Around the Web: AstraZeneca Edition

Nope, this post is not sponsored. But I did spend last week (well, two days of it) at a conference for oncology bloggers at MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. It seems more and more companies in the healthcare space are taking note of how patients communicate with each other and realizing it might be useful for them to join the conversation.

Deep in thought about oncology topics

"The role of the patient has evolved over time and today patients are more involved than ever in their healthcare and look to one another online for support, advice and a sense of community. AstraZeneca strives to engage with patients to ensure the latest information and support resources are available, and help determine where unmet needs remain."

You can read more about the AZ summit here.

I flew out to Baltimore for less than 30 hours on the ground, a whirlwind of sessions and lab tours and conversations with women I'd only previously known online, one of whom (CJ) cofounded METAvivor and has now been NED for six years. Talk about inspiration.

Here are a few of us touring the lab and looking "distractingly sexy," if I do say so myself.

Touring the Phase I Oncology Lab at MedImmune

Speaking of sexy --  how was that for a transition? -- I'm working on a separate post about one of the summit's sessions. It was led by Dr. Sage Bolte and focused on intimacy after a cancer diagnosis, which is not a typo.

But we still have a lot going on here as a family and I'm in a chemo fog this week, so please be patient with me. In the meantime, here's what I've seen around the web since I last posted this series. One of these days, I'll try to be regular about it!

Even More Reason to Cut Back on Stress After a Cancer Diagnosis

"Recently, researchers have discovered that the hormone progesterone, an ingredient in contraceptives and menopausal hormone replacement therapies, might stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells that are resistant to anti-estrogen therapy and chemotherapy. Now, new research published June 22nd in the journal Oncogene, a Nature publication, shows that additional hormones, including stress hormones that are frequently used to treat the side effects of common chemotherapy, could make these effective cancer drugs fail sooner in some women with breast cancer. But there may be ways to counteract the effect."

Promising Results in the Paloma-III Trial for Ibrance/Letrozol

(Which, if you'll remember, was fast-tracked for FDA approval pre-trial results back in February.)

Liquid Biopsies Are All the Rage, But Are They Helping Patients Yet?

"So far, most insurers, including Medicare, don’t pay for these kinds of tests. They don’t think it’s their role to underwrite what looks like a research experiment. Health insurer Anthem labels the tests “investigational and not medically necessary.” Cigna calls them “unproven.”

Eventually, the most important use of liquid biopsies should be to catch signs of cancer early, before symptoms arise—when a surgeon can cure it by cutting it out (see “Spotting Cancer in a Vial of Blood”). Such screening could profoundly reshape cancer medicine.

For now, though, they are being used as “theragnostics”—that is, tests that guide decisions about treatment."

THIS is Why We Walked and Lobbied All Over Capitol Hill

"Cyrus Ghajar, Ph.D., a metastatic breast cancer researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has received a $4.1 million Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) “Era of Hope” Scholar Award.

The Department of Defense’s BCRP is the second biggest funder of breast cancer research in the U.S. Its Era of Hope award encourages high-impact, collaborative research, particularly among innovative young researchers."

Huge Implications for the Future of Treating Genetic Cancers

“In 10, 15 years, our relationship with genetic disease will be very different from today,” says Jacob Corn, managing director of the Innovative Genomics Initiative—a joint effort of UC Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco—which is collaborating with drug maker AstraZeneca on using Crispr-Cas9 to gain a better understanding of diseases. “It will be, ‘Oh, my child was born with sickle cell. We’re just going to change that.’ ”

Why Nearly EVERYONE is Excited about Immunotherapy

"10 years to cancer cures 'actually plausible,' Fred Hutch president says. . ."

“And I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Gilliland continued. “You give this cell-based therapy that was developed by [Drs.] Stan Riddell and Phil Greenberg at the Hutch, and these tumors just melt away. People go into continuous, complete remission. You don’t need to keep giving the drug, you give it once. One infusion — that’s it.”

