April 7, 2006, 6:58 AM CT

Pain Medications Prevent Cancer

Results results from a new, five-year study is showing that regular use this popular group of prescription pain relievers may reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 71 percent. In addition, these drugs may also benefit in the prevention of prostate, colon and lung cancers.

These study findings were reported in the recent annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. The researchers have found significant chemopreventive effects against breast cancer with the regular use of Cox-2 inhibitors and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The study was conducted by Dr. Randall Harris, professor and director of the Center for Molecular Epidemiology and Environmental Health in The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Dr. Randall Harris and colleagues conducted a large case-control study of Cox-2 inhibitors and studied their impact upon the four leading types of cancer in the United States: breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer. COX-2 inhibitors are non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs that specifically block the COX-2 enzyme pathway that is often activated in inflammation, cancer, heart disease and other disorders.

Harris and his colleagues studied the use of celecoxib (Celebrex), rofecoxib (Vioxx), regular aspirin, low-dose aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen among 323 women with breast cancer from 1999-2004.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

April 7, 2006, 6:20 AM CT

Vitamin D To Prevent Breast Cancer

Even though some doctors may argue that exposure to sunlight may increase the risk of skin cancer, now there is evidence from research to say that exposure to sun may decrease your risk of developing breast cancer.

Two new studies have shown that women who get lots of vitamin D are less likely to develop breast cancer. These new studies add stronger evidence to the already existing medical information that, plenty of vitamin-D may prevent breast cancer.

Read more.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

April 5, 2006, 9:55 PM CT

Is Cancerm An Inflammatory Disease?

The biological processes underlying diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer are fundamentally linked, and should be linked in how they are treated with drugs, a series of MIT studies indicates.

Key to the work: The scientists applied an engineering approach to cell biology, using mathematical and numerical tools normally associated with the former discipline.

In a series of three papers, the latest of which appeared in the March 24 issue of Cell, Professors Douglas A. Lauffenburger, Peter K. Sorger and Michael B. Yaffe, all members of MIT's Center for Cancer Research, led a team of researchers and engineers in looking at how cells make life-or-death decisions. Understanding what tips a cell toward survival or death is key to treating diseases and fighting cancer through radiation, drug treatment and chemotherapy.

The scientists looked at tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a substance produced by the immune system that promotes cell death, and two prosurvival hormones, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and insulin. TNF and EGF induce conflicting prosurvival and prodeath signals, and the "crosstalk" between these signals is not well understood. The MIT studies provide the first big picture of how these two key factors interact in time and space.

The studies uncovered a surprising link between inflammatory diseases and cancer that may change how these diseases are treated in the future.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

April 4, 2006, 9:25 PM CT

Lapatinib In The Treatment Of Breast Cancer

Based on the unanimous recommendation of an Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC), GlaxoSmithKline announced that it has halted enrollment in its Phase III clinical trial evaluating the combination of Tykerb (lapatinib ditosylate) and capecitabine (Xeloda(R)) versus capecitabine alone.

The trial evaluated women with refractory advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have documented ErbB2 (HER2) overexpression and whose disease progressed following treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin(R)) as well as other cancer therapies. A pre-planned interim analysis of 321 patients in the study yielded statistically significant results, exceeding the primary endpoint.

According to the study protocol, the pre-planned interim analysis was reviewed by the IDMC, which is comprised of medical oncology experts and a statistician. The IDMC unanimously recommended halting enrollment in the study because it exceeded its primary endpoint of time to disease progression, or TTP, for women receiving the combination of Tykerb and capecitabine. The IDMC made their recommendation based on pre-specified stopping rules outlined in their charter. All women currently enrolled in the trial will continue to be followed and those who are receiving capecitabine alone will be offered the option of switching to the combination therapy of capecitabine and Tykerb in consultation with their physician.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

April 4, 2006, 8:39 PM CT

People With Allergies Are Less Likely To Develop Brain Tumors

In their quest to determine whether immune system surveillance guards against brain tumor development, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have found that allergies and asthma that stimulate inflammation may be protective, but use of antihistamines to control the inflammation could eliminate that protection.

In this study, reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the scientists also associated chicken pox infection with a significantly reduced risk of developing brain tumors.

The scientists say the findings suggest that a small amount of inflammation in the brain may rev up the immune system enough to protect against brain tumor development. But they stress that no one should give up antihistamines or shun use of a chicken pox vaccine because of this study.

"Brain tumors are exceedingly rare, and a number of, a number of people use antihistamines, so we certainly are not suggesting a direct correlation between the two, or between chicken pox and tumors," says the study's lead author, Melissa Bondy, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Epidemiology. "What this study may do is help us begin to understand if the immune system plays a role in development of different kinds of brain tumors".........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

April 4, 2006, 0:26 AM CT

Gene Rearrangement Involved In Prostate Cancer

Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have identified a third gene involved in prostate cancer, expanding their groundbreaking announcement, published last October in Science, that the majority of prostate cancers carry a malignancy-inducing fusion of genes never before seen in solid tumors.

The new findings are reported in the April 1 issue of Cancer Research. Since prostate cancer is a cancer of the epithelial cells lining organs, lead researcher Arul Chinnaiyan and colleagues believe it likely that other gene re-arrangements may be responsible for other cancers of epithelial tissue, including breast, colon and lung.

Scott Tomlins, a MD/PhD graduate student in Dr. Chinnaiyan's laboratory and the lead author of the Science paper, presented the study Tuesday, April 4, at Experimