PROGRESS REPORT

                 A WARM DAY, ON SANTORINI

Here is a summary of recent research directions specific to ovarian cancer.  As we all know by now, immunotherapy has been disappointing in the treatment of OVCA, although to this the author is cautiously (and vaguely) optimistic.  Several treatments that help prolong life are mentioned – including PARPi, with which you are already familiar.  Acronyms you might not recognize are TP53 inhibitors, and Wee 1 inhibitors.  Both interfere with cell division and thus “inhibit” the proliferation of fast-dividing cancer cells.  Alas, not cures, but helpful all the same.

This is an oral presentation, which I was unable to play owing to the fact that my computer was designed sometime in the 19^th century.  Fortunately, a printed summary also is required.  I wonder what I missed.

https://www.targetedonc.com/view/future-directions-in-ovarian-cancer 

 

 

HEALTH ADVICE FROM THE STOCK MARKET

                 Two of my all-time favorite creatures

I am almost ashamed of this posting.  Almost.  I found it trolling for stock-market tips, but subsequently verified it with some legitimate bio-investigation.  It appears that an outfit that calls itself Clovis Oncology has ascertained that its new oral drug Rubraca improves PFS (Progression Free Survival) to a significant degree.  While not the Holy Grail, this certainly is welcome progress. Clovis stock promptly shot up 17%.

 If you have OVCA, heaven forfend, make sure your oncologist knows about this new stuff.

Note that I am definitely not recommending that you sink your nest egg into Clovis stock (CLVS; $6.14/share as of right now).  As far as I can see, Clovis has yet to make a profit.  But I hope someday soon they do.

ANOTHER "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW" ESSAY

                  Linda and her Mom on Marion's wedding day

I know, you probably are getting tired of me shirking my duties and simply referring you to the latest “everything you need to know” article, but this one really is useful and you should read it.  Besides, I know you mainly look at my blogs for the pretty pictures of Linda.

https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/explore-ovarian-cancer-treatments-through-clinical-trials 

 

CHRONIC PAIN" WHO NEEDS IT?

              TWO OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE

NIH Director Francis Collins has newly blogged about a very interesting and important biochemical development; a means to combat chronic pain. 

I can imagine nothing much worse than living with chronic pain.  Hell, there are nights – not many of them, thankfully – when a tiny little ache somewhere in my aging body will require me to choose between several undesirable courses of action:  either gulp down more pain pills than are good for me, or gut it out, lose sleep, and feel like crap the next day.   Admittedly, I’m no hero, but I can’t imagine surviving with serious pain that never lets up.  Some cancer patients on chemo experience just that.  I hope this discovery helps.

It appears that a scientist at UC San Diego, assisted by 13 graduate students and post docs -  no wonder these guys are so productive! – has found a way to deactivate a gene that plays a major role in the “pain” experience.  He got the idea from studying the genomes of those rare persons born with a total inability to hurt.  (Did you know such folks existed?  I certainly didn’t.)  The tool involved is our old friend CRISPR Cas9, with the gene-snipping enzyme deactivated.  A significant advantage of this new wrinkle is that it can be reversed.  Here, read Dr. Collin’s usual lucid prose:

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2021/04/01/could-crispr-gene-editing-technology-be-an-answer-to-chronic-pain/