The potential for extending this powerful approach into other types of cancer, especially solid tumors, has created a sense of urgency among researchers at Fred Hutch and elsewhere."

An Illustration of How Immunotherapy Works

Around the Web: Italy Edition

Thanks for the great feedback about keeping this series here. (Although it seems as if once a month might be my posting schedule for a lil' bit.) I've been pulled in a lot of different directions lately, not all of them deserving complaint. And to all who checked in and suggested I stop to get some rest, I've taken note, I promise.

As I write this, we are were in the midst of reconnecting with each other as a family in Italy. The month prior to our trip felt like a strange square dance in which Chris and I kept passing Quinn off to one another without stopping to a) dance with each other or b) rest our feet as a family. We've needed this time for awhile.

This was my first time to Italy, and I wanted to pinch myself at every passing gondola or square with a lion-spitting fountain in its center. There have been moments since we arrived when I've caught my breath in my throat to ward off tears because these are things that a couple of years ago I thought I might never get to experience.

I might never come back. (Spoiler alert: I came back. But I'm still considering a future move to a pied-à-terre in Rome, on the off-chance I could get my insurance to approve Kadcyla infusions abroad and convince Chris that a sabbatical there makes sense.)

We're doing a lot of walking, so I'm not sure we'll get much actual rest for our feet, but we're being fueled by pasta and wine and gelato so I think we'll be okay.  We averaged more than six miles a day, and Quinn kept up like a champ. We were more than okay. Now that I'm home, my body actually craves the movement...and the gelato. More on how to do a trip to Italy with a 4-year-old coming up in a post soonish.

Posts might be a little spotty here for a couple of weeks, but I'll try to manage an occasional photo of my bambino enjoying the sights. We had really terrible internet coverage when we had it at all, then I was too jet-lagged to even form sentences for a couple of days, and then I had chemo on Friday so I'm still having trouble forming sentences. But I do hope you saw some of the photos of Quinn over on my Instagram account.

A photo posted by Jen Campisano (@jencampisano) on Jun 1, 2015 at 1:07pm PDT

Here's what I've seen around the web the last couple of weeks month. If you have something you'd like me to include in future editions, please send me an email (jen dot campisano at gmail).

Grazie, bellas!

There Was This Depravity (Or, Pay Close Attention to Where and to Whom You Give Your Money)

"In its complaint, the F.T.C. called all four of the cancer groups “sham charities,” charging the organizations with deceiving donors and misusing millions of dollars in donations, including putting money toward personal expenses like carwashes and college tuition, from 2008 to 2012."

There Was This Loss

“Of course I wish I had more time,” she told the Jewish newspaper The Forward in 2009, after learning that her cancer had returned. “I would love to see grandchildren, to see weddings, to be a part of these amazing things for more time, but I love life and don’t want to spend any of it mourning the loss of that which I can’t have. I’d much rather embrace that which I do.”

And This One, Which Seemed to Shake Our Entire Nation

""It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life," Joe Biden said in a statement issued by the White House."

But also some uplifting news...

New Device Brings Us Closer to Understanding Metastases

"Metastasis occurs when cancer cells break away from a tumor and travel to distant parts of the body—the most dreaded event for a cancer patient. It is a mystery why some cells are able to travel through the body while others are not. Researchers from the University of Michigan, comprising a team of oncologists and engineers, have developed a new technology to help unlock this code.

A groundbreaking new study released in “Scientific Reports” describes a device that is able to sort cells based on their ability to move. The device allows researchers to take the sorted cells and compare the ones that are highly mobile to the ones that are less mobile. Understanding the differences in gene expression between these two types of cells can help identify why some cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body."

And a Potential Solution for Overcoming Her-2+ Drug Resistance

To be clear, this is still in the earliest, pre-drug stages. Super cool stuff nonetheless.

