Fox Chase Cancer Center News

PHILADELPHIA (October 18, 2015) — Men’s health supplements, which are often marketed as having “clinically proven” anti-cancer or healing effects, do not actually provide significant clinical benefits to prostate cancer patients, according to new research by Fox Chase Cancer Center – Temple Health investigators. The first-of-its-kind study reveals that these supplements do not significantly help to prevent distant metastasis, cancer-related death, or adverse effects in prostate cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. The findings were presented October 18 at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in San Antonio, Texas.

PHILADELPHIA (October 18, 2015) — Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer found in men in the United States, affecting 14 percent, whereas diabetes affects about 9 percent of the population. Even though both conditions are often present in the same individual, it has not been clear how a diabetes diagnosis affects clinical outcomes for prostate cancer. Research at Fox Chase Cancer Center – Temple Health showed that the answer depends on what type of anti-diabetic drugs, if any, prostate cancer patients are taking.

PHILADELPHIA (October 7, 2015) – Fox Chase Cancer Center has partnered with Temple University Athletics to host the 5th Annual Celebration for Survivors. Patients, caregivers, staff, faculty, volunteers and friends will celebrate survivorship by tackling cancer as the undefeated Temple Owls host the University of Central Florida Knights. Past celebrations have included a combination of food tasting, mural making and music.

An international team of researchers, including medical oncologist Lori J. Goldstein, MD, from Fox Chase Cancer Center, has been looking at reparixin, an investigational study drug that targets breast cancer stem cells.

PHILADELPHIA (October 1, 2015) –Take a Sunday stroll with your dog and enjoy the fall weather while raising money for cancer research at Fox Chase Cancer Center’s 16th annual Paws for the Cause. Join patient ambassador and prostate cancer survivor Arland Hotchkiss and his dog pal Rafa on Sunday, October 18, 2015, from 9 am to 12 noon and enjoy music, food, pet photos, contests and prizes, rescue organizations and pet-related vendors. Dawn Timmeney of Fox 29 News and her dog, Bhodi, will return as guest hosts for the event, which has raised more than $275,000 to date.

PHILADELPHIA (September 27, 2015) – Effective treatment options are limited for patients with nonsquamous non–small-cell lung cancer whose disease has progressed after initial treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy. A phase-3, randomized, open-label international clinical trial showed significantly longer median overall survival with nivolumab (Bristol-Myers Squibb) immunotherapy than with docetaxel (Sanofi-Aventis) for these patients. The trial results were presented at The European Cancer Congress 2015 and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

PHILADELPHIA (September 3, 2015) – Drugs that target key proteins involved in cholesterol metabolism could represent a promising new treatment strategy for a broad range of cancers, according to research by Fox Chase Cancer Center investigators. The study, published September 3rd in Cell Reports, reveals that deficiency in the enzymes SC4MOL and NSDHL depletes cancer cells of cholesterol, thereby inhibiting tumor growth in a mouse model of skin cancer. Moreover, treatments that target this cholesterol pathway sensitize cancer cells to the effects of an FDA-approved drug used to treat several types of cancer.

PHILADELPHIA (September 1, 2015) – Suzanne M. Miller, PhD, has been appointed the next editor-in-chief of Translational Behavioral Medicine: Practice, Policy, Research, a journal of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

Dr. Miller’s career has focused on psychology and oncology. She is a professor of cancer prevention and control at Fox Chase Cancer Center, where she also serves as director of the Psychosocial and Bio-Behavioral Medicine Department.

Translational Behavioral Medicine (TBM) fills an important niche by bringing actionable science to practitioners and by prompting debate on policy issues that surround the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based health interventions.