March 29, 2006, 11:01 PM CT

Pain Killer Fights Breast Cancer

A pain-killing medicine appears to halt the production of an enzyme that is key to a common form of breast cancer, a new study using tissue cultures suggests.

The drug is called nimesulide. In laboratory experiments on breast cancer cells, researchers found that derivatives of nimesulide stopped the production of aromatase, the enzyme implicated in estrogen-dependent breast cancer. This form of breast cancer is the most common kind of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

Aromatase converts hormones called androgens into estrogens, such as the hormone estradiol. Estrogen is a powerful mitogen - an agent that causes cells to divide, and too much estrogen can cause cells to divide too quickly.

While a number of women with estrogen-dependent breast cancer take aromatase inhibitors to control their disease, the problem is that the current inhibitor drugs halt estrogen production throughout the body, said Robert Brueggemeier, a co-author of study and a professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy and dean of the College of Pharmacy at Ohio State University.

"That means that other tissues, like bone and brain, which rely on normal aromatase production, may suffer," he said. "For one, we believe that aromatase helps to maintain bone tissue throughout the postmenopausal period. Current aromatase inhibitors may disturb normal bone production - there is some suggestion that these drugs may increase the risk of fractures".........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

March 28, 2006, 10:48 PM CT

Genes, Environment And Cancer

In the granite-rich region of Western North Carolina, taking a daily shower could pose a risk of developing lung cancer. So could working from home every day. That's because granite emits a carcinogenic gas, radon. Houses that sit atop granite terrain are often contaminated with radon that has seeped into wells and indoor air.

"After smoking, radon is considered to be the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, said Avner Vengosh, Ph.D., associate professor at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. "Western North Carolina is highly affected, and many homes exceed the EPA's recommended levels of radon".

Radon's risk is not new or unknown, but it illustrates the real danger posed by indigenous substances as well as those artificially created by humans, say Duke scientists. More than 80,000 synthetic chemicals have been introduced worldwide since World War II, with little or no knowledge as to how they affect humans or animals.

Day by day, environmental scientists identify new culprits in the cancer equation in which genes, environment and lifestyle interact to increase cancer risks in some people but not in others.

Their synergy is by no means a simple interaction, said H. Kim Lyerly, Director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. For example, vitamin A can promote lung cancer growth in some women while it maintains healthy breast cell growth and division in others, said Victoria Seewaldt, M.D., director of the Duke Breast Health Clinic. Chemicals that promote cancer in one fish species do not cause cancer in a closely related species, while populations of another species have adapted to a polluted environment, found Richard Di Giulio, Ph.D., of Duke's Nicholas School. Common nutritional supplements like folic acid, given to pregnant mice, altered their offsprings' coat colors and their adult risk of cancer, found Randy Jirtle, Ph.D. professor of radiation oncology at Duke University Medical Center.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

March 27, 2006, 11:54 PM CT

Better Prostate Cancer Indicators

Scientists at Mayo Clinic have narrowed the search for effective prostate cancer biomarkers (genetic variations that point to a specific disease or condition), identifying changes in the expression of genes of the whole genome closely corcorrelation to prostate cancer development and progression. They also showed that DNA hypermethylation (DNA modification without changing sequence) plays a significant role in these processes. Results of their study were reported in the Feb. 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

"This is good news in an area where our ability to diagnose and predict has previously been less than stellar," said Krishna Donkena, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic urologic researcher. "Our only tool is the PSA test, which has little predictive value. These findings move us much closer to a more accurate test."

The search to identify biomarkers that can be translated into affordable and effective medical tests can be complicated. Prostate cancer causes differential expression of hundreds of different genes, each potentially an indicator of whether a man may get the disease, or already has it. They also may be used to provide information on the development of the cancer, without the need for a painful tumor biopsy.

When seeking to narrow their search to a manageable level, the scientists analyzed 32 malignant and eight non-malignant patient-tissue samples using genome microarrays representing 33,000 human genes. The information they gleaned from this analysis allowed them to identify 624 differentially-expressed genes between malignant and non-malignant tissue. They validated these findings in the original 40 tissue samples as well as in 32 additional samples (20 malignant, 12 benign). The results showed eight genes with significant under-expression and three with significant over-expression, strongly implicating them in prostate cancer development and progression.........