"There are currently no approved treatments that specifically target the ability of HER2 cells to join together or with other proteins, an essential first step in tumor growth. Lupu and her colleagues are now confirming the antitumor activity of this potential HER2 “master switch” in animal models. They will then move on to clinical testing, and the investigation of drugs—such as mimetic agents, targeted antibodies, and small molecules—that could specifically block this site responsible for HER2’s oncogenic potential.

“This drug does not yet exist; it is a promising area of future research,” said Lupu. “We believe that there is definitely hope because this is the first time that anybody has identified any region that blocks homodimerization and heterodimerization, which will simplify the treatment of the cancer. Rather than combining two, three or four drugs together, this will be a one-stop-shop.”"

How Breast Cancer Spreads to Bones -- And a Simple Way to Stop It

In my mind, this is HUGE news.

"Breast cancers can manipulate the structure of bone to make it easier to spread there, a study has found.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield said the tumours were effectively "fertilising" the bone to help themselves grow.

The study, in the journal Nature, said it may be possible to protect bone from a tumour's nefarious influence and consequently stop the cancer's spread. . . .

The animal tests also showed that a set of osteoporosis drugs called bisphosphonates could prevent the spread of cancer.

Bisphosphonates also interfere with the way bone is recycled in order to strengthen it.

They are already given to some cancer patients, but the Sheffield team believe they could have a much larger role."

Promising Early-Phase Clinical Trial Results Against Stage IV Her-2+ Breast Cancer 

"Promising clinical trial results presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2015 show activity of the investigational anti-cancer agent ONT-380 against HER2+ breast cancer, in one case specifically against brain metastases and in another case in overall survival of heavily pretreated HER2+ breast cancer patients.

"I am thrilled to have been able to offer this therapy to a patient in her early 40s. She didn't have any other great treatment options that we would have expected to have any meaningful impact, especially on her brain. Now she's been on the study over a year. The mets in her body are gone and the brain lesion has shrunk down to a little nubbin. She's living a normal life, fretting about the family business and how the kids are doing -- normal stuff," says Virginia Borges, MD, MMSc, director of the Breast Cancer Research Program and Young Women's Breast Cancer Translational Program at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and one of the study's authors."

Study Shows Complete Response for Some Patients with Metastatic TNBC 

"Immunomedics, Inc., (IMMU) today announced that among 49 patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) evaluated for response to treatments with sacituzumab govitecan in a mid-stage clinical study, 31%, or 15 patients, showed a reduction in tumor size of 30% or more. They include 2 patients with complete response. Response assessments were based on the rules set by the Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST 1.1). Adding the 22 patients with responses between less than 30% tumor shrinkage and less than 20% tumor increase, the disease control rate was 76%. . . .

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated sacituzumab govitecan a Fast Track development program for the treatment of patients with TNBC who have failed prior therapies for metastatic disease and patients with small-cell or non-small cell lung cancers."

And Promising News on the Cancer Front in General (out of the ASCO 2015 Annual Meeting)

"A new drug that unleashes the body’s immune system to attack tumors can prolong the lives of people with the most common form of lung cancer, doctors reported on Friday, the latest example of the significant results being achieved by this new class of medicines.

In a separate study, researchers said they had found that a particular genetic signature in the tumor can help predict which patients could benefit from the immune-boosting drugs.

The finding could potentially extend use of these drugs to some patients with colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and other tumors that have seemed almost impervious to the new drugs. Most of the substantial results so far with these expensive drugs have been in treating melanoma and lung cancer."

A Way to Eliminate Many Types of Cancer Cells -- At Least in Mice

"A type of immune cell can be primed to attack and eliminate various kinds of malignant cancers in mice, according to a study by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

The researchers studied mouse models of melanoma, pancreatic, breast and lung cancer and found that their technique could eliminate not only primary tumors, but also distant metastases throughout the body.

