What Are Patients and Caregivers Talking About? Lung Cancer Biomarkers

What Are Patients and Caregivers Talking About? Lung Cancer Biomarkers By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Since the FDA approved the first targeted treatment for NSCLC in 2003, treatment decisions for NSCLC are increasingly made based on individual genomics.1,2  There are now 20 distinct biomarkers that serve as identification points differentiating cancer cells from healthy cells and distinguishing one expression of cancer from another. Science has progressed from identifying tumor cells on a slide to genetic and biochemical identification of NSCLC’s driving agents. Pharma companies are developing and improving increasingly targeted treatments.3 The science is also revealing just [...]

Engaging with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients and Caregivers

Engaging with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients and Caregivers By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH The word “Earth” doesn’t reflect the complexity and diversity of the planet. Similarly, the term “lung cancer” only identifies the location of the cancer. There are two general categories, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC), differentiated by cell size, characteristics, treatments and prognosis. Genetic research continues to differentiate lung cancers at a molecular level, revealing subtypes within those categories, creating opportunities for increasingly targeted therapies. For example, since eight driver mutations have been [...]

Genetic and Cellular Studies Carve New Pathways to Treating Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Genetic and Cellular Studies Carve New Pathways to Treating Ovarian Cancer By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Ovarian, fallopian tube cancer and primary peritoneal cancer are often grouped under the name epithelial ovarian cancer. When classified as subcategories of ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal cancers and fallopian tube cancers are considered rare. The incidence rate of primary peritoneal cancer is estimated to be 6.78 per million.1 Fallopian tube cancers have been thought to be “very rare,” accounting for 1-2% of all gynecologic cancers.2 Because these cancers are usually advanced by the time they are diagnosed, it has been difficult [...]