May 8, 2008, 8:47 PM CT

New Cancer Gene Discovered

Scientists at the OU Cancer Institute have identified a new gene that causes cancer. The ground-breaking research appears Monday in Nature's cancer journal Oncogene.

The gene and its protein, both called RBM3, are vital for cell division in normal cells. In cancers, low oxygen levels in the tumors cause the amount of this protein to go up dramatically. This causes cancer cells to divide uncontrollably, leading to increased tumor formation.

Scientists used new powerful technology to genetically "silence" the protein and reduce the level of RBM3 in malignant cells. The approach stopped cancer from growing and led to cell death. The new technique has been tested successfully on several types of cancers - breast, pancreas, colon, lung, ovarian and prostate.

"We are excited about this discovery because most cancers are thought to come from mutations in genes, and our studies, for the first time, have shown that too much of this type of protein actually causes normal cells to turn into cancer cells," said Shrikant Anant, Ph.D., a cancer biologist at the OU Cancer Institute and principal investigator on the project.

Anant said they found RBM3 protein in every stage of a number of cancers, and the amount of protein increased as the cancer grew. The protein helped the cancer grow faster, avoid cell death and was part of the process that formed new blood vessels to feed the tumor......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 8, 2008, 8:43 PM CT

Benign Lesions Needs 6-month Mammogram Follow Up

Radiologists can, with confidence, recommend a six-month follow-up diagnostic mammogram rather than an immediate biopsy for patients with probably non-malignant breast lesions, a new study emphasizes.

The study observed that six-month short-interval follow-up examinations had an 83% sensitivity, which is similar to the sensitivity of other diagnostic mammograms, said Erin J. Aiello Bowles, MPH, lead author of the study from the Group Health Center for Health Studies. High sensitivity means identifying a high proportion of true positives (actual cancer cases) and a low proportion of false negatives (cases mistakenly deemed benign).

The study included 45,007 initial short-interval follow-up mammograms. Short-interval follow-up mammograms are done to monitor for changes in probably non-malignant breast lesions (findings seen on mammograms that have a very low probability of being cancer). Because the probability of cancer is so low, we dont want to put the patient through an unnecessary biopsy, which is an invasive procedure that increases both patient anxiety and medical costs, said Aiello Bowles. At the same time, we want to closely monitor these patients, because changes in probably non-malignant lesions occasionally mean cancer, and we want to detect the cancers as early as possible, she said. In the study, 360 women with probably non-malignant lesions were diagnosed with breast cancer within six months; and 506 women were diagnosed with cancer within 12 months (altogether about one in 100 of the probably non-malignant lesions), Aiello Bowles said......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 7, 2008, 6:40 PM CT

Speedier Precise Cancer Therapy

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) this month became the first U.S. medical center to offer a speedier cancer radiation treatment. The new technique can turn a 20-minute radiotherapy session into a 90-second session for selected patients.

Additionally, the new treatment saves healthy human tissue from unwanted radiation exposure at rates that are the same or better than other radiotherapy techniques, as per doctors at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The new treatment is called RapidArc, which is the next-generation of intensity-modulated radiation treatment (IMRT). Conventional IMRT was introduced in the 1990s as a way to deliver multiple beams of radiation to a tumor, and minimize damage to nearby healthy tissues. RapidArc is an advancement on the earlier technology with radiation delivery times up to eight times faster than conventional IMRT, said the system's manufacturer Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

"RapidArc is an important advance for us and our patients," said John Fiveash, M.D., an associate professor of radiation oncology at UAB and Cancer Center scientist. "Knowing that we can reduce delivery times to less than two minutes per day is important considering what cancer care involves emotionally and physically".

ALABAMIAN FIRST IN NATION TO BENEFIT........ Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 6, 2008, 9:41 PM CT

Ways to make tumor cells easier to destroy

Tumors have a unique vulnerability that can be exploited to make them more sensitive to heat and radiation, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report.

The Washington University radiation oncology scientists observed that tumors have a built-in mechanism that protects them from heat (hyperthermia) damage and most likely decreases the benefit of hyperthermia and radiation as a combined treatment.

By interfering with that protection, the scientists have shown that tumor cells grown in culture can be made more sensitive to hyperthermia-enhanced radiation treatment. The findings are published in the May 1, 2008 issue of Cancer Research.

Radiation treatment is a mainstay of cancer therapy but doesn't always completely control tumors. For several years, raising tumor temperature has been investigated as a radiation treatment enhancer with few adverse side effects.

"Past research has shown that hyperthermia is one of the most potent ways to increase cell-killing by radiation," says senior author Tej K. Pandita, Ph.D., associate professor of radiation oncology and of genetics and a researcher with the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

"But now we've observed that heat also enhances the activity of an enzyme called telomerase in cancer cells," he says. "Telomerase helps protect the cells from stress-induced damage and allows some of them to survive. We used compounds that inhibit telomerase and showed that cancer cells then become easier to destroy with hyperthermia and radiation used in combination."........ Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

May 5, 2008, 6:05 PM CT

Mood Disorders Put Cancer Patients At Risk For PTSD

Patients with breast cancer who have a previous history of mood and anxiety disorders are at a much higher risk of experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder following their diagnosis, new research suggests.