“The potency is impressive,” said Edgar Engleman, MD, PhD, a professor of pathology and of medicine at Stanford and the senior author of the study. “You actually see tumor eradication.”"

Around the Web

I took a break from the internet for most of last week (with the exception of this post)...

So this happened today. World, meet Luna.

A photo posted by Jen Campisano (@jencampisano) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:55pm PST

Between chemo last Monday, Thanksgiving on Thursday, and family in town, I hardly turned on my computer. My dad and his wife came to visit for the week. We only debated a little bit about the recent elections, we ate turkey and pumpkin pie until our bellies ached, and we watched football (where Chris and Quinn cheered for the "Go Niners" and the rest of us celebrated the Seahawks).

And we adopted a dog.

It was exactly the week I needed. How about you? How did you spend your holiday?

Now to panic since it's December and I haven't started Christmas shopping yet. In the meantime, here's what caught my attention on the web over the past couple of weeks.

How Some Breast Cancers Become Resistant to Targeted Drugs

"The team determined that the tumors had developed six different mutations that led to drug resistance. But the result of all these mutations was the same: The tumors had lost the ability to express a protein called PTEN.

The findings suggest a new approach for combating drug resistance by taking advantage of the fact that not all PI3K inhibitors work using the same mechanism."

And What if We Could Drain Cancer's "Fuel Tank"?

They're not talking about dieting to starve a cancer cell.

"Blocking cancer cells' ability to generate the energy they need to grow and divide is an exciting new avenue for future cancer treatments. This research suggests that MCT inhibitors may be particularly effective against breast cancer 'stem cells' that can resist other treatments, and could prevent the cancer from coming back - but further work is needed to find out if these drugs can help patients. Cancer Research UK is funding trials of these drugs in a range of cancer types."

What if We Could Track Circulating Tumor Cells in the Bloodstream?

Before they settle down and form tumors, before they metastasize.

"Once they identified the cancer cells, the researchers were able to separate them from normal cells. This ability to isolate, culture and grow the cancer cells will allow researchers to zero in on the cancer cells that matter to the health of the patient. Most circulating tumor cells may not metastasize, and analysis of the cancer cells could identify those that will."

Are Preventative Surgeries Worth the Risk?

"For Mimi Cavalheiro, who is genetically at risk for both breast and ovarian cancers, the question of a diagnosis is not an “if” but “when.”

Cavalheiro is one of about 100 Bay Area women between 35 and 50 years old with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations who are participating in a clinical trial that is examining changes in cardiovascular health, bone density, sexual function, quality of life and other effects on women who go into early menopause."

And, Yet... New Analysis Shows the Risks for a Secondary Breast Cancer are Significant in Those with Gene Mutations

We're talking about the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations again here.

"Women who are genetically susceptible to breast cancer and develop it in one breast are at higher than average risk for a tumor in the other breast, and that risk may increase as time goes on, according to a new analysis."

Why Does Immunotherapy Work in Some Patients But Not Others?

Memorial Sloan Kettering scientists may have some answers.

"'For the first time, it might be feasible to develop a reliable diagnostic test to help guide treatment decisions by predicting who will respond,' says physician-scientist Timothy Chan, who led the research. The findings could also inspire new research that potentially may lead to more-powerful immunotherapies for melanoma as well as for other cancers."

A Test for Mutations in Blood Cancers Could Provide More Treatment Options

“This is really the way of the future,” Steensma said. “We are going to be practicing medicine not based on how cells look under the microscope, but rather on what makes a disease tick.”

Around the Web

Suddenly, it's almost the end of October. The pink parade is tapering off, and I hope starting to change directions toward a more educated discussion, toward more action, toward life-saving research. I'm back to digging up the research I can find to share it with you here, back to writing my book (seriously, honestly, I'm almost done), back to brainstorming ideas for getting our voices heard.

On that note, don't forget to vote next week. Have you heard how important it is to speak up for yourself?

