Cancer Information Highlights, August 8, 2018

National Cancer Institute

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Cancer Information Highlights
From the National Cancer Institute
Updating you about cancer causes, prevention, screening, treatment, coping, and more
 
New from NCI
Immune Cells Linked to Diarrhea Caused by Chemotherapy
receptor on immune cells called macrophages   A study in mice sheds light onto how some chemotherapies cause diarrhea. The findings could be the basis for developing new treatments for patients with cancer who develop gastrointestinal side effects from chemotherapy.
FDA Changes Approved Use of Drugs for Bladder Cancer
Several drugs that target immune checkpoint proteins like PD-1 and PD-L1 are approved to treat bladder cancer.   The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has changed the approved uses of two checkpoint inhibitors, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq), to treat the most common form of bladder cancer. The change is based on whether patients’ tumors have a specific biomarker.
Free NCI E-Books Now Available in Google Play

NCI’s popular patient education e-books are now available for download through Google Play.
Aggressive Prostate Cancer More Common Than Expected

Researchers have found that men with advanced prostate cancer may be more likely than previously thought to develop a more aggressive form of the disease.
 
PDQ Summary Updates
Male Breast Cancer Treatment

We’ve revised our PDQ summary on male breast cancer treatment with updated information about signs of the disease and standard treatment options.
Melanoma Treatment

We’ve updated this PDQ summary to include information on the use of talimogene laherparepvec (a type of oncolytic virus therapy) as a standard treatment option for stage III melanoma that cannot be removed by surgery, stage IV melanoma, and recurrent melanoma.
Ovarian Epithelial, Fallopian Tube, and Primary Peritoneal Cancer Symptoms, Tests, Prognosis, and Stages

We’ve revised our PDQ summary on ovarian cancer with updated information about risk factors for this disease.
 
Drug Information Updates
Enzalutamide for Prostate Cancer

We’ve updated our summary on enzalutamide (Xtandi) to reflect FDA’s expanded approval of the drug for patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer. The expanded approval covers nonmetastatic and metastatic disease. The previous approval was limited to patients with metastatic disease.
New Approval for Certain Colorectal Cancers

We’ve updated our drug information summary on ipilimumab (Yervoy), which was recently approved by FDA to be used with nivolumab to treat certain types of colorectal cancer in adults and children 12 years and older.
New Drug for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

We’ve added a new drug summary for ivosidenib (Tibsovo), which FDA recently approved to treat recurrent or refractory AML that has a certain genetic mutation.
 
Also of Interest
Infographic—How Genetic Information Creates Proteins

DNA contains instructions for making proteins, and proteins control millions of functions in our cells and bodies. This infographic illustrates how parts of DNA called genes are copied into RNA and RNA is then translated into proteins.
Follow-Up Medical Care for Survivors

All cancer survivors should have follow-up care once they’ve finished with treatment. Learn about follow-up plans, how to get one, questions to ask your doctor after treatment ends, and guidelines for living a healthy lifestyle.
Patient Education Publications

NCI's popular patient education publications are available in a variety of formats. See our entire list, where you can download an e-book or print a PDF.