Psychedelics for Cancer Stress; Sweet Anticancer Plan; Obesity and Ovarian Cancer

Oncologists should “stop prevaricating and explore the use of psilocybin … and other psychedelics to ease the often overwhelming distress faced by women with late-stage gynecological cancers,” a panel of experts urged in an editorial in the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer.

Harnessing the anticancer potential of a naturally occurring sugar could provide a new tool for treating multiple types of cancer. (Sanford Burnham Prebys, eLife)

Combining a cancer vaccine with immunotherapy and a targeted antibody led to better survival in operable pancreatic cancer as compared with the vaccine alone or in combination with immunotherapy. (Johns Hopkins Medicine, Nature Communications)

A phase III trial in locally advanced cervical cancer showed that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus chemotherapy, followed by radiation therapy, significantly improved progression-free survival and showed a trend toward improved overall survival versus concurrent chemoradiotherapy, Merck announced.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology received an $11 million grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to evaluate different dosing strategies for CDK4/6 inhibitors in older patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Electronic health record “nudges” to physicians more than doubled the uptake of tobacco use treatment among cancer patients who smoked. (Penn Medicine)

After surviving cancer, Black patients face a higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease as compared with white patients. (American Cancer Society, International Journal of Epidemiology)

New clues to obesity’s adverse effects that make ovarian cancer more deadly. (Notre Dame News, Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research)