard chemotherapy, an international Phase III trial has shown that the oral targeted therapy vandetanib improves progression-free survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Scientists discover stem cell clue to lung cancer development – Cancer Research UK scientists have revealed that stem cells become ‘activated’ in severely damaged lungs and help to repair them, according to a study published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences.
‘Happy hour’ gene discovery suggests cancer drugs might treat alcoholism – A class of drugs already approved as cancer treatments might also help to beat alcohol addiction. That’s the conclusion of a discovery in flies of a gene, dubbed happyhour, that has an important and previously unknown role in controlling the insects’ response to alcohol.
City-dwellers have higher risk of late-stage cancer than rural residents – People who live in urban areas are more likely to develop late-stage cancer than those who live in suburban and rural areas. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the June 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
GenWay Biotech obtains exclusive rights to AMDL’s DR-70 cancer test in US and Canada. AMDL Inc. executes two exclusive distribution agreements for cancer test with GenWay Biotech Inc. – GenWay Biotech, Inc., a US-based diagnostic company which specializes in providing protein and antibody solutions, announced its partnership with AMDL, Inc., a US-based pharmaceutical company with major operations in China, regarding the distribution of AMDL’s DR-70 (FDP) cancer test in both the United States and Canada.
New early detection studies of lung cancer in nonsmokers launched today – Government and private sector cancer scientists today launched a research partnership to find biomarkers for lung cancer that develops in people who have never smoked.