Here's what's caught my attention around the web in the last couple of weeks. As always, please feel free to send me anything you think should be featured here.

Oh, Komen. When Will You Learn?

Or, why so many of us are opposed to a $100,000 donation to the largest breast cancer organization on the planet.

{photo credit}

Fast-Tracking FDA Approval for One Drug to Treat Metastatic Breast Cancer

"The CDK 4/6 inhibitor has already won breakthrough drug status at the FDA. The PDUFA date for palbociclib will fall on April 13, 2015, as Pfizer seeks an OK to market it for women with advanced or metastatic ER+, HER2- breast cancer."

Lung Cancer Can Lie Dormant for Two DECADES

Just in time for Halloween, this spooky story might change how we look at cancers long-term (and help explain why it is typically so much better to treat cancers early in their lifespan). 

"By the time patients are sick enough to be diagnosed with cancer, their tumors will have developed down multiple evolutionary pathways, making it extremely hard for any one targeted medicine to have an effect.

The findings show the pressing need to detect lung cancer before it has shape-shifted into multiple malignant clones."

Starving Cancer Cells (But Not in the Way You Might Think)

There is plenty of talk out there about diets and cancer (avoid sugar, eat plant-based diets, drink alkaline water, etc.) All of that is well and good and may ultimately help fuel your body to better stave off cancer to begin with.  But here is some research suggesting that cancer cells that metastasize do consume a special diet, fed by a certain protein. Scientists are looking at ways to starve those cells.

"In other words, some cancer cells are programmed to eat at home, while others have a special diet that allows them to travel to other sites. If there was a therapeutic way to stop the migrating cells from packing a lunch ahead of time, it could potentially halt their journey. Suppressing PGC-1α appears to do just that."

Immunotherapy to Treat Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Results of a clinical trial to be announced at the annual Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio in December. Stay tuned...

I DO F*!king Love Science

This one is courtesy of my friend Ginelle. It's about using sound waves to open the blood-brain barrier to allow chemotherapeutic agents an entry point for a brief period in order to treat cancer that has spread to the brain (typically very difficult to do). Cool, cool stuff.

A Shout-Out to My Alma Mater

"The funds provided by the CDC will be used by the Breast Cancer Program to assemble education materials, enhance delivery of care for patients, develop individualized prescriptions for wellness and implement research discoveries for young women with breast cancer to reduce overall breast cancer death rates."

And Stem Cells to Deliver Cancer-Killing Toxins? Yes, Please.

"The study was published in the journal Stem Cells, and could represent a breakthrough in cancer research, allowing the cancerous cells to be killed and the healthy ones to remain intact, as the toxins in stem cells only target the cancerous cells. Scientists have applied for approval from the FDA to start the clinical trials of the method.

Experts praised the study as “the future” of cancer research.

“This is a clever study, which signals the beginning of the next wave of therapies. It shows you can attack solid tumors by putting minipharmacies inside the patient which deliver the toxic payload direct to the tumor,” Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, who was not participating in the study, told the BBC."

Around the Web

I've been a little remiss in posting these finds. Blame it on summer?

Our local public radio station did a piece earlier this week on summer seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The gist of it was that SAD is just as likely to hit Phoenicians in July and August as it is mid-westerners in February because we are stuck indoors just as much as those shoveling snow mid-winter. I don't think I need antidepressants to deal with Phoenix summers (yet; ask me next month when everyone else has moved on to pumpkin spice lattes and it is still well above 100 here).

But I do my best to get out of here as often as possible in the summer months. I'm limited by my chemo/lab schedule and our budget, but we get creative. Tag along when Chris has a conference in Portland in August? Sign me up. Drive to San Diego to stay with friends for a long weekend before Chris' semester starts again? Yes, please. If I could get away with it, I'd be a total snowbird. As it is, my head still thinks it's on summer vacation.

***

Here's what caught my attention on the web the last couple of weeks. See something you think I should include here? Please send me an email.