A study of 74 patients with breast cancer at the Ohio State University Medical Center observed that 16 percent of them (12 women) suffered from PTSD 18 months after diagnosis.

Women with PTSD were more than twice as likely as patients with breast cancer without the disorder to have suffered from prior mood disorders such as depression before the cancer diagnosis. They were also more than three times more likely to have experienced anxiety disorders.

"What is unique about patients with breast cancer with PTSD is that they have already had this double hit of both anxiety and mood disorders even before they got the diagnosis," said Barbara Andersen, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

"So when they are in a new situation that is very anxiety provoking - cancer diagnosis and therapy - it is not surprising that they are at risk for developing PTSD".

The findings suggest that doctors should screen newly diagnosed patients with breast cancer for past mood disorders, she said. Those who have histories of mood and anxiety disorders may need help in order to avoid PTSD. However, the results also show that most patients with breast cancer aren't at risk for PTSD......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 29, 2008, 8:11 PM CT

How cancer spreads

Metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body, can be explained by the fusion of a cancer cell with a white blood cell in the original tumor, as per Yale School of Medicine researchers, who say that this single event can set the stage for cancers migration to other parts of the body.

Their work was Reported in the recent issue of Nature Reviews Cancer. The studies, spanning 15 years, have revealed that the newly formed hybrid of the cancer cell and white blood cell adapts the white blood cells natural ability to migrate around the body, while going through the uncontrolled cell division of the original cancer cell. This causes a metastatic cell to emerge, which like a white blood cell, can migrate through tissue, enter the circulatory system and travel to other organs.

This is a unifying explanation for metastasis, said John Pawelek, a researcher in the Department of Dermatology at Yale School of Medicine and at Yale Cancer Center, who conducted the studies with colleague Ashok K. Chakraborty and several other Yale scientists. Eventhough we know a vast amount about cancer, how a cancer cell becomes metastatic still remains a mystery.

The fusion theory was first proposed in the early 1900s and has attracted a lot of scientific interest over the years. Pawelek and colleagues began their research several years ago by fusing white blood cells with tumor cells. These experimental hybrids the scientists observed, were remarkably metastatic and lethal when implanted into mice. In addition, the researchers noted, some of the molecules the hybrids used to metastasize originated from white blood cells, and these molecules were the same as those used by metastatic cells in human cancers. Pawelek and his team then validated prior findings that hybridization occurs naturally in mice, and results in metastatic cancer......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 24, 2008, 5:04 AM CT

Advances In Breast Reconstruction

Lumpectomy or breast conservation surgery is the most common type of breast cancer surgery currently performed. A benefit of the surgery is that only part of the breast is removed, but a drawback can be the resulting physical appearance of the breast, which may be disfigured, dented or uneven. A report in April's Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® , the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), examines advances plastic surgeons have made in breast reconstruction to repair the damage left when cancer is removed.

"Eventhough breast conversation therapies are a huge advance in the therapy of breast cancer, women are still concerned about how their breast will look after surgery," said Sumner Slavin, MD, ASPS Member and report co-author. "Breast conservation surgery or lumpectomy can mean a number of things; a biopsy, partial mastectomy, wedge resection, or having a quarter of the breast taken. Women are often left with portions of their breasts removed and there are currently no implants that can address this unique cosmetic issue".

After lumpectomy or breast conservation surgery, plastic surgeons are now approaching the challenge of misshapen breasts by immediately remodeling the breast with remaining breast tissue or tissue taken from another area of the body. The result is a more natural looking breast that is more symmetrical with the unaffected breast......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 22, 2008, 9:40 PM CT

Protein that helps predict prostate cancer survival

An Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researcher has identified a protein that is a strong indicator of survival for men with advanced prostate cancer. The C-reactive protein, also known as CRP, is a special type of protein produced by the liver that is elevated in the presence of inflammation.

"This could mean that a simple blood test that is already available could help in clinical decision making and patient counseling. Patients and doctors would know better what to expect from the prostate cancer they are facing," said Tomasz Beer, M.D., director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program at the OHSU Cancer Institute, associate professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology), OHSU School of Medicine.

Beer's research will be published online in the journal Cancer on Monday, April 21.

Past research has shown that cancer causes an inflammatory response. This research also suggests that inflammation may play an important role in driving prostate cancer progression and resistance to treatment. Inflammatory cells are attracted to cancer sites and this local inflammation can lead to a release of inflammatory markers, like CRP.

