adjuvant therapy

  •   George Lundberg, MD

    UpToDate provides an authoritative overview of pancreatic cancer diagnosis and treatment.

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  •   George Lundberg, MD

    Article from Cancer Network curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

    The drug osimertinib (brand name Tagrisso) is beneficial as an adjuvant therapy—treatment given in addition to tumor-removal surgery—for patients with stage IB–IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has a mutation in the EGFR gene.

    Go to full article published by Cancer Network.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

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    New Developments in Melanoma Treatment

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Neoadjuvant (before-surgery) treatments for resectable melanoma Neoadjuvant treatments are the mainstay in the care of patients with breast, colon, and other cancers, but have not traditionally been used in melanoma. This has changed now, with the publication of a report showing that patients with resectable stage III or IV BRAF-mutant melanoma benefit from treatment with the BRAF/MEK inhibitor drugs dabrafenib and trametinib prior to… Read more »

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    Melanoma: New Drugs and New Challenges (Part 2 of 2)

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    As always, the more new treatments become available in melanoma, the more new challenges arise. With eight new drugs approved for melanoma in the last five years, oncologists may sometimes face the difficult choice of what drugs to choose for a patient’s first-line treatment. Immune checkpoint drugs sometimes cause serious side effects, but progress is being made on how to treat these and also how to treat patients with pre-existing autoimmune conditions. New approaches are needed in efforts to prevent recurrence of melanomas diagnosed at earlier stages of disease progression.

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    The Growing Arsenal of Immunotherapy Drugs for Melanoma

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Large numbers of immune cells (T cells in particular) are frequently found within or adjacent to melanoma tumors, indicating that the tumors attract the attention—if not the action—of the immune system. True to its reputation as one of the most ‘immunogenic’ cancers, melanoma now has more U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved immunotherapy (immune system-targeting) drugs than any other cancer type.

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    To Type or to Print? Oncotype DX and Mamma/BluePrint Tests for Breast Cancer

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Women diagnosed with localized breast cancer face difficult decisions with their doctors. What kind of neoadjuvant (before surgery) treatment to choose? Should chemotherapy follow surgery? Based on the subtype of breast cancer, should specific chemotherapy drugs be used?

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    The Role of Pertuzumab in Treating HER2+ Breast Cancer

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Pertuzumab (Perjeta) is a relatively new drug that targets HER2, a protein found at higher-than-normal levels in about 15% to 20% of all breast cancers. Too much HER2 leads to tumor growth. Currently, all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients have their tumors’ HER2 levels tested. Knowing whether a patient’s HER2 levels are abnormally high (HER2-positive) or normal (HER2-negative) is a major factor in choosing a treatment, thanks to the availability of trastuzumab (Herceptin) and, now, other HER2-targeted drugs such as Perjeta, T-DM1 (Kadcyla), and lapatinib (Tykerb). These drugs are all used to treat HER2-positive patients.