The Past Successes, Failures And Future Of Cancer Vaccines

CNN: Can You Vaccinate Yourself Against Cancer?
The thought of a vaccine might conjure up memories of that flu shot you get each year, or taking your kids to get their immunizations against polio or measles. Cancer rarely comes to mind when most people think of vaccines, but that appears to be changing. Over several decades, cancer vaccines have emerged as a form of immunotherapy, a treatment approach that stimulates or restores the body's own immune system to either help prevent cancer from developing or help treat an existing cancer. (Howard, 2/21)

Stat: New Study Raises Questions About Early-Stage Cancer Therapies For Children
The bar for clinical trials involving children, by design, is set higher than it is for adults. Before a drug can be given to children in a Phase 1 trial, it must have already been tested in adults and shown some signals about its safety and clinical promise. That, however, does not mean the outcomes will be any better, according to a new study. Scientists conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of Phase 1 clinical trials involving children with cancer and found, on average, only 1 in 10 will see their condition improve. About 1 in 50 children will die from complications related to the drug. (Cooney, 2/20)

Stat: Caution: Benefits From Earlier Trials May Be (A Lot) Smaller Than They Later Appear
They call it the “Proteus effect.” Researchers tracking clinical trials have long been aware that the first studies to be published sometimes show benefits that aren’t borne out in later trials. Like Proteus, the Greek god of the sea who could change his shape, evidence can shift over time to show more modest improvements. A new study of clinical trials testing treatments for several chronic conditions has found that more than 1 in 3 of the earliest-to-publication trials reported benefits much greater than later research showed. (Cooney, 2/21)

The New York Times: Short-Track Speedskaters Are Lopsided
Round and round the short-track speedskaters go, crouched low on the ice as they carve counterclockwise ovals, over and over. They lean so hard to the left that their fingers glide on the ice at the turns. The straightaways are so short that there is room for only one or two strides before the skaters lean hard into the next 180-degree curve, again and again. They spend their training hours in that position, their torsos torqued to the left, their weight on their left legs as their right legs sweep powerful strides. (Branch, 2/20)

The New York Times: How To Manage Stress Like An Olympic Biathlete
Race across the snow on skis as fast as you can. Now stop and shoot a target the size of an Oreo about 54 yards away. If you miss, you’ll ski penalty laps before you are allowed to race to the next set of targets. Most of us will never try the biathlon, a uniquely stressful sport that demands both physical intensity and emotional calm. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it. Talking to an Olympic biathlete about how she trains for competition can offer a life lesson in managing stress and dialing back intensity and aggression in an instant. (Parker-Pope, 2/21)

Stat: CRISPR Could End Sickle Cell, But Will African-Americans Enroll In Studies?
The first attempts to use a groundbreaking gene-editing technology in people will likely target patients with sickle cell disease, a crippling inherited disorder that in the U.S. predominantly strikes African-Americans. That should be welcome news, after decades of sickle cell patients being neglected by the health care system, scientists, and drug companies. But the long and ugly history of unethical experimentation and mistreatment of black patients could make recruiting volunteers to try largely untested CRISPR therapies a tough sell. (McFarling, 2/21)

NPR: CRISPR In China: Cancer Treatment With Gene Editing Underway
Shaorong Deng is sitting up in bed at the Hangzhou Cancer Hospital waiting for his doctor. Thin and frail, the 53-year-old construction worker's coat drapes around his shoulders to protect against the chilly air. Deng has advanced cancer of the esophagus, a common form of cancer in China. He went through radiation and chemotherapy. But the cancer kept spreading. (Stein, 2/21)

Dallas Morning News: Should I Get More Than One Flu Shot? Is The Vaccine Effective? Your Flu Questions, Answered 
This flu season has closed schools and cost Dallas-Fort Worth businesses millions in lost productivity. It's also been deadly — more than 110 people in Dallas-Fort Worth have died from the flu during this season, and others have lived through frightening complications. We used our Curious Texas project to ask you what you wondered about the flu in North Texas this year, and we took your questions to experts at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Children's Health and Dallas County Health and Human Services for answers. Here are the answers we found for you. (Branham, 2/20)

CNN: Excessive Alcohol Use Linked To Early-Onset Dementia Risk
Excessive alcohol use could increase your risk for all types of dementia, particularly early-onset dementia, according to a new study. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Lancet Public Health, looked at over 1 million adults released from French hospitals between 2008 and 2013 who were diagnosed with dementia, a clinical syndrome characterized by a progressive deterioration in cognitive ability. (Lieber, 2/20)

The Associated Press: Preventive Treatment For Peanut Allergies Succeeds In Study
The first treatment to help prevent serious allergic reactions to peanuts may be on the way. A company said Tuesday that its daily capsules of peanut powder helped children build tolerance in a major study. Millions of children are allergic to peanuts, and some may have life-threatening reactions if accidentally exposed to them. Doctors have been testing daily doses of peanut, contained in a capsule and sprinkled over food, as a way to prevent that by gradually getting them used to very small amounts. (2/20)