February 2010
- 2009 Executive Director’s report
- Dancing With NED
- From bench to bedside and back again
- More Life Fest 2010 updates!
- It’s time to consider mutational status for resistant GIST patients: KIT exons 9 & 11
- February 2010 clinical trials update
- Tasigna shows greater efficacy over Gleevec for CML: Will GIST be next?
- Magic Cancer Bullet: Behind the scenes
- Synta opens phase II trial STA-9090 in GIST
- Insomnia is common, likely under-diagnosed among people with cancer undergoing chemo
- NIH Pediatric & Wildtype clinic continues with success
- Happy Cancer-versary to Josalin Dunn!
- Happy Cancer-versary to Carolina Ponce-Williams!
- Patients with rare cancer get second chance to fight back
- Southern California GISTers meet!
- Chicago-area GISTers meet!
- Beloved wife, mother, grandmother & friend enjoyed all of life’s blessings
- Wife, mother and friend to all passes away after courageous battle with GIST
- Global GIST newtowrk adds new GIST represenative
- Show the LRG some love!
- Calendar
February 2010
- 2009 Executive Director’s report by Norman Scherzer There are a number of reasons to put the year 2009 behind us. The global financial crisis put retirement plans on hold, and lost jobs and homes added to the stress of families struggling to survive cancers like GIST.
- Dancing With NED by Patrick Maguire In 1997 I began to experience extreme fatigue, headaches and anemia. These symptoms had come so gradually, and coupled with my strong ability to deny things I don’t want to deal with, by the time I couldn't ignore or dismiss them any further I was quite ill. In my defense my denial was wellfounded; I was only 34 years old, I never got sick— I didn’t even have a doctor.
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From bench to bedside and back again
by Dr. Margaret von Mehren
GIST is a great example of how science can impact outcomes in cancer patients. As a malignancy, GIST has fewer changes in its genes than many other cancers. Thus, the discovery by Hirota and colleagues in 1998 that GIST contained mutations in the KIT gene was a breakthrough for the treatment of GIST.
- More Life Fest 2010 updates! by Erin Kristoff Check out the new Life Fest page....Registration is now open!....GIST Clinician of the Year Forms are online....Send us your "Tree of Life"
- It’s time to consider mutational status for resistant GIST patients: KIT exons 9 & 11 by Jerry Call In the not too distant future, we may have newer KIT inhibitors that overcome most types of GIST resistance. But for the present, it is becoming increasingly clear that GIST can be divided into four main types based on mutational status: KIT exon 11, KIT exon 9, PDGFRA D842V and wild-type GIST.
- February 2010 clinical trials update by Jim Hughes
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Tasigna shows greater efficacy over Gleevec for CML: Will GIST be next?
by Belinda Ehrlich
For the past eight years, Gleevec has been the first-line treatment for adult patients with c-Kit (CD117)-positive, unresectable and/or metastatic malignant GISTs. But for some patients, Gleevec is not the answer to their prayers. A small percentage, five to 15 percent, do not benefit from Gleevec from the outset. Others develop a resistance to the drug or cannot tolerate the side effects.
- Magic Cancer Bullet: Behind the scenes Research scientists and physicians alike have never rallied behind a drug with such public enthusiasm as did those who were Gleevec’s official cheerleaders from the day of its FDA approval. Company employees rarely give up their weekends and vacations to help expedite a product’s journey to market, as was the case with Novartis personnel.
- Synta opens phase II trial STA-9090 in GIST by Jim Hughes On December 23, 2009, Synta Pharmaceuticals announced a phase II clinical study of STA-9090 in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), the sixth clinical trial of STA- 9090 in cancer.
- Insomnia is common, likely under-diagnosed among people with cancer undergoing chemo Researchers have found that 43 percent of patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer in a clinical trial met the clinical criteria for insomnia syndrome and an additional 37 percent had insomnia symptoms, suggesting that the majority of patients (80 percent) experience sleep difficulties.
- NIH Pediatric & Wildtype clinic continues with success The fourth bi-annual Pediatric & Wildtype GIST Clinic at the National Institutes of Health on January 20 was, once again, a great success.
- Happy Cancer-versary to Josalin Dunn!
- Happy Cancer-versary to Carolina Ponce-Williams!
- Patients with rare cancer get second chance to fight back January 27, 2010— When Morty Wagman underwent surgery to remove a gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) in 2008 with his wife Judi by his side, he was faced with a concerning 55 percent chance that his cancer would return.
- Southern California GISTers meet! Our first gathering was all about meeting one another. In the future, there may be speakers on a variety of topics of interest.
- Chicago-area GISTers meet! Last week, The Life Raft Group’s very first local chapter met again to discuss coping and GIST education.
- Beloved wife, mother, grandmother & friend enjoyed all of life’s blessings A beautiful spirit & consummate caregiver, Rita Catherine Joyce Patient touched the lives of all she knew.
- Wife, mother and friend to all passes away after courageous battle with GIST Laura Samantha Kukucka, born March 8, 1977, died Tuesday December 1, 2009 peacefully ending her battle with cancer.
- Global GIST newtowrk adds new GIST represenative
- Show the LRG some love!
- Calendar