"While inflammation may sometimes slow the progression of the cancer, an increasing body of evidence suggests that cancer can actually take advantage of the inflammatory response, and the reaction of the immune system may fuel cancer progression. To the extent that our hypothesis proves true, C-reactive protein may be reflecting the overall intensity of the inflammation," Beer said......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

April 17, 2008, 7:47 PM CT

Drug compound leads to death of ovarian cancer cells

In a discovery that may be useful for maintaining remission in chemo-resistant ovary cancer, Yale researchers report that pre-clinical studies have shown the drug compound NV-128 can induce the death of ovary cancer cells by halting the activation of a protein pathway called mTOR.

Gil Mor, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine, and associate research scientist Ayesha Alvero, M.D. presented the data April 15 during an oral presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

In cancer cells, mTOR signals enhance tumor growth and may be linked to resistance to conventional therapies. Inhibition of mTOR could shut down a number of of these survival pathways, including proteins that protect the mitochondria of cancer cells.

NV-128, developed by Novogen Limited, holds promise as a more targeted treatment for ovary cancer because it works differently from traditional therapies that are dependent on enzymes known as caspases to trigger cell death. Therapies using caspases to kill cancer cells can be ineffective in chemo-resistant cancer cells due to mutations that short-circuit signals that trigger cancer cell death.

We consider that the capacity of NV-128 to trigger caspase-independent cell death, in otherwise chemoresistant ovary cancer cells, opens new possibilities for the use of NV-128 as a potential addition to conventional chemotherapy targeting ovary cancer cells, said Mor......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

April 17, 2008, 7:41 PM CT

Inherited colon cancer mutation is widespread

A gene mutation responsible for the most common form of inherited colon cancer is older and more common than formerly believed, as per a recent study.

The findings provide a better understanding of the spread and prevalence of the American Founder Mutation, a common cause in North America of Lynch syndrome, a hereditary cancer syndrome that greatly increases a persons risk for developing cancers of the colon, uterus and ovaries.

The same researchers discovered the mutation in 2003. That research identified nine families with the mutation and concluded that a German immigrant couple brought the mutation to North America in 1727.

The latest study includes an additional 32 families and indicates that the mutation is actually about 500 years old, suggesting that it arose several generations earlier in Europeans or perhaps in Native Americans.

Of the 41 families overall, most are clustered in Kentucky, Ohio and Texas.

Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and Creighton University conducted the study, published recently in the journal Cancer Research.

The increased age of the American Founder Mutation means that it is significantly more prevalent in the United States than previously thought, says principal investigator Albert de la Chapelle, a researcher with Ohio States Human Cancer Genetics program......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 9:12 PM CT

Radiation beneficial for older breast cancer patients

A patients with breast cancer age alone should not determine whether or not she receives standard breast-conservation therapys, including a lumpectomy and radiation treatment; however, if additional health problems (comorbidities) are present, therapys should be individualized based on age and the type of comorbidities, as per a research studyin the April 1 edition of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

The occurrence of breast cancer in women increases as women age. As per the National Cancer Institutes SEER Cancer Statistics Review, women between the ages of 75 and 79 have the highest occurence rate of breast cancer diagnoses at 497 cases per 100,000 people. Along with cancer, most women in this age group are dealing with additional health problems. As per a 1999 womens health and aging study in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, the majority of older patients diagnosed with cancer have at least one other medical condition and more than half of patients with cancer over the age of 65 have three or more associated medical conditions.

This study, conducted by the departments of Radiation Oncology, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, at the University of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine in Philadelphia, sought to determine the impact of these additional medical problems on patients with breast cancer who receive the same standard therapys as patients with no additional medical problems and if old age is a reason to deny some standard therapys......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 8:54 PM CT

Smoking related to subset of colorectal cancers

Smoking puts older women at significant risk for loss of DNA repair proteins that are critical for defending against development of some colorectal cancers, as per research from a team led by Mayo Clinic scientists.

In a study being presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the scientists observed that women who smoked were at increased risk for developing colorectal tumors that lacked some or all of four proteins, known as DNA mismatch repair (MMR) proteins. These proteins keep cells lining the colon and rectum healthy because they recognize and repair genetic damage as well as mistakes that occur during cell division.

Scientists think that, in this study population, few if any of the four proteins were absent because of an inherited genetic alteration. We believe that smoking induces a condition within intestinal cells that does not allow MMR genes to express their associated proteins, and this loss leads to formation of tumors in some women, says the studys lead author, Mayo gastroenterologist Paul Limburg, M.D.

The scientists also discovered a direct association between the number of cigarettes smoked daily by study participants and increased risk of developing these specific tumors. They say a number of prior studies have observed only a very weak positive association between use of cigarettes and development of the cancer......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 8:44 PM CT

Mouth may tell the tale of lung damage

Cells lining the mouth reflect the molecular damage that smoking does to the lining of the lungs, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Examining oral tissue lining the mouth to gauge cancer-inducing molecular alterations in the lungs could spare patients and those at risk of lung cancer from more invasive, uncomfortable procedures used now, said senior researcher Li Mao, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology.

