Every week, the editors of Cancer Today magazine bring you the top news for cancer patients from around the internet. Stay up to date with the latest in cancer research and care by subscribing to our e-newsletter.

Treatment Effects Can Hamper Musical Ability

“Musical toxicity” was the subject of a study in JCO Oncology Practice that looked at the ability of people to pursue playing music after cancer treatment. More than a quarter of musicians surveyed in the study reported difficulty singing or playing their instrument after treatment, though the rate was higher for musicians treated with chemotherapy, 71% of whom reported musical toxicity. While the findings of the study were focused on musical difficulties, the authors suggest that it is only one avenue in understanding how the physical effects of treatment play out in a person’s life. “Whether a patient is a musician, surgeon, craftsman, or seamstress, common toxicities of breast cancer treatments may cause serious and long-lasting impairments of fine motor control,” the authors wrote. The most common complaints were less endurance, lower accuracy, having trouble playing or singing quickly, and difficulty achieving proper technique. The effects could be lasting, with 73% of those affected reporting their ability did not recover for over a year. More than half said they continued to feel the effects at the time they were surveyed. “We have to either head this off at the pass or have a strong plan in place for rehabilitation on the other end so we can get as much function back for these folks as possible,” said V.K. Gadi, deputy director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center in Chicago, who was not part of the study, in an article on Oncology News Central.

Kidney Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise in Early Trial

Three years after receiving personalized cancer vaccines for kidney cancer, all nine participants in a phase I trial are living with no sign of cancer. This is one of the first notable positive results for a cancer vaccine in kidney cancer, which is often difficult to treat and has a high recurrence rate, according to an article on Forbes. The nine participants had stage III or IV clear cell renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer, and were treated at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with surgery to remove the tumor. Samples of the removed tumor were analyzed to develop a personalized vaccine based on characteristics of each person’s cancer. Participants then received their respective vaccines in a series of injections followed by two boosters at 12 and 20 weeks after starting the regimen. The findings, published in Nature, reported observed immune responses to the vaccine and found no recurrence in any participants after a median 40 months of follow-up. “We learned which specific targets in the cancer are most susceptible to immune attack and demonstrated that this approach can generate long-lasting immune responses, directing the immune system to recognize cancer. We believe this work can form a foundation for the development of neoantigen vaccines in kidney cancer,” said David A. Braun, a medical oncologist at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven in Connecticut and lead author of the paper, in a press release.

Rising Lung Cancer Rates for Nonsmokers Globally

Lung cancer in people who have never smoked cigarettes is now the fifth highest cause of cancer death worldwide, and air pollution may be a major contributing factor, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In a study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine, the IARC estimated that nearly 200,000 cases of adenocarcinoma, one of four lung cancer subtypes, were caused by air pollution worldwide. Up to 70% of lung cancers among people who have never smoked are adenocarcinoma, and across the globe adenocarcinoma has become the predominant lung cancer subtype, the Guardian reported. In 2020, adenocarcinoma represented 39% of lung cancer diagnoses in men and 57.1% of cases in women, but by 2022 those figures had risen to 45.6% and 59.7%, respectively. Freddie Bray, lead author of the study and head of the IARC’s cancer surveillance branch, told the Guardian that the study is a source of valuable information on the changing patterns in lung cancer. “The diverging trends by sex in recent generations offer insights to cancer prevention specialists and policymakers seeking to develop and implement tobacco and air pollution control strategies tailored to high-risk populations,” Bray said.