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An article published in JAMA reports that forpatients with anal canal cancer, experimental chemotherapy treatmentwith the drug cisplatin (administered prior to othertreatments) failed to increase disease-free survival rates. Compared tothe standard treatment regimen, therapy with cisplatin also increasedthe likelihood of colostomy procedures.Commonly, the first treatment therapy for anal canal cancer ischemoradiation.

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On Tuesday, April 15th, Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, President of the Accelerated Community Oncology Research Network, Inc. presented findings at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in San Diego. The Phase II study tested a novel biologic agent in conjunction with chemotherapy used in colorectal cancer with encouraging interim results.

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Black patients and white patients are seeing rectal cancer specialists at similar rates, but blacks are still less likely to receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.The study found blacks were 23 percent less likely to receive chemotherapy for rectal cancer and 12 percent less likely to receive radiation therapy than whites.

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Recent work from the Finnish Academy Center of Excellence on Cancer Biology at the University of Helsinki, Finland, has shed light on the mechanisms of colon tumor development and may help to design better treatment for this disease.Colon cancer is one of the most common malignancies in Western countries: both men and women face a lifetime risk of nearly 6% for the development of invasive colorectal cancer.

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Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PARD), a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, today announced that it has completed patient enrollment in its Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating picoplatin combination chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). Early data from this trial are expected in the second half of 2008.

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A gene mutation responsible for the most common form of inherited colon cancer is older and more common than formerly believed, according to a recent study.The findings provide a better understanding of the spread and prevalence of the American Founder Mutation, a common cause in North America of Lynch syndrome, a hereditary cancer syndrome that greatly increases a person’s risk for developing cancers of the colon, uterus and ovaries.

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UK-based Association for International Cancer Research this week announced it will fund a Griffith University project led by Dr Joe Tiralongo to further develop a potential anti-cancer treatment that had shown promising results in lab tests.The grant will enable the team to test a range of new ‘designer’ compounds on tumours in living cells.

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The LOH analysis on sporadic carcinoma by means of microsatellite markers has become an effective way to find allelic deletion regions and then to find candidate tumor suppressor genes. In a previous study, it was found that D1S413 (1q31.1-32.1, 9.8cM) exhibited higher LOH frequencies, which indicated that the region might harbor the putative tumor suppressor gene(s).

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Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), a drug development company focused on developing the next generation of proprietary targeted medicines for cancer treatment, today announced that its collaborator Genentech has initiated a Phase II clinical trial of GDC-0449, an orally-administered small molecule Hedgehog antagonist, in metastatic colorectal cancer. As a result, Genentech will make a $3 million cash payment to Curis under the companies’ June 2003 collaboration agreement.

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Vaccinogen Inc. said Dutch health authorities licensed it to manufacture its break-through OncoVAX anti-colon cancer vaccine, immediately clearing the path to more than US$100 million of potential European sales.The Dutch approval of the company’s facility based in Emmen, The Netherlands also paves the way to its pivotal US FDA Phase IIIb clinical trial — the final step before the vaccine can be sold in the United States.

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