"We are talking about just a brushing inside of the cheek to get the same information we would from lung brushings obtained through bronchoscopy," said study presenter and first author Manisha Bhutani, M.D., a post-doctoral fellow in Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology.

The team examined the oral and lung lining tissue - called the epithelium - in 125 chronic smokers enrolled in a large, prospective lung cancer chemoprevention study.

The status of two crucial tumor-suppressing genes was analyzed. The genes, p16 and FHIT, are known to be damaged or silenced very early in the process of cancer development. "There is substantial damage long before there is cancer," Mao said......... Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 8:43 PM CT

Connection between protein and prognosis in breast cancer

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute scientists have observed that a tumor protein present in an aggressive form of breast cancer is correlation to a poor prognosis.

The presence of the protein, called growth factor receptor-bound protein-7, often referred to as GRB-7, in breast cancer tumors, is strongly correlation to the growth and spread of the cancer, as per principal investigator Shiuh-Wen Luoh, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology) in the OHSU School of Medicine.

The research will be presented Sunday, April 13, at 1 p.m. at the annual American Association for Cancer Research meeting in San Diego.

The GRB-7 protein previously has been shown to be important to cell communication in the spread of cancer. The GRB-7 gene is located close to the HER-2/Neu gene that regulates breast cancer growth. The OHSU Cancer Institute scientists discovered that the levels of GRB-7 protein are often heightened at the same time that HER-2/Neu levels are high. Also, not infrequently, they found breast tumors that overexpressed one but not the other protein. Overexpression means that there is an abundant presence of the protein.

It is surprising that we found discordance in the overexpression of these genes because they are so close together, Luoh said......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 8:41 PM CT

Targeted therapy combination for liver cancer

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center reported today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research that combining two targeted therapies overcomes therapy resistance in liver cancer cell lines. The team is currently designing a trial to test the combination in patients.

Liver cancer is resistant to a number of chemotherapies and to cell-death inducing agents. Last year, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved sorafenib (Nexavar) as a therapy for liver cancer after a clinical trial showed that the targeted agent prolonged survival in some patients.

Unfortunately not all patients respond to sorafenib and the drug does not cure the disease.

Therefore, Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Pharmacology, and co-Program Leader of Radiation Biology in the Abramson Cancer Center, and his colleagues have tested other targeted agents in combination with sorafenib.

They observed that treating liver cancer cells with sorafenib and an antibody or the natural ligand that stimulates programmed cell death via the TRAIL pathway, dramatically increases the rate of cell death.

Sorafenib by itself causes a little cell death, but not that much, Dr. El-Deiry said. Now you combine sorafenib and TRAIL, and all of the sudden you get massive cell death. It is a real synergistic interaction. It is very profound killing......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 10, 2008, 9:17 PM CT

Developing targeted chemotherapy

Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and his colleagues discovered that the Notch signaling pathway, which determines the development of a number of cell types, and is also implicated in some cancers, is not universally essential for the maintenance of stem cells. The findings appear this week in Cell Stem Cell, and indicate that inhibitors of Notch may not affect bone marrow stem cells.

Notch is one of a select set of proteins that influence the development of a wide variety of types of cells. Previous work has shown that increases in signals generated by Notch are important in certain human tumors, especially some kinds of childhood leukemia, making Notch an attractive target for new cancer therapies. However, it has also been suggested that Notch is needed to maintain the stem cells in the bone marrow from which normal blood cells are formed, raising the concern that Notch inhibitors might destroy the normal bone marrow. This potential risk raised important questions about treating leukemia patients with Notch inhibitors, notes senior author Warren Pear, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute.

Prior work from the Pear lab and others has shown that Notch signals are mandatory for the proper development of lymphocytes. More importantly in terms of human disease, work done together with co-author Jon Asters lab at Harvard over the last decade has shown that abnormal increases in Notch signaling cause T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias, which make up about 15-20 percent of childhood leukemias. Growth of these leukemias can be stopped in the laboratory by new kinds of Notch pathway inhibitors......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 10, 2008, 9:10 PM CT

The good and bad side of anti-cancer compounds

Compounds known as HDAC inhibitors exhibit cancer-killing activities in cultured cells. While they are currently being tested as anti-cancer agents in clinical trials, just how they execute their effects is unclear.

In a pair of recent papers, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers provide a potential mechanism by which HDAC inhibitors specifically damage cancer cells and offer clues about possible adverse effects of these compounds findings with important implications for their clinical use as cancer therapies.

Scott Hiebert, Ph.D., professor of Biochemistry and Medicine, and his colleagues initially set out to study how chromosomal translocations which happen when chromosomes break and rejoin, creating new genes at the breakpoints cause acute leukemias.

He previously had observed that a chromosomal translocation common in acute myeloid leukemias led to the formation of a new protein, a mutant transcription factor, that actively turned genes off. Enzymes known as histone deacetylases (HDACs) helped the mutant protein turn genes off by stabilizing the tightly coiled structure of DNA in chromosomes, making it inaccessible to proteins that transcribe DNA.