Posted by: Mark      Permalink         Source

March 27, 2006, 11:44 PM CT

In Utero Arsenic Exposure Can Lead To Lung Disease

Children who are exposed to high levels of arsenic in their drinking water are seven to 12 times more likely to die of lung cancer and other lung diseases in young adulthood, a new study by University of California, Berkeley, and Chilean scientists suggests.

The risk of dying due to bronchiectasis, commonly a rare lung disease, is 46 times higher than normal if the child's mother also drank the arsenic-contaminated water while pregnant, as per the study. These findings provide some of the first human evidence that fetal or early childhood exposure to any toxic substance can result in markedly increased disease rates in adults.

"The extraordinary risk we found for in utero and early childhood exposure is a new scientific finding," says the study's lead author, Allan Smith, professor of epidemiology at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. "I sometimes ponder the improbability that drinking water with concentrations of arsenic less than one-thousandth of a gram per liter could do this, and believe that I've got to be wrong. But our years of working with arsenic exposure in India and Chile tie in with this study perfectly".

The paper will appear in the July print issue of Environmental Health Perspectives and will be posted on its Web site today, Monday, March 27.........

Posted by: Scott      Permalink         Source

March 27, 2006, 11:39 PM CT

Pregnant women and breast cancer

Ultrasound provides a safe and accurate method of detecting breast cancers in pregnant women, as well as assessing response to chemotherapy, as per a research studyappearing in the recent issue of Radiology. Investigators at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston recently studied the largest group of women to date who were both diagnosed and treated for breast cancer during pregnancy.

"Ultrasound identified 100 percent of cancers in our study, and mammography demonstrated 90 percent," said Wei T. Yang, M.D., chief investigator of the study and associate professor of diagnostic radiology at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Breast Imaging Section. "We want young women to know that symptomatic breast cancer that occurs during pregnancy can be imaged, diagnosed and treated while pregnant, so they should not wait to seek medical attention if they start to have suspicious symptoms."

Hormonal changes during pregnancy and lactation create an increase in breast volume and firmness, making detection of breast masses difficult. Additionally, the need for immediate investigation and therapy in these cases is complicated by safety concerns for a developing fetus.

In the study, 23 women were diagnosed with 24 breast cancers. Seventeen tumors were diagnosed with a combination of ultrasound and mammography, four were diagnosed with ultrasound alone, and three were diagnosed with mammography alone. Mammography revealed 18 tumors in the 20 women who had mammograms (90 percent).........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

March 27, 2006, 7:03 AM CT

New Trojan Horse Strategy For Fighting Cancer

Another seemingly impenetrable wall has succumbed to the Trojan horse strategy. This time, instead of the ramparts of Troy and a wooden steed filled with soldiers, it's the wall of the blood vessel that is breached by an immune cell carrying tumor-killing viral particles.

This combination of two proven anti-tumor therapies-immune cells and a modified virus-resulted in a highly effective method for eliminating cancers in mice, as per findings from scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine that would be reported in the March 24 issue of Science. While each strategy is somewhat successful on its own, merging the two had even more powerful results.

"We thought that the strengths of each approach would be complementary, but it works even better than we anticipated," said Christopher Contag, PhD, the senior author of the article and associate professor of microbiology and immunology and of pediatrics. In one set of results, the scientists found that the method resulted in complete recovery for an entire group of mice with ovarian tumors. In a second group of mice with breast tumors, there was a 75 percent rate of complete recovery.

The paper's first author, Steve Thorne, PhD, is a research associate in Contag's lab. He has a background in virology and was interested in how to make tumor-killing viruses, called oncolytic viruses, more effective. Thorne was looking for some kind of coating that would escort the virus to the tumor.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

March 27, 2006, 6:45 AM CT

Exercise And Weight Training Programs Benefit Breast Cancer Patients

Exercise and weight training programs significantly improves the quality of life of women who were recently treated for breast cancer, as per a new study. This study was published in the May 1, 2006 issue of CANCER, a journal of the American Cancer Society.

