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Ten Surprising Places You’re Being Overexposed to Radiation

Radiation. The word alone scares us, but we’re exposed to it on a daily basis in some unlikely places. While there’s no reason to dictate where you go based on radiation, know that extreme exposure to certain types of radiation can be hazardous to your health. Illnesses include vomiting, nausea and in some cases, a loss of white blood cells (the good cells that fight bad germs in our system). Excessive cumulative exposure to radiation over many years should be avoided. So while our Cancer Blog! Typically talks about radiation oncology risks and side effects, we thought that it might be helpful to remind readers that radiation also comes from other sources.

Maureen Denard reviews the ten most surprising places that you might be exposed to radiation in her posting on http://www.msndegree.com/ and the article can be accessed by clicking here.

In summary, the 10 most surprising places are:
1. Airplanes
2. Living in the plateaus of New Mexico or Colorado
3. Color TV’s
4. Tobacco smoke
5. Military service
6. Packaged food
7. Working in hospitals or clinics where x-rays are performed
8. Smoke detectors
9. Camping out frequently
10. Radon gas


Her conclusion is simple – be aware and exercise caution. “Radiation can be hazardous, but with a heads-up on where you may be overexposed, you can live life carefully. Understand some instances that expose us to radiation are harmless because they’re in such small doses such as getting an x-ray or standing near a microwave, so there’s no need to overhaul your life to stay away from the scary buzzword.”

Remember, if you are out in the sun, we sell some excellent sun protection products on our website. They are SolRx Skin Care products and you can read about them by clicking here.

Coping With Cancer, What You Can Do To Reduce Stress

We recently came upon a fabulous cancer resource - a website called Coping With Cancer.
This month's feature article is entitled "What You Can Do to Reduce Stress" and is written by Reji Mathew, PhD. Here is a little excerpt from the article:
Stress management is an essential skill set for coping with a cancer diagnosis. Taking the time to learn how to manage stress can yield invaluable benefits; it can build your emotional resilience to buffer the ups and downs of treatment, boost immunity, and help you stay connected to what is meaningful in your life as you go through medical care.

To read the full article on Stress Management for Cancer Patients please click here.

Short Summaries from the European Society for Medical Oncology Conference

Erbitux, a product manufactured by Eli Lilly and Merck KGaA of Germany delayed the spread of breast cancer, when given in conjunction with cisplatin, by about two months in a study of women with metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) an aggressive breast tumor with few treatment options. Adding Erbitux to chemotherapy lengthened the time before progression from 1.5 months to 3.7 months according to a mid-stage Phase II study. Twenty percent of Erbitux patients saw their cancer shrink or disappear compared to ten percent of those on chemotherapy only. Erbitux is already approved for advanced colon cancer as well as head and neck tumors. In another finding relating to bowel cancer, the drug may not be effective with some oxaliplatin based chemotherapy combinations. To view a full press release from Reuters click here.

ImmunoGen, Inc. announced some encouraging clinical data for lorvotuzumab mertansine, a targeted anti cancer compound. Lorvotuzumab mertansine is designed to target and kill cancer cells that express CD56, a protein and uses ImmunoGen’s patented Targeted Antipbody Payload technology. This targeted compound (also called IMGN901) is a potential treatment for Merkel cell carcinoma, small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, multiple myeloma, and other CD56+ tumors. The finding was from an early stage clinical trial, and will have to be followed up with further disease specific studies. To read more about this study click here.

ImmunoGen TAP Technology Receives Endorsement from Novartis through Collaboration Agreement

ImmunoGen, Inc. announced on Monday 10/11 that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Novartis to discover and develop targeted anticancer therapeutics using antibodies to several antigen targets to be named by Novartis.
Novartis will pay a $45 million upfront fee to ImmunoGen for exclusive rights to the Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology with antibodies to a specified number of antigen targets. ImmunoGen is also entitled to receive milestone payments plus royalties on product sales for each target resulting in an anticancer therapeutic.
A TAP compound consists of a tumor-targeting manufactured antibody with one of ImmunoGen’s proprietary, highly potent cancer killing agents attached as a payload. The antibody serves to deliver the payload specifically to tumor cells, and the payload serves to kill these cells. Essentially it is as if a bomb is sent into the tumor, and explodes inside, killing the cancer cells, but preserving the surrounding tissue. The objective is more targeted delivery of chemotherapy and subsequently lower side effects. Described in a different way, the Company's proprietary TAP, technology combines extremely potent small molecule cytotoxic agents with monoclonal antibodies that bind specifically to cancer cells. The Company's TAP technology is designed to increase the potency of tumor-targeting antibodies and kill cancer cells with only modest damage to healthy tissue.
There are currently seven TAP compounds in the clinic, with a wealth of clinical data reported with the technology. ImmunoGen collaborative partners include Amgen, Bayer Schering Pharma, Biogen Idec, Biotest, Genentech (a member of the Roche Group), Sanofi-Aventis, and now Novartis. The most advanced compound using ImmunoGen's TAP technology, T-DM1, is in Phase III testing through the Company's collaboration with Genentech (as highlighted in our prior blog).
For more information about ImmunoGen you can view the comapany website: http://www.immunogen.com/wt/home/home
For the specific press release about the Novartis agreement click here.