We thought that if we could inhibit these HDACs, we could turn the genes back on and cure leukemia, Hiebert explained......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 3, 2008, 10:00 PM CT

Breast cancer risk lingered years after HRT

A follow-up study of postmenopausal women who took the combination of estrogen and progestin for more than five years as part of the landmark Women's Health Initiative shows that the women continued to face an increased risk for breast cancer nearly three years after they quit taking the hormones.

The new study also shows that while some of the other health risks and benefits diminished after the women had stopped taking the estrogen-progestin combination, the overall health risk was 12 percent higher at the end of eight years (with women on the pills for an average of 5.6 years and then off for 2.4 years) compared with those who took placebos. This was largely due to the high risks of breast cancer, strokes and serious blood clots during the original trial while the women took the hormones.

The Stanford University School of Medicine researcher who is the senior author of the follow-up study said the results indicate that the potential harms from estrogen-progestin treatment still outweigh the benefits, and that women should continue to be cautious in deciding whether to take the hormones to relieve menopausal symptoms.

"Menopausal women really need to think through whether using estrogen-progestin is the right thing to do, especially if continued for more than a few years," said Marcia Stefanick, PhD, professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, noting that the breast-cancer risks apply only to women who take the combination treatment, and not those who take estrogen alone. A different portion of the WHI study showed that estrogen-only treatment doesn't increase the risk of breast cancer......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 3, 2008, 9:51 PM CT

Colon Cancer's Potential for Metastasis

Some colon cancers are destined to spread to the liver and other parts of the body, whereas others are successfully treated by surgical removal of the tumor. Now, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have observed that the ability of a colon tumor to metastasize arises early in its development.

Those colon cancers that spread carry the ability to metastasize from the time they become malignant, the scientists found. They don't need to acquire any new genetic mutations to become metastatic. The research also suggests that once a colon carcinoma develops, if it is going to spread outside the colon, it will do so in less than two years.

"The ability to metastasize is hard-wired into this group of tumors in the colon," said Sanford Markowitz, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Case Western Reserve University. "It isn't something that happens after a cancer cell wanders off and leaves the colon."

Markowitz and colleagues published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 3, 2008.

Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States, causing about 60,000 deaths annually. But there are a number of more cases of colon cancer that are cured by surgical removal of the tumor. Markowitz and his team wanted to understand the genetic differences between the two types......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

April 2, 2008, 9:58 PM CT

Nano-sized technology has super-sized effect on tumors

Anyone facing chemotherapy would welcome an advance promising to dramatically reduce their dose of these often harsh drugs. Using nanotechnology, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have taken a step closer to that goal.

The scientists focused a powerful drug directly on tumors in rabbits using drug-coated nanoparticles. They observed that a drug dose 1,000 times lower than used previously for this purpose markedly slowed tumor growth.

"A number of chemotherapeutic drugs have unwanted side effects, and we've shown that our nanoparticle technology has the potential to increase drug effectiveness and decrease drug dose to alleviate harmful side effects," says lead author Patrick M. Winter, Ph.D., research assistant professor of medicine and biomedical engineering.

The nanoparticles are extremely tiny beads of an inert, oily compound that can be coated with a wide variety of active substances. In an article published online in The FASEB Journal, the scientists describe a significant reduction of tumor growth in rabbits that were treated with nanoparticles coated with a fungal toxin called fumagillin. Human clinical trials have shown that fumagillin can be an effective cancer therapy in combination with other anticancer drugs......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 1, 2008, 9:02 PM CT

Novel biomarkers for cancer

Biotechnology companies are focusing on the development of novel biomarkers to overcome the limitations of current diagnostic tests for cancer, reports Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (GEN). To effectively move cancer treatment forward, a much stronger and targeted emphasis on diagnosis will be required, as per an article in the April 1 issue of GEN (http://www.genengnews.com/articles/chitem.aspx?aid=2428).

"Therapeutic protocols can involve hundreds of thousands of dollars per cancer patient," notes John Sterling, Editor-in-Chief of GEN (www.genengnews). "Coming up with effective and validated biomarkers that detect cancer while still in its early stages seems like an extremely worthwhile effort on which to spend R&D funds now to cut down on costs of therapy in the future".

A team led by Edouard Nice, Ph.D., at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, is one example of a group hard at work trying to develop early detection tools for malignancies. Dr. Nice and colleagues are using multidimensional high-performance liquid chromatography to trace enrich low-level components such as growth factors in tumor material previous to analysis by mass spectrometry.

At Wayne State University School of Medicine, a research program run by Michael Tainsky, Ph.D., harnesses antibodies in patients' serum for the detection of cancer-specific epitopes using peptides selected for IgG binding from phage-display cDNA libraries......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 1, 2008, 8:48 PM CT

Hormone replacement therapy and breast cancer

Millions of post-menopausal women use hormone replacement treatment (HRT) as a method to reduce symptoms linked to menopause. In a recent University of Missouri study, scientists observed that one of the hormones used in HRT, a synthetic progestin, could be a major factor in promoting breast cancer. At the same time, the scientists have compelling evidence that using an antibody that prevents new blood vessel formation in tumors, or a small molecular drug, known as PRIMA, with similar properties as the antibody may be effective in treating or preventing the negative effects of progestin.