One More Reason to Limit Pasta?

If only I knew whether my tumor tissue had the IGF-1 receptor. . .  I'll admit I had toast (whole grain, smothered with mashed avocado and a drizzle of olive oil) for breakfast, and we eat pasta or pizza in our home about twice a week. I haven't changed my diet much since my diagnosis, since I've always aimed to eat pretty healthily. Tell me, how has your diet changed (if at all) because of cancer?

Another Gene Mutation to Blame for Breast Cancer

"The breast cancer risk for women younger than 40 with PALB2 mutation was eight to nine times as high as that of the general population."

Guess what I'll be talking to my oncologist about the next time I see him.

A Link Between the Pill and Breast Cancer. Are You Surprised?

"The pill is essential; not getting cancer is too. How do you choose what's more important—a lifetime of easy reproductive autonomy, or ratcheting down your risk of a deadly disease by marginal amounts?"

How Sleeping in Total Darkness May Help Fight Breast Cancer

You can turn off your iPad at night, but what if you work the night shift?

Immunotherapy Continues to Gain Traction

"We all get vaccinated when we are kids, and we know boosters can work for incredibly long periods of time,” Herbst explained. “That’s because the immune system has such a long memory. And with immunotherapy, if a tumor changes, the immune system can change to attack it too.”

And More Good News About Aspirin, Too

“People should talk to their doctors to make sure there’s no risk of bleeding, but the evidence is that everyone between 50 and 65 should consider aspirin.”

How Cancer Cells are Like Snowflakes and Fingerprints

"An important question about chemotherapy is whether resistant mutations already exist in a few rare cells in the tumour before treatment begins or whether they arise through natural selection as the cancer evolves during therapy."

I Hope This Isn't How My Colleagues/Friends/Neighbors Reacted to My Dx

At the very least, please see your doctor if you think something doesn't feel right.

A New Type of Therapy to Stop Metastases?

"Now, the duo have developed an improved version of their compound, which they hope will eventually prevent the cancers from spreading further once they have metastasized. And because it only blocks cancer cells from landing at their intended targets - it doesn't kill any cells, cancerous or not - the substance in theory is nontoxic."

Around the Web

We're in Northern California for Chris' 20-year high school reunion, which happened to coincide with the Sonoma County Fair. Next week, we'll be in Portland. Chris has a conference for work, and one of my best friends lives there. This guy and I are so happy to be out of Phoenix when it is 113 degrees.

We return just in time for another round of chemo for me on the same day I have my next scan and an EKG to make sure my heart is holding up to all these meds. I'm hoping the vacation will keep me from getting too anxious about the scan. I'll let you know how THAT pans out.

Anyway, here's what I found on the web this week.

A New Approach to Treating Cancer?

"Doctors need to ascertain which cell subgroups are truly driving the tumor’s growth and metastasis and select drugs that target the critical genes within those cells. It can be a mistake to assume that the largest, most dominant subgroup is the one to be targeted."

This Story Hit Close to Home

I would argue that having a toddler around helps make chemo bearable. It's hard to focus on how terrible you feel when you've got a child demanding that you build train tracks or watch another episode of Curious George with him.

Why Some Women Opt for Mastectomies (It's Not Just About Survival)

This story also hit close to home. 

Can Doctors Teach the Body to Cure Cancer?

More on immunotherapy and the future of cancer treatment.

Have an article you think I should include here? Email me at jen (dot) campisano (at) gmail. 

Around the Web

Here's what caught my attention around the web this week.

A paradigm shift.

I'm not sure I could fully adopt this woman's way of thinking, but I do think it's important to examine how we talk about disease. Are we battling? Are we warriors? Or are those of us diagnosed with cancer just doing the best we can with some shitty luck? 

One woman I know talks about shifting our thinking away from "fighting cancer" and more toward "creating health." Now that is an idea I can get behind. What about you? What words do you use to talk about cancer?