Roche’s Drug T-DM1 for Breast Cancer – Phase II Results are “Stunning”

In advance of the oncology conference of the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) in Milan on Monday, Severin Schwan, Chief Executive Officer of Roche Holding AG announced his opinion that the data from the Phase II trial for T-DM1 was “stunning.” T-DM1is in clinical trials for breast cancer. It is the first of a new kind of “armed antibody” that can carry a cell-killing payload into cancer cells. The drug is being developed with partner ImmunoGen. T-DM1’s results were better than than that of Herceptin plus Taxotere. In addition, clinically adverse side effects were lower.
Herceptin, also a Roche drug, and currently has sales of about $5 billion annually.
More details will be released this week.

T-DM1 has advanced to Phase III testing.
For further details about this press information from Reuters please click here.

For products that can help alleviate unpleasant side effects from current breast cancer treatments including radiation and chemotherapy please view our website www.LotsToLiveFor.com

Celldex Brain Cancer Vaccine Update – More Good News on Immunotherapy

The Celldex Therapeutics Inc. vaccine brain cancer received an encouraging result according to US Researchers. Patients with the brain cancer glioblastoma who were treated with this vaccine lived nearly twice as long as those who received radiation and chemotherapy.

This type of cancer often kills patients within a year; patients rarely survive more than three years. In this study, many patients are still alive after five years.

The Celldex Therapeutics Inc. vaccine works by targeting a mutation in a gene called the epidermal growth factor receptor, which fuels cancer growth.

The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology online. Researchers contributing to the study were Dr. John Sampson of Duke University in conjunction with researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

To read more about this study access the article on Thompson Reuters here.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39505662/ns/health-cancer/

You can also refer to The Journal of Clinical Oncology here.
http://jco.ascopubs.org/

For products to help alleviate unpleasant and uncomfortable side effects of radiation and chemotherapy treatment, please click here.
http://www.LotsToLiveFor.com

A Different Approach to Clinical Trials for Breast Cancer – Personalized Treatments

A recent Wall Street Journal article entitled “A New Rx for Medicine” discussed an entirely new approach to clinical trials for potential breast cancer drugs. The trial, called I-Spy 2 is a joint study between Dr. Laura Esserman, Director of the Breast Care Center at the University of California, San Francisco, and Dr. Don Berry at the MD Anderson Hospital in Houston. I-Spy 2 attempts to match experimental drugs from three companies (currently testing 5 drugs from Abbot Laboratories, Amgen Inc, and Pfizer) with the patients who might have the best response to them, as determined by the molecular makeup of the patient’s tumor. It tests multiple drugs at once with the aim to get the most effective ones into later stage trials more quickly. Conventional treatment is also combined with the drugs being tested.

A few important and differentiating points about the trial are:
1. All tumors are tested for biomarkers or molecular traits.
2. The study focuses on women with aggressive breast cancers that have not spread to other organs.
3. MRI identification and evaluation of the tumor is performed periodically to check the size.
4. Chemotherapy is given before surgery (six months of treatment with chemotherapy)
5. Standard chemotherapy is used as well as the experimental agents.
6. All data and results are evaluated during the treatment as compared to conventional trials where the results may be blind until the study reaches completion.

“The goal is to pair drug and biomarker signatures and graduate them into a small phase III trial that has gotten rid of the subset of patients that don’t benefit” stated Dr. Berry.

To read the full Wall Street Journal Article please click here.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520190576846812.html

For products to help with side effects of chemotherapy and radiation please click here.
http://www.LotsToLiveFor.com