As per a research findings reported in the journal, Cancer Research, MU scientist Salman Hyder and his research team observed that exposing tumor cells to progestin caused an increase in a growth factor that is involved in the formation of new blood vessels in tumors. Increasing the blood supply allows the tumors to expand as the availability of nourishment increases. However, when they used an antibody that inhibits the growth factor, the tumor shrank. Hyders team found similar results using PRIMA, which re-activated a protein known as p53. When p53 was activated within tumor cells, the number of breast cancer cells reduced significantly.

As women age, a number of develop tiny lesions in their breasts, said Hyder, professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. The majority of the time, these lesions never expand. We think this might be due to a specific protein, p53, that, under normal circumstances, prevents tumor cells from living. We found in our study that when the protein is active, it reduces the number of breast cancer cells in the body by inhibiting the growth factor that supplies blood vessels to the tumor. However, when the cells of these lesions are exposed to progestin in a body that does not have an active p53 protein, we observed that the cells might start expanding and turn into tumors......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 27, 2008, 9:36 PM CT

Too many women still dying from breast cancer

Thousands of women die from breast cancer each year because current therapys are not always effective and in some cases fail to stem the disease, warns Breast Cancer Campaign today.

In a comprehensive review of breast cancer research published recently, 56 of the UKs most influential breast cancer experts have identified the key research gaps and priorities for the greatest potential impact on patients.

Breast cancer therapy has improved over the past few decades and led to increased survival rates and better quality of life, the report highlights. However over 44,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and around 12,500 will die.

Unfortunately, not enough is known about why therapys dont work for some patients or why breast cancer can return, sometimes a number of years later, says Breast Cancer Campaign.

The new study, one of the largest ever carried out in the UK and published by the open access journal Breast Cancer Research, is a unique insight into the current state of breast cancer research and its future challenges.

Gaps in key areas of breast cancer research have been identified in the report, says the charity: prevention, detection, spread or recurrence of the disease, therapy, pathology, physiology, genetics and psychosocial aspects of breast cancer......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 26, 2008, 10:07 PM CT

FDG-PET Has Major Impact on Cancer Patient Care

As per a research studyof data from the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) on March 24th, clinicians changed the intended care of more than one in three cancer patients as the results of FDG-PET scan findings.

There were over 1500 participating facilities that contributed FDG-PET scan data from the nearly 23,000 patients involved in the study. Analysis of registry data published in the JCO article observed that FDG-PET is linked to a 36.5% change in the therapy or no-treatment decision.

SNM, the world's largest molecular imaging and nuclear medicine society, has been a great supporter of the NOPR since it's inception nearly two years ago and is excited to see this promising data released.

The NOPR was launched in May 2006 in response to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) novel "Coverage with Evidence" policy to collect data through a clinical registry to inform the center's FDG-PET coverage determination decisions for currently non-covered cancer indications. Sponsored by the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI) and managed by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the ACR Imaging Network (ACRIN), the NOPR is designed to collect questionnaire data from referring physicians on intended patient management before and after a FDG-PET scan......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 24, 2008, 8:11 PM CT

New approach to help control drug resistance in leukemia

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute scientists have observed that an experimental drug known as SGX393 is effective against Gleevec-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The results of their study will be published the week of March 24th in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gleevec, the targeted treatment identified by OHSU Cancer Institute Director Brian Druker, M.D., is the current first line treatment for CML. Gleevec works by inhibiting the activity of Bcr-Abl, an enzyme that is present only in CML cells and upon which these cells depend for survival. Eventhough most patients with CML respond dramatically to Gleevec, some patients develop resistance to the drug. Most Gleevec-resistant CML cells carry a mutated form of Bcr-Abl, which prevents Gleevec from functioning properly. The second-generation drugs Sprycel and Tasigna have been developed as largely successful therapys for Gleevec-resistant patients. However, one mutated form of Bcr-Abl, called T315I, is resistant to all three clinical CML drugs and is a frequent cause of relapse.

Michael Deininger, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Hematologic Malignancies Section, and his research team in the OHSU Cancer Institute have shown that SGX393, developed by SGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., San Diego, Calif., inhibits the T315I mutant and most, but not all, other Gleevec-resistant mutants. This was shown to be true using laboratory models as well as leukemia cells from patients with CML......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 24, 2008, 7:52 PM CT

Obesity and cancer sreening

A review of cancer screening studies shows that white women who are obese are less likely than healthy weight women to get the recommended screenings for breast and cervical cancer, as per scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills School of Public Health.

The trend was not seen as consistently among black women; however there were fewer high quality studies that examined black women separately.

