Debu Tripathy, M.D.

Lung cancer has gone from being a dismal diagnosis — it still is very serious — to one that is the poster child for targeted therapeutics, immunotherapy and molecular diagnostics. These advancements are just the beginning.

With immunotherapy continuing to command headlines in the world of oncology, it’s no surprise that patients with a variety of cancers wonder whether the strategy might help them address and overcome their illnesses.

Despite the many advances in cancer care in recent decades, one aspect that hasn’t seen much improvement is the detection of ovarian cancer in its earliest stages. Finding the disease sooner could have a big impact on survival compared with what is experienced with later diagnoses.

Never in their wildest dreams dreams would immunologists from the last generation have imagined chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy coming to light. The very notion of genetically engineering a T cell to recognize a tumor antigen would have been viewed almost as a pipe dream.

We now have scientific proof from randomized trials that our state of mind, how we experience symptoms and our levels of depression and anxiety can all be helped through structured programs that include modalities such as meditation/mindfulness, relaxation, yoga and music therapy.

FINANCIAL TOXICITY IS AN increasingly used term that describes the multiple negative consequences of medical care costs on the patient, whether it be for cancer or another serious illness.

THE TERM “BIOPSY” DATES to the 1800s. Tissue biopsies have served as the definitive way to confirm a diagnosis of cancer. However, much like cancer drug development is evolving, so is the way we can detect the disease, categorize it more precisely and, more recently, even pinpoint how to treat it.

In the fall issue of CURE, several feature stories have a commonality involving key principles of humanity that are often compromised for those living with cancer.

How treatment advancements are helping rare cancers

THE SUMMER ISSUE OF CURE® magazine features an update on brain tumors, a topic that has many connotations because of the aggressive nature of many types of brain cancers, but also because of the special organ this condition affects.

AN IMPORTANT GOAL FOR PATIENTS IS TO BALANCE LIMITED LONGEVITY WITH ENJOYMENT OF LIFE.

Understanding liver cancer is a crucial step toward the prevention of this rare condition.

Medical portability and communication are harbingers of health care revolution.

WE HAVE KNOWN THAT cancers evolve since we first started treating them with chemotherapy in the 1940s — and that, after responding, they could become resistant to treatment.

THE QUESTION ABOUT OBESITY is no longer whether or not it contributes to the development of cancer, but how much, and in whom. Most importantly, our question should be: What are we going to do about it?

WITH THREE “CHECKPOINT-INHIBITING” IMMUNOTHERAPIES NOW FDA-approved for the treatment of melanoma, we all need to be attuned to the unique grouping of side effects that can arise when patients take these medications.

IN THIS SPECIAL ISSUE OF CURE® magazine, we ask the question: Why is medication adherence an issue for drugs that can prolong the lives of people with cancer, and even potentially cure them of disease?

Biosimilars are changing the field — and the price — of cancer treatment, though some questions still remain.

IN THIS SPECIAL ISSUE of CURE®, among other highlights in the treatment of blood cancers, we detail yet another example of a new application for immunotherapy, this time focusing on the use of PD-1 (checkpoint) immunotherapy to treat Hodgkin lymphoma.

Ten years ago, patients with advanced RCC had very few treatment options, yet today, there are multiple therapeutic strategies and more in the pipeline for this not-very-common tumor type, writes our editor-in-chief, Debu Tripathy.

The treatment paradigm for soft tissue sarcomas is changing as the condition is becoming better understood.

At the genomic level, we now have the tools to detect multiple mutations in the billions of DNA base pairs of cancer cells of a given person’s tumor, and from that information, to select one of several targeted drugs that may be a “match” for that tumor.

While there has been remarkable progress in the treatment of lung cancer in recent years, there is still a much more work to be done.

Since chemotherapy can offer only a limited amount of help in fighting gastroesophageal cancers, a growing emphasis on prevention — as well as on the development of immunotherapies — will be extremely important.

For some patients with myeloma, new targeted drugs may be an alternative to stem cell transplant.

Why me? Why did I get cancer? This is the most common question asked upon diagnosis — we naturally seek an explanation for big events in life.

In lung cancer, prognoses are most dire when disease has reached stage 4, leaving patients, their doctors and the research community eager for improved treatment strategies.

Amid all the excitement over recently approved immunotherapies and targeted drugs for the treatment of later-stage melanoma is an important emerging message: In many cases, two is better than one.

Lack of adherence to orally administered drug regimens is a problem that deserves attention.