cancer recurrence

The chemotherapy drugs required to push a common form of adult leukemia into remission may contribute to DNA damage that can lead to a relapse of the disease in some patients, findings of a new study suggest.

Detecting breast cancer recurrence with a simple blood testPhysicians treating women with breast cancer recognize the need for a specific and sensitive method to monitor disease recurrence, so they should be encouraged by a new study that describes a biomarker that seems to fill those criteria. Researchers at the School of Medicine have shown that mammaglobin, a protein secreted by breast tumor cells, can readily be detected in the blood serum of patients with metastatic breast cancer using an inexpensive, reliable clinical test.

Detecting breast cancer recurrence with a simple blood test.Physicians treating women with breast cancer recognize the need for a specific and sensitive method to monitor disease recurrence, so they should be encouraged by a new study that describes a biomarker that seems to fill those criteria. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that mammaglobin, a protein secreted by breast tumor cells, can readily be detected in the blood serum of patients with metastatic breast cancer using an inexpensive, reliable clinical test.

GrigsbyDoctors regularly use positron emission tomography (PET) scans to diagnose cervical cancer, taking advantage of the technique’s ability to highlight metabolic differences in cancerous tissues. But PET is rarely used for follow-up assessment of cervical cancer patients after treatment. A study in the June 1 issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that post-treatment PET scans could help physicians better predict which patients are largely cancer-free as a result of their treatment and which patients may soon be likely to need additional treatment.