Prospective Phase II Trial of Prognostication by 68Ga-NOTA-AE105 uPAR PET in Patients with Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: Implications for uPAR-Targeted Therapy
Summary A novel PET radiotracer can accurately assess the presence of a biomarker that indicates the level of tumor aggressiveness in neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs). According to research published in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, the detection of the biomarker provides useful information for physicians to provide personalized care for patients with NENs and may also serve as a potential target for peptide radionuclide therapy (PRRT) for NEN patients.What is uPAR? Tumorigenesis (the production or formation of a tumour or tumours) is closely related to the loss of control of many genes. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR), a glycolipid-anchored…
Living with cancer: 5 tips for facing things you can’t control
I'm wired not to worry too much about something I cannot control. For example, I automatically ignore any concerns about being inside an imaging device and then having to wait for the results to come through. For me, I need to get the scan and I cannot control the results. The results will be what they will be, and I will react accordingly when I know them. I once wrote an article called "Scanxiety, I just don't get it". In hindsight, perhaps I was a bit harsh as not everyone is wired like me. However, perhaps presenting the reasons for…
A Study of CF33-hNIS (VAXINIA), an Oncolytic Virus, as Monotherapy or in Combination With Pembrolizumab in Adults With Metastatic or Advanced Solid Tumors (MAST)
A Study of CF33-hNIS (VAXINIA), an Oncolytic Virus, as Monotherapy or in Combination With Pembrolizumab in Adults With Metastatic or Advanced Solid Tumors (MAST)Neuroendocrine Neoplasms are considered solid tumours.Imugene Limited, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, and City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, today announced that the first patient was dosed in Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the safety of novel cancer-killing virus CF33-hNIS VAXINIA when used in people with advanced solid tumors. The City of Hope-developed oncolytic virus has been shown to shrink colon, lung, breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancer tumors…
Clinical Trial: Phase 1b/3 Targeted Alpha-Emitter PRRT RYZ101 (Ac225)
Update 27th Dec 2023. Bristol Myers Squibb Adds Premier Radiopharmaceutical Platform with Acquisition of RayzeBio This is a significant acquisition and shows the importance and percevied potential of radioligand therapy (RLT) in the commercial pharma world. BMS is a huge company and they paid a huge price for this alpha-emmitter therapy, probably looking forward to exploiting the vast potential in NET, Prostate and other cancer types being considered for treatment using RLTs. Click on the link below to read more Bristol Myers Squibb - Bristol Myers Squibb Adds Premier Radiopharmaceutical Platform with Acquisition of RayzeBio (bms.com) [glossary_dictionary term=""][glossary_thesaurus term=""][glossary_translate term=""]Update…
Lung nodules – something or nothing?
BackgroundA focus on the issue of Lung nodules given I see these mentioned all the time in my online patient group, on many occasions by a worried newly diagnosed patient who has just been told this was found during diagnostic scans. Sometimes a lung nodule is also called a ‘pulmonary’ nodule and the two phrases mean the same thing.A lung nodule is an abnormal growth that forms in a lung. You may have one nodule on the lung or several nodules. Nodules may develop in one lung or both. Most lung nodules are benign (not cancerous). Only rarely, lung nodules…
Awareness Post – Neuroendocrine Cancer in children and adolescents
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month! The newspapers and social media will no doubt be featuring many children's cancer articles. I personally cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to be a parent who has a child with cancer. I would just hope my child would be placed into the care and safe custody of experienced medical teams and would be able to get access to the best treatments available. In 2020. this case came up in my google alerts and was related to a family who live not far from me in the south of England. An…
Thyroid nodules – something or nothing?
I came across this excellent summary of Thyroid nodules from the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons which links to a similar European one. It confirms much of what I wrote in my blog post "Troublesome Thyroids" in regard to my own thyroid issues. I'm thankful to the AAES for promoting this on social media. I wanted to focus on the issue of Thyroid nodules given I see these mentioned all the time in my online patient group. Clearly, when you already have a cancer diagnosis, the discovery of more issues on top of that is of concern to patients. Many are incidental…
Management of asymptomatic sporadic non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms no larger than 2 cm: interim analysis of prospective ASPEN trial
One of the most controversial subjects in Neuroendocrine Neoplasms is the management of small non-functional (asymptomatic) pancreatic NETs (NF-PanNEN). In the most general terms, surgery is not recommended in tumours less than 2cm. Allowances are made for those who are functional (i.e. symptomatic with one of several syndrome possibilities) or where the tumour is threatening important vessels (i.e. pre-emptive surgery). Normally watching and waiting is recommended. I wrote more detail in an earlier blog - Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumours - to cut or not to cut Some patients opt (or push for) a non-guideline surgery regardless and as one other patient…