Category Archives: Cancer Therapy

Breast Cancer Risk – Is it in your family?

October 25, 2017

The American Cancer Society estimates that over 266,120 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed within the U.S. each year. Of these new cases, approximately 40,500 patients will not survive. While extensive research efforts have been taken to counter this destructive disease, still more work in the field of oncology remains to be completed.

Recent research has begun to explore the genetic causes of breast cancer. Studies have found that when a patient’s cancer is caused by an inherited genetic mutation, he or she may have an increased risk of other cancers. Out of the 12.5% of women at risk for breast cancer in the U.S., 10% are hereditary. For these patients, treatment recommendations will likely differ based on their respective genetic makeup.

Women found to have smaller risk genetic mutations are likely to benefit from earlier mammogram screenings than those recommended for the general population. As traditional mammogram guidelines are solely based on age, most insurance plans do not provide women with screening coverage until age 35. For many women, therefore, the optimal window to detect early stages of breast cancer has already passed before they are eligible to receive screenings.

In light of these findings, some researchers argue that breast cancer screening guidelines should be modified and/or revised. Adapting new guidelines would allow physicians to detect a higher number of breast cancer cases, before they progress to more critical, life-threatening stages.

Dr. Otis Brawley, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society, explains that additional genome testing would benefit not only potential cancer patients, but also those of other diseases: “This type of genome-wide screening is being used to identify genes that are associated with increased risk of a number of diseases, including diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and heart disease.”

A4M is continuously working to discover and promote innovative research and studies in order to diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer & various forms of chronic disease. For more clinical education, regarding treatments & therapies surrounding cancer, register now for our Integrative Cancer Therapy Fellowship.

1Scutti, Susan. CNN.com. Breast Cancer Genetics Revealed. 72 new mutations discovered in global study. http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/23/health/72-new-breast-cancer-mutations-study/index.html. October 23, 2017. Accessed October 24, 2017.

Immunotherapy: Investigating Cancer Research

August 22, 2017

The proliferation and advent of technology in medical research has spurred new techniques and treatments to combat cancer, a disease with an alarming mortality rate that will lead to an estimated 1,685,210 new cases in 2016, and 595,690 deaths.

The model of immunotherapy—using one’s body as the tool with which to fight cancer—has been considered an experimental treatment since its conception, in stark contrast to the standard chemotherapy and radiation that is traditionally offered for cancer patients. While chemotherapy directly attacks the cancer, immunotherapy harnesses the patient’s own immune system to fight off the disease.

The most widely used forms of immunotherapy include drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, which block a mechanism used by cancer cells to shut down the immune system, and cell therapy, which involves removing a patient’s immune cells, genetically altering them to help fight cancer, multiplying them, and ultimately infusing them back into the bloodstream.

While pharmaceutical companies initially were disinterested in the research and science, favoring drugs that had the ability to be mass-produced and treat everyone, drug companies are progressively funneling more money into clinical trials and tests—attempting to understand the powerful and critically important tool further.

Quoted in a New York Times article, Dr. Jedd Wolchok, chief of melanoma and immunotherapeutics services at Memorial Sloan Kettering, articulated what many doctors are experiencing as they begin to utilize this therapy, once considered a mere pipe dream: “This is a fundamental change in the way that we think about cancer therapy.”

Other doctors that have seen almost miraculous results in clinical trials have expressed similar sentiments: “Think of how dauntingly personalized this is,” says Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute. “We are using their own cells to treat a unique mutation in their own tumor.” This individualized treatment has been proven to be effective in many cases, generating complete remissions in many patients who felt they were out of options.

Yet while immunotherapy has proven to be stunningly successful in several cases, doctors are continuing to explore why the treatment has a higher efficacy in some patients, while others relapse. Moreover, the arduous, lengthy, and complex process of re-engineering and duplicating cells is very costly, and is still undergoing scrutiny and examination.

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