Oncology

Lung cancer stands as a leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, characterized by high mortality rates due to frequent late-stage detection, as early phases are often asymptomatic. This article offers an in-depth analysis of lung cancer, covering its development, main risk factors—such as smoking, environmental pollutants, genetic predisposition, and pre-existing lung conditions—and examining its prevalence both worldwide and within India, where rising tobacco use and pollution contribute to increasing cases. It distinguishes between the two primary types, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC), and describes their progression stages. The article also explores current treatment options, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, while offering self-care strategies for patients. Emphasizing prevention, early detection, and lifestyle adjustments, the piece encourages proactive risk management to mitigate the global impact of lung cancer and improve patient outcomes. Read More

The blog “A Deeper Dive into Understanding Breast Cancer” explains the disease’s development, risk factors, and treatment options. Breast cancer begins in the milk ducts or lobules and can spread if untreated, becoming life-threatening. Risk factors include genetic mutations (like BRCA1/BRCA2), hormonal influences, and lifestyle choices such as obesity and alcohol consumption. Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with rising rates, especially in India. Early detection through screening and genetic testing is key to improving survival rates. The article also describes various breast cancer types and stages, highlighting that treatment options include surgery, chemotherapy, and hormonal or targeted therapies. Lastly, it emphasizes prevention through regular self-exams, a healthy lifestyle, and awareness campaigns to encourage early diagnosis. Read More

Cancer cases in India are expected to rise 12.8% by 2025 due to mutations in genes that impact, protein expression, and alter cells. Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells (CAR-T) are genetically modified fusion proteins that can be expressed and transfused into patients. CAR-redirected T cells offer a promising cell-based immunotherapy method that can enhance and maintain antitumor GVL response without major histocompatibility complex restriction. The structure of CARs includes an intracellular signaling domain, a transmembrane domain, and an extracellular domain. The importance of single-chain variable fragment (scFv) in CAR-T cell therapy is due to their complete antigen-binding capability, which allows for faster and more even penetration to tumors and other tissues. Five generations of CAR-T cells have been created since 1989, with the first generation having limited expansion and persistence due to lack of a costimulatory signal. The manufacturing process for CAR T cells involves stimulating, transducing, expanding, and cryopreserving T cells under Good Manufacturing Practices conditions. This blog describes the evolution and brief applications of approved CART cell therapy. Read More

Glioblastoma (GBM) are the most prevalent type of primary malignant brain tumor in adults that can develop in the brain stem, cerebellum, or spinal cord. Temozolomide (TMZ) is an alkylating agent that is used to treat adults with newly diagnosed GBM and resistant anaplastic astrocytoma who have progressed on a nitrosourea and procarbazine-containing therapy regimen. Ferroptosis, a novel form of programmed cell death, plays a crucial role in glioblastoma therapy. Cell membrane damage produced by mechanisms such as intracellular iron build-up, reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity failure, and x-catenin (xCT) causes ferroptosis (iron dependent programmed cell death). This blog discusses the molecular mechanisms of ferroptosis, its application, and challenges in the development and treatment of glioblastoma. GBM invasiveness and treatment resistance may increase if ferroptosis is avoided due to changes in glucose, lipid, glutamine, and iron metabolism. Targeting ferroptosis, which involves fatal phospholipid peroxidation due to dysregulated redox homeostasis and cellular metabolism, could be a promising treatment for GBM, as it is essential for tumor cell viability. Read More

Breast cancer is a diverse disease with varying clinical presentations, morphologic features, and molecular characteristics. It is influenced by various genetic pathways and is a major trend in breast cancer care. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a major trend, requiring integrated multidisciplinary care from pathologists, radiologists, surgeons, and oncologists. Anti-HER2 therapy has improved clinical results for HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Pertuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, targets the extracellular dimerization domain of HER2, inhibiting downstream signaling and cell survival pathways. It is used in conjunction with trastuzumab and docetaxel to treat HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. In addition to directly encouraging the death of cancer cells, monoclonal antibodies also trigger immunological activation, which is deadly to tumour cells. Pertuzumab possesses the capability to elicit immune effector responses, including cell-mediated cytotoxicity that is dependent on antibodies. The antibody targets the PI3K/AKT and RAS/MEK/ERK pathways, protecting normal cells from suicide. It can activate immunological effector mechanisms, such as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Trastuzumab and pertuzumab function in complementary ways, highlighting the importance of understanding the biology of this devastating disease. This blog focuses on the mechanism of pertuzumab in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant treatment. Read More

Therapeutic agents in cancer treatment are aimed at rapidly dividing cells, limiting their multiplication, and promoting apoptosis. The lack of selectivity of these conventional methods resulted in needless damage to normal cells leading to severe adverse effects. Nanotechnology in medicine gratifies the constraint in conventional treatment by delivering conventional drugs to the targeted tissue or organ and plays an important role in targeting the delivery, thereby avoiding systemic toxicity and increasing the bioavailability and therapeutic index of the drug. The advantage of using nanoparticles as drug carriers are in their binding competence and reversing multidrug resistance. Using active and passive targeting strategies, nanoparticles enhance intracellular drug concentrations. The present review focuses the on the basic pathophysiology of cancer and the various types of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems that have been explored so far, taking advantage of the tumor vasculature and other molecular mechanisms which differentiates cancer cells from normal ones, for the delivery of anticancer therapeutics for effective management of cancer. The article also aims to focus on the various surface-engineered nanoparticles for the targeted delivery of cancer. Read More

In the journey of our Cancer Immunotherapy blog series, let us introduce CAR-T cell therapy, another milestone in recent years in the field of immunotherapy that has revolutionized the modern medicine. Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy utilizes T-cells, a type of white blood cell (immune cells), to fight cancer by engineering them ex vivo prior to infusing back into the patient. These CAR T-cells can specifically find and destroy cancerous cells. CAR T-cell therapy is a type of cell-based gene therapy or Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT) as it involves gene alteration of T-cells that enables them to attack specific cancer cells. Read More

Cancer is a primary leading disease for mortality in the world. Immunotherapy is the latest trend for curing cancer and thus biopharmaceutical industry has developed a keen interest and manufactured several drug products such as monoclonal antibodies for immunotherapy. Programmed Cell Death Protein 1 (PD-1) evades immune response and promotes self-tolerance by modulating the activity of T-cells, activating apoptosis of antigen-specific T cells, and inhibiting apoptosis of regulatory T-cells. On the other hand, Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a trans-membrane protein and it’s a co-inhibitory factor of the immune response1. Cancer Immunotherapy has been designed to increase the specificity and strength of the immune system against cancer. James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering a cancer treatment by suppressing negative immunomodulation. Read More