The study indicates six months of twice weekly exercise that improved strength and body composition was enough to result in improvements in the overall physical and emotional condition of the patients. This is the first randomized trial to study the effects of weight training on quality of life in breast cancer patients.

Newly diagnosed and treated breast cancer patients often suffer from a multitude of quality of life limiting complaints, including insomnia, weight gain, chronic fatigue, depression, and anxiety. While efficacious treatments for breast cancer have progressed rapidly in recent years, developing new management strategies for these secondary complaints, often related to the treatment itself, is only a recent area of study.

Exercise has been identified as a possible treatment for quality of life-limiting symptoms. A recent review of the effect of aerobic exercise on quality of life among recently treated breast cancer survivors indicated an effect only half as large as the effect noted from six months of strength training. This study represents the first exploration of the effect of strength training on quality of life among breast cancer survivors. ........

Posted by: Emily      Permalink         Source

March 25, 2006, 11:02 AM CT

Laparoscopic Surgery For Uterine Cancer

In a pair of studies presented today at the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists 37th Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer, scientists have found in a large randomized trial of laparoscopy versus laparotomy for surgical therapy of uterine (endometrial) cancer that laparoscopy is safe, and when successfully completed reduces hospital stay by 50 percent, and contributes to a better quality of life from the patient's perspective. Additionally, the study provided the best guidelines to date for predicting the likelihood of successful laparoscopic surgery, based on weight and Body Mass Index (BMI).

"Prospective Randomized Trial of Laparoscopy vs. Laparotomy for Comprehensive Surgical Staging of Uterine Cancer" and "Quality of Life of Patients with Endometrial Cancer Undergoing Laparoscopic FIGO Staging Compared to Laparotomy" are Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) supported studies, and are led by Joan L. Walker, M.D. of the University of Oklahoma Medical Center and Alice B. Kornblith, Ph.D. of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, respectively.

"We've found that a less invasive surgery like laparoscopy is as safe as the more traditional approach of laparotomy and also lessens the risk of serious complications," explained Dr. Walker. "While the operative time increased using laparoscopy, the significant reduction in hospital stay and the reduced risk of serious complications makes utilizing this procedure when feasible worthwhile."........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

March 24, 2006, 7:49 AM CT

Age is an independent predictor for breast cancer survival

Scientists and physicians are aware of the fact that young woman with breast cancer have a rather poor outcome. It was thought that this is because young woman are commonly diagnosed at a later stage of breast cancer with more advanced disease compared to older women. But now a study shows that youth on its own was a factor for poor prognosis.

Scientists reached this conclusion by analyzing data from 45,000 women with breast cancer. All women with early stage breast cancer (stage 1) were included in the study and the various age groups were compared. The results were surprising and indicated that being young was an independent indicator of poor survival - regardless of other factors known to be predictive of outcomes in older women such as tumor size, location, hormone receptor status, race, or therapy.

In fact the odds of dying from breast cancer rather than any other disease increased by 5% for every year of a women's age fewer than 45 when diagnosed. For example, a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 35 was 50% more likely to die of the disease. The 10-year overall survival probability of a 30-year old patient (85%) was equal to that of a 60-year old, indicating a considerably reduced life expectancy in young patients.........

Posted by: Sherin      Permalink

March 24, 2006, 0:30 AM CT

No Treatment Is The Right Option

When Houston restaurateur Tony Masraff was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer, his life was packed with dancing, running marathons, playing tennis, gardening, leading a successful business and spending time with his family.

But it wasn't until his doctor at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center advised "watchful waiting" as an option to invasive surgery and radiation that he realized he could continue his active life - free of therapy side effects, but with the cancer.

Masraff is one of about 200 men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer at M. D. Anderson on active surveillance for their disease, having changes monitored through regular Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) tests, biopsies and check-ups. He also is one of hundreds of thousands of men nationwide who have had their prostate cancer detected by regular PSA tests at such an early stage that managing low-risk disease through surveillance outweighs the risks and possible side effects of therapys.

Now, a new study at M. D. Anderson will follow low-risk patients eligible for watchful waiting to determine if they can avoid or postpone treatment and related side effects, and still live as long as patients who immediately receive invasive treatment. The study will provide key information for the future development of clinical guidelines for watchful waiting.........

Posted by: Mark      Permalink         Source