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BALTIMORE--"Genetic testing may soon become another routine tool of medicine," Barbara Biesecker, MS, said at a Johns Hopkins conference on genetic testing for adult onset disorders. Making genetic testing routine will require training more professionals in genetic counseling and overcoming a number of myths that have accumulated around the field, said Ms. Biesecker, co-director of the Genetic Counseling Research and Training Program of the NIH’s Medical Genetics Branch.

Dr. Paul Cinciripini and I wrote an article entitled, "Smoking Cessation: Recent Developments in Behavioral and

Data from a phase I clinical trial of CT-2584, a novel small-molecule, anticancer, antiangiogenesis drug under investigation for the treatment of chemotherapy-resistant (advanced and refractory) cancers were presented at the 34th Annual Meeting of

BOTHELL, Washington--CellPro, Incorporated has received FDA approval for label expansion of the company’s Ceprate SC Stem Cell Concentration System to include the processing of peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) to obtain a CD34+ cell enriched population for use as hematopoietic support after myeloablative chemotherapy in patients with CD34-negative tumors.

SAN FRANCISCO--Whether to administer genetic testing to a patient is a complex issue, Patrice Watson, PhD, of Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, said at the American Cancer Society Second National Conference on Cancer Genetics.

WASHINGTON--Americans want cancer cured. Polls show it. Letters to Congress and newspapers say so, and so do calls to talk shows. But will Americans in large numbers turn out here and in cities across the country to demand greater action against the nation’s second leading killer? That’s the question confronting organizers of "The March: Coming Together to Conquer Cancer," the Sept. 26 event, to be held in Washington and more than 75 cities nationwide, that seeks "to make cancer the Number One national health care priority."

If patients with terminal cancer are to participate in making good treatment choices, their physicians must clearly and honestly

BETHESDA, Md--With tobacco legislation stalled on Capitol Hill, Vice President Gore preached the antismoking gospel at a cathedral of the committed--the National Institutes of Health--where he urged Congress to pass a comprehensive tobacco bill and announced that the National Cancer Institute plans to allocate an additional $38 million for research on smoking prevention and cessation programs.

SAN FRANCISCO--Clinical specialist nurses from around the country are working together to create a curriculum that will educate other nurses about biotherapies used to treat certain cancers in combination with chemotherapy. The group met at the Oncology Nursing Society meeting to discuss the project.

WASHINGTON--House Republican leaders delayed introducing the tobacco legislation they promised after the Senate defeated a comprehensive anti-smoking bill in June. This allowed House members the opportunity during Congress’ August recess to hear what their constituents thought about the issues of smoking, raising tobacco taxes, and strengthening the federal government’s role in regulating the tobacco industry.

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario, Canada--There has been little research into the long-term psychosocial effects of surviving childhood cancer. As the numbers of survivors grow, it has become apparent that this population has increased anxiety and concerns, and that a model to understand these effects is needed, Wendy Hobbie, RN, said at the 5th International Conference for Long-Term Complications of Treatment of Children and Adolescents for Cancer, hosted by Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

GENEVA--Researchers at the 12th World AIDs Conference presented a number of papers on the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to reduce viral load in people infected with HIV. Perhaps the most dramatic illustration of the impact of HAART on individual patients was Mark Harrington’s presentation: "N of One Study: My Lymph Node During Asymptomatic, Progressive, and Post-HAART Disease."

ORLANDO--An increasing number of bone marrow transplants (BMTs) are being done on an outpatient basis. According to ELM Services, Inc., an oncology consulting firm, the outpatient cancer market will grow from reimbursements of $85 billion in 1990 to $290 billion in the early part of the next century, dwarfing growth in the inpatient market.

WASHINGTON--A federal judge has ruled that FDA regulations governing the dissemination of research data supporting the off-label uses of approved drugs and medical devices violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.

BRISTOL, UK--A life-size model of a face with the look, feel, and color of real tissue allows medical students to recognize a wide variety of skin lesions--basal cell carcinomas, malignant melanomas, cysts, and warts--and practice a number of procedures, including lesion removal and planning of incisions.

Thiamine, which is usually given in excess to many cancer patients, should be carefully regulated in people undergoing cancer therapy, new research shows.

In a case with potentially national ramifications, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan has agreed to pay for high-dose chemotherapy with bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplant support for cancer patients who were formerly denied coverage.

BETHESDA, Md--The Food and Drug Administration’s Biological Response Modifiers Advisory Committee voted to recommend approval of Stemgen (amcestim, r-metHuSCF), in combination with Neupogen (filgrastim, G-CSF), for use in mobilizing peripheral blood progenitor cells in cancer patients who undergo autologous stem-cell transplants in conjunction with high-dose chemotherapy. Both drugs are manufactured by Amgen, Inc.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) announced that it has received a $1 million dollar unrestricted grant from Genentech, Inc. The grant, which will be provided over a 2-year period, will be used to support the development and

WASHINGTON--A Federal appeals court has ruled that regulation of tobacco rests with Congress, not the FDA. In a 2-to-1 vote, a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Richmond, Va, overturned a lower court ruling that had upheld FDA’s right to regulate tobacco.

The results of six studies examining novel cancer-fighting approaches designed to target cancer cells while potentially leaving healthy cells intact were discussed at a press conference held at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical

SAN DIEGO--Researchers are becoming more optimistic about the possible benefits of recombinant vaccines in fighting carcinomas, Jeffrey Schlom, PhD, said at the American College of Physicians annual session.

Adding low doses of angiostatin--a naturally produced substance that inhibits angiogenesis--to standard radiation therapy dramatically improves the response to cancer treatment in animal models without increasing toxicity, report researchers from

BETHESDA, Md--Compliance problems cost millions of lives each year because patients fail to show up for screening, fail to come in for follow-up visits, don’t stick to their medications, or revert to unhealthy behavior, said Suzanne M. Miller, PhD, director of Psychosocial and Behavior Medicine, and senior member, Division of Population Science, Fox Chase Cancer Center.

WASHINGTON--A complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) accuses five major tobacco companies of violating federal law by indicating they would pay for advertising to support the re-election bids of senators who voted against comprehensive tobacco legislation.

COLUMBUS, Ohio--The evaluation of a cancer patient’s complaint of pain should include an assessment of a variety of characteristics, including psychosocial and emotional factors, said Neil MacDonald, MD, director of the Cancer Ethics Programme, Center for Bioethics, Clinical Research Institute of Montreal.

SAN DIEGO--Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, have been monitoring the institution’s transplant patients for quality of life (QOL) for more than two decades, Keith Sullivan, MD, of the Department of Medical Oncology, said at the Sixth International Symposium on Recent Advances in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, sponsored by the University of California, San Diego.

Mary Horowitz, MD, MS scientific director of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry and the Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry (IBMTR/ABMTR) at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has been awarded a 5-year, $9.5

GENEVA--Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), usually including a protease inhibitor, can suppress human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) so much that the immune system actually begins to heal, according to work presented at the 12th World Conference on AIDS. In patients who respond well to HAART, CD4+ and CD8+ cell counts move toward normal, and the risk of opportunistic infections decreases (see Oncology News International, August, 1998, pp 1 and 20).

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Recent clinical reports of nontraditional analgesics, like calcitonin, gabapentin (Neurontin), and tramadol (Ultram), suggest that these drugs may successfully control cancer pain in some patients, said Mary Beth Shirk, PharmD, clinical assistant professor, College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University. In some patients, the drugs have been shown to be effective against neuropathic pain.