dearJulius.com

Targeted Cancer Treatments Far Outperform Traditional Methods

(Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ FatCamera / Istock.com)

AFP Relaxnews
Cancer treatments that attack tumors based on their individual genetic traits -- not their location in the body -- far outperform traditional methods, extending survival for twice as many patients, a study said Saturday.

The precision medicine field of targeted therapy involves testing tumors for clues about their genetic mutations, and matching patients with new drugs designed to block cancer's growth on a molecular level.

Researchers in Texas began studying the impact of these therapies in 2007, after seeing the success of Gleevec (imatinib) -- a breakthrough drug approved by US regulators in 2001 that showed huge success against chronic myeloid leukemia.

The results of the first and largest precision medicine trial to look at survival across a host of cancer types and many different targeted therapies were released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, the world's largest annual cancer meeting. The study, called IMPACT, enrolled 3,743 patients at Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from 2007 to 2013.

All the patients had advanced cancers, or "end-stage disease," involving cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, breast, or lung. Melanoma and cancer of the female reproductive tract were also included, along with more rare types of cancer.

Those enrolled had typically tried at least four -- and sometimes up to 16 -- other treatments that failed to halt the growth of their cancer.

Patients who received molecular targeted therapies either got an investigational drug then being tested in a clinical trial, or an FDA-approved targeted therapy commercially approved for another indication.

After three years, 15 percent of people treated with targeted cancer therapies were alive, compared to seven percent in the non-targeted group. After 10 years, six percent of the targeted group was alive, compared to just one percent in the other group.

On the whole, targeted therapies led to an average of four months of life without the cancer advancing, known as progression-free survival, and nine extra months of overall survival. Those who were treated with traditional approaches lived just under three months without cancer growing, and 7.3 months longer overall. Researchers say the field has grown immensely since 2007, and that further research will improve the range of therapies available to cancer patients.

"When IMPACT first opened, we tested for no more than one to two genes," said lead investigator Apostolia Tsimberidou, professor of investigational cancer therapeutics at MD Anderson. "Now patients are being tested for hundreds of actionable genes, amplifications and mutations, as well as for immune markers," she added, noting, "Ideally, in the future, patients' tumor testing and cell-free DNA analysis will become the standard of care at the time of diagnosis, in hopes of making a difference for patients upfront, especially in those with hard-to-treat cancers."

A Part of Julius LLC
Made with in NYC by Julius Choudhury
Name

Adventure Travel,45,AI,14,Amazon,33,Apple,146,Apps,20,Arts & Culture,12,Beauty & Style,501,Bitcoin,1,Body & Mind,6,Bollywood,29,Books,5,Budget Travel,25,Business,654,Career & Education,45,Careers & Education,19,Celebrities,40,Computers,23,Coronavirus,25,Crime,52,Elections,139,Emoji,1,Entertainment,1108,Europe,1,Facebook,105,Fashion,4,Fitness,32,Food and Drinks,151,France,1,Gadgets,26,Games,191,Good News,333,Google,96,Health,1581,Healthy Living,2,Hollywood,1,Home & Garden,46,Huawei,11,Immigration,1,Industry,161,Instagram,16,Interesting,3,Internet,67,Investing,37,Lifestyle,527,LinkedIn,1,Markets,34,Microsoft Windows,3,Money,13,Movies,105,Mozilla,1,Music,121,Nature Travel,27,News,1387,Occasional Travel,7,Offbeat,405,Opinion,104,OS,1,People,188,Personal Finance,19,Politics,176,Real Estate,23,Relationships,13,Samsung,62,Science,568,Seasonal Travel,14,Security,22,Small Business,37,Smartphone,98,Social,38,Sports,20,Technology,716,Tesla,6,Transportation,26,Travel,457,TV,287,Twitter,24,Urban Travel,13,US,293,Vacation Travel,26,VR,6,Weather,1,Weight Loss,5,Weird,244,Wellness,7,World,308,
ltr
item
dearJulius.com News | Breaking News, US News, World News: Targeted Cancer Treatments Far Outperform Traditional Methods
Targeted Cancer Treatments Far Outperform Traditional Methods
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ZoYwfDmOukr0iE-rVesc92LLXTKvWN0NSLk1c-zXwvZU60AWFutAkTqRV9Ew_zbPMsmeYUHlYRkGbMJnxH8zXoNjq3d7zmQIf9oMobAC41hHQ7fN1q0esqNxk_uvql7zpa2zMzcruM34/s1600/3.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ZoYwfDmOukr0iE-rVesc92LLXTKvWN0NSLk1c-zXwvZU60AWFutAkTqRV9Ew_zbPMsmeYUHlYRkGbMJnxH8zXoNjq3d7zmQIf9oMobAC41hHQ7fN1q0esqNxk_uvql7zpa2zMzcruM34/s72-c/3.jpg
dearJulius.com News | Breaking News, US News, World News
https://news.dearjulius.com/2018/06/targeted-cancer-treatments-far.html
https://news.dearjulius.com/
https://news.dearjulius.com/
https://news.dearjulius.com/2018/06/targeted-cancer-treatments-far.html
true
2851388516137227212
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Read More Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share to a social network STEP 2: Click the link on your social network Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy Table of Content