Obesity is increasing, and so is the evidence that obesity increases the risk of certain cancers like colorectal cancer and post-menopausal breast cancer, said Sarah S. Cohen, lead author of the article published online today by the American Cancer Society. Its a disturbing trend, then, to see that women who are at increased risk of cancer because of their body size are less likely to be receiving screening tests that can detect cancer early, when it is treatable.

Cohen and her colleagues from the UNC School of Public Healths epidemiology department and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center evaluated 32 relevant published studies on breast, cervical and colorectal cancers that considered associations between obesity and screening tests recommended for women in the United States.

The most consistent associations reported across all the studies were for cervical cancer screenings, with fewer women getting the recommended screening test (Papanicolaou or Pap tests) as body mass index increased. The studies showed a stronger trend among white women than black women......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 17, 2008, 10:06 PM CT

Breast cancer in black women

Scientists at the University of Chicago are studying possible connections between living in disadvantaged neighborhoods and the development of early onset breast cancer in a path-breaking project led by Sarah Gehlert, Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Disparities Research at the University.

The initiative is funded with a $9.7 million grant from National Institutes of Health and is the first to use animal models to help determine what the biological factors might be behind the development of certain forms of breast cancer.

Gehlert is lead author of the paper discussing the findings, titled "Targeting Health Disparities: Linking Upstream Determinants to Downstream Interventions" reported in the current issue of Health Affairs.

Joining Gehlert, who is the Helen Ross Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University, as an author in the paper is Olufunmilayo Olopade, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor in Medicine and Human Genetics at the University. As part of the work of the CIHDR, Olopade and other scholars studied early onset breast cases in Nigerian women, whose genetic heritage is similar to African-Americans' because the ancestors of African-Americans largely came from West Africa.

African-American, like Nigerian, women, develop breast cancer earlier than white women, and it is often much deadlier. While white women commonly develop the disease after menopause, it develops previous to menopause among women of African heritage......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 11, 2008, 5:42 AM CT

Recurrent low-grade carcinoma of the ovary less responsive to chemo

Recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma, a rare type of ovary cancer, is less sensitive to chemotherapy and therefore more difficult to treat than more common high-grade ovary cancers, as per scientists from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The findings were reported at the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists 39th Annual Meeting on Women's Cancers.

The retrospective study is the first to analyze how women with low-grade tumors respond to chemotherapy in recurrent setting and confirms clinical impressions that the tumors are chemoresistant, said lead author David M. Gershenson, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology at M. D. Anderson. Prior studies have shown similar tumor resistance in newly diagnosed patients, and there is currently no standard of care for women facing the disease.

The results support a growing body of research that shows low-grade ovarian tumors behave differently than their high-grade counterparts, genetically and clinically. "In order to make meaningful advances in therapy, women with low-grade ovarian tumors must not be grouped together with those with more common ovarian tumors. They require unique consideration and more targeted therapy options for a better chance of survival," Gershenson said......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

March 9, 2008, 6:00 PM CT

MRI-PET Scanner Combo

Two kinds of body imaging -- positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) -- have been combined for the first time in a single scanner.

MRI scans provide exquisite structural detail but little functional information, while PET scans -- which follow a radioactive tracer in the body -- can show body processes but not structures, said Simon Cherry, professor and chair of biomedical engineering at UC Davis. Cherry's lab built the scanner for studies with laboratory mice, for example in cancer research.

"We can correlate the structure of a tumor by MRI with the functional information from PET, and understand what's happening inside a tumor," Cherry said.

Combining the two types of scan in a single machine is difficult because the two systems interfere with each other. MRI scanners rely on very strong, very smooth magnetic fields that can easily be disturbed by metallic objects inside the scanner. At the same time, those magnetic fields can seriously affect the detectors and electronics needed for PET scanning. There is also a limited amount of space within the scanner in which to fit everything together, Cherry noted.

Scanners that combine computer-assisted tomography (CAT) and PET scans are already available, but Computerized axial tomography scans provide less structural detail than MRI scans, particularly of soft tissue, Cherry said. They also give the patient a dose of radiation from X-rays......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 9, 2008, 4:57 PM CT

New colorectal cancer gene

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine scientists published a study in the March 7th issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics identifying the hereditary components of colorectal cancer (CRC.) Identification of Susceptibility Genes for Cancer in a Genome-wide Scan: Results from the Colon Neoplasia Sibling Study is the first large linkage study of families with CRC and colon polyps in the country. Because only five percent of CRC cases are due to known gene defects, this NIH-funded study is designed to identify the remaining CRC-related susceptibility genes. The team built on a prior study which identified a specific region on chromosome 9q that harbors a CRC susceptibility gene. Upon review of a whole genome scan of all chromosome pairs in 194 families, the scientists were able to identify additional CRC gene regions on chromosomes 1p, 15q, and 17p.

