The Specter of Rising Cancer Deaths in Latin America and Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean are the next hotspots of cancer-related deaths in the world and countries in this region are woefully ill-prepared to face this growing epidemic. A report by Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group (LACOG) presented at the LACOG Conference 2013 on April 26-27, 2013, at Sao Paulo, Brazil, put these facts in depressing hard numbers: currently 13 people of 22 diagnosed with cancer die in Latin America and the Caribbean in contrast to 13 of 37 in US or 13 of 30 in Europe. This translates to 59% of cancer patients dying of cancer in Latin America and the Caribbean compared to 35% in US or 43% in EU.

What are the Smart Apps in Oncologist's Phone

Last June, a Romanian start-up Cronian Labs released an iPhone app Skin Scan which claimed that it can help with early diagnosis (or warning signs) of melanoma.  The availability of Skin Scan at Apple iTunes Store was widely covered in the media (eg, read here and here).  And, it was also the first time I put medical apps on my radar screen.

There are now hundreds of medical apps, and it is not unsurprising to find oncologists and cancer researchers using a variety of these as reference tools, calculators and diagnostic aids.  Here is a short list:

Personalized Medicine: Moore's Law Brings $1000 Genomes Within Reach

The promise of personalized medicine has long hinged on faster, cheaper and ubiquitous availability of whole genome sequencing.  

In order to make effective health care decisions to manage or fight cancer using personalized medicine strategy, oncologists ought to be able to follow the chameleonistic genome of cancer cells, and stay one step ahead by targeting strategies cancer cells employ to develop drug resistance, escape and metastasize.

1000 Genomes, Clan Genomics and Cancer Biomarkers

The publication of human genome blueprint in 2000 was a great block party, summer Olympics coming to town, but the next morning saw most revelers picking up their drunken selves and going back to their old day jobs.  Some kept the flames burning by taking up more and more sequencing of whatever came their way labeled as a model organism.  The human genome blueprint was like a great idea which won a patent but still needed a lot of development work to morph into a cool product.

Post-human genome project

The launching of the 1000 Genomes Project in January 2008 was a true effort to translate the human genome blueprint into something that can really impact clinical practice and health care on a national scale.  The 1000 Genome Project was designed to sequence and catalog genetic variations from different ethnic groups across the globe.  The results of the pilot phase were published in Nature last year.

Shaping Cancer Diagnosis: Looking at the Horizon of Next Generation Sequencing and Targeted Resequencing

Two articles in this week's issue of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News reviewed recent trends in the next-generation sequencing and targeted resequencing technologies.  These advances are expected to further impact cancer diagnostics and treatment decision-making.

Seeking Moby Dick Mo-99

Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) is the most used radioactive tracer with over 30 million tests per year done all over the world. When tagged to a pharmaceutical or biological marker, it helps evaluate, diagnose or manage cancer spread, blood flow and cardiac function; brain activity and thyroid disease; and detect osseous metastasis, fractures and infections (bone scan). . . Tc-99m is a metastable isotope of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). . . Lately, Tc-99m supply chain has come under stress.

(Read the rest of the article and what is being done about the this radiotracer's shortage at maiblog)

(Picture from: Science. 2011 Jan 21;331(6015):277)

Service, R. (2011). Scrambling to Close the Isotope Gap Science, 331 (6015), 277-279 DOI: 10.1126/science.331.6015.277



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