Why #BCSM is my favorite hashtag.

Most Monday nights, I'm not able to participate in the Tweet chat sessions accompanied by the #bcsm hashtag. But I still use it as a call signal when I'm feeling at my lowest, or when I have news to share, or when I want to talk to someone who knows exactly what it feels like to be buzzing on steroids at one in the morning. Someone always answers the call. If you haven't checked out the chats, you really, really should.

Joan Lunden has breast cancer.

I wish her the absolute best. I pray chemo is as easy as possible for her. I hope she uses her platform as a celebrity and journalist to shed some light on this disease -- to educate, not just bring "awareness."

A possible new way to fight some breast cancers

"[Researchers] found that women were 4.4 times more likely to have a cancer recurrence during tamoxifen treatment when their main tumor had a high ratio (2:1 or greater) of androgen receptor-positive cells to estrogen receptor-positive cells."

The 3D news that was everywhere this week

When I was first diagnosed, I was asked to volunteer for a 3D mammogram to help further research into whether such tools were beneficial. I don't know if my own 45-minute, highly uncomfortable session added anything to this particular study, but I'd like to think I helped a little. Now if only they could figure out a way to PREVENT or CURE breast cancers, instead of just seeing them.

On that note, some researchers are looking at immunotherapy for treating metastatic breast cancer, thank you and amen.

This: "Unlike maintenance chemotherapy, with its associated cumulative toxicity, a therapeutic vaccine may offer clinical benefit with few adverse effects. The hope and promise is that women with MBC who mount an antibody response to a vaccine may experience significantly longer median survival and a better quality of life."

And, I just realized this article was from 2013, so here's hoping those scientists have made some significant progress since then! I'll see what I can find out for next week's round-up.

Around the Web

Here's what I found this week. Have something you'd like me to feature here? Please leave a note in the comments or send me an email.

Reducing the risk of recurrence in hormone-sensitive cancers

"A new treatment option is more effective than tamoxifen at preventing a return of breast cancer in young women, according to the results of two international trials."

Still requires shutting down ovaries, unfortunately.

And another promising option for post-menopausal breast cancer patients

"The inexpensive anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) reverses resistance to tamoxifen, a widely used breast cancer drug, in mice."

Anti-malarial? Really?

(Thanks to my friend Andrea for this one.)

At least one insurance company using incentive program to "reign in costs"

Would you want your doctor receiving financial incentives from an insurance company for how he or she prescribes the medicine you'll receive? Would you care? In an era of more and more individualized medicine, I'd be concerned the quality of care was at risk. But maybe that's just me?

(Thanks to my friend Andrea for this one, too.)

Decoding the role immune cells have on metastases

"Normally, macrophages -- chubby cells with a big mouth-like orifice -- are friends, not foe. They gobble up dead tumor cells and virtually any kind of debris, including infectious organisms. Picture the old Pac-Man video game that consumed dots.

But macrophages, Egeblad said, also send signals in the vast communication network of the body allowing cells to "talk" to each other.

"What we found is that when you give chemotherapy, the macrophages come in and clean up all these dead cells but they are also sending signals to the [tumor] cells that are not killed in the first round of chemo. And those signals are making it easier for the tumor to bounce back after chemo," she said."

I had no idea cells could be chubby.

Immunotherapy is all the rage lately

"A promising new study from Mayo Clinic, in conjunction with Caris Life Sciences, points to immunotherapy as a possible treatment option for patients with the difficult-to-treat triple negative breast cancer mutation."

I sat in on a Twitter chat (tweet chat?) earlier this week that focused on immunotherapy and where it is headed. Big things are happening, if you believe all the scientists. All of us patients are trying to temper our excitement with the reality that many of these amazing/brilliant/promising results are still in the very early trial stages. But I am staying tuned...

A friend's cousin and her beautiful love story

Worth the read AND the incredible photos taken by my friend Kristi's wildly talented sister Joy Marie.