While the overall Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine study looked at families with colon cancer and colon polyps, the study also analyzed families with different clusters of cancer, such as CRC with multiple polyps and CRC with breast cancer. These different phenotypes appeared to link to different chromosomal regions, which the study teams says supports the idea of multiple susceptibility genes causing different types of cancers. These links will be further investigated in the next phase of the study......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

March 7, 2008, 5:30 AM CT

Drugs like aspirin could reduce breast cancer

Anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin may reduce breast cancer by up to 20 per cent, as per an extensive review carried out by experts at Londons Guys Hospital and reported in the recent issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

But they stress that further research is needed to determine the best type, dose and duration and whether the benefits of regularly using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) outweigh the side effects, particularly for high-risk groups.

Our review of research published over the last 27 years suggests that, in addition to possible prevention, there may also be a role for NSAIDs in the therapy of women with established breast cancer says Professor Ian Fentiman from the Hedley Atkins Breast Unit at the hospital, part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

NSAID use could be combined with hormone treatment or used to relieve symptoms in the commonest cause of cancer-related deaths in women.

Professor Fentiman and Mr Avi Agrawal evaluated 21 studies covering more than 37,000 women published between 1980 and 2007.

Their review included 11 studies of women with breast cancer and ten studies that compared women who did and did not have the disease.

The purpose of a review like this is to look at a wide range of published studies and see if it is possible to pull together all the findings and come to any overarching conclusions explains Professor Fentiman. This includes looking at any conflicting results and exploring how the studies were carried out......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 7, 2008, 5:26 AM CT

Torrefacto-roasted coffee has higher antioxidant properties

Torrefacto-roasted coffee has higher antioxidant properties than natural roast, as per the dissertation defended by a biologist of the University of Navarra, Isabel Lopez Galilea. She has emphasized in her study that the addition of sugar during the roasting process increases the development of compounds with high antioxidant activity.

The researcher of Department of Food Sciences, Physiology and Toxicology of the University of Navarra analyzed eleven varieties of commercial coffee for her study, which was entitled "The Influence of Torrefacto Roasting on the Principal Components of Coffee and its Antioxidant and Pro-oxidant Capacity".

As this scientist of the School of Sciences emphasized, numerous studies have shown the benefits of this drink. In particular, it is considered to be one of the best sources for antioxidants in the diet; these substances help to protect us against free radicals, which are a cause of premature aging and certain diseases. Coffee has an antioxidant capacity which is ten times higher than other drinks, such as red wine and tea.

The antioxidant capacity varies as per the preparation method

In order to carry out this research, Isabel Lopez analyzed the coffee consumption habits of the inhabitants of Navarra, via 300 surveys. The results showed that Navarrans consume an average of 125 ml of coffee per day, with consumption slightly higher among women. In addition, they primarily consume ground coffee resulting from a mixture of natural roast and torrefacto-roast coffees, and the coffee is generally prepared with Italian or mocha coffee makers, followed by the filter, espresso and pump methods......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 5, 2008, 8:58 PM CT

Imatinib During Pregnancy May Cause Infant Abnormalities

While doctors already face a number of challenges in treating patients with cancer, treating pregnant women with the disease, in particular, can be quite difficult as studies suggest that certain therapies can harm developing fetuses. As per the results of a study prepublished recently online in Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology, expectant women treated with imatinib, a usually used treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), may be at moderate risk of developing fetal abnormalities.

Imatinib was introduced for the therapy of CML in 1998 and has become a primary treatment for most patients, turning the previously fatal disease into a mostly chronic condition in the last decade. The drug's label warns that women of child-bearing age should avoid pregnancy while taking the drug based on earlier studies that suggested it may penetrate the placenta and cause damage to developing cells.

The retrospective study evaluated records of 180 cases of CML therapy during pregnancy reported to Novartis, the Hammersmith Hospital in London, or The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center to determine the real risks of imatinib treatment. Specific outcomes data were available for 125 of the cases, as 55 cases had incomplete pregnancy-related data......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

March 5, 2008, 8:51 PM CT

Tests that prevent colorectal cancer

New consensus colorectal cancer guidelines released recently state for the first time that the primary goal of colorectal cancer screening is cancer prevention. Prior guidelines have given equal weight to tests for detecting cancer and preventing cancer. By removing polyps from the large bowel, colonoscopy is the only screening test that also prevents colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer prevention should be the primary goal of screening, said Nicholas LaRusso, MD, AGAF, president, American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. Detection and removal of premalignant lesions is essential to improve the health of Americans.

The guidelines, which represent the most current scientific evidence and expert opinion available, are a joint effort of the American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology and the U.S. Multi-society Task Force (comprised of the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy).

While the AGA Institute considers optical colonoscopy the definitive screening and therapy procedure for colorectal cancer, we support all clinically proven options for colorectal cancer screening. There are a number of tests available for screening and everyone age 50+ should talk with their doctor about what test is available to them, said John I. Allen, MD, MBA, AGAF chair of the AGA Institute Clinical Practice and Quality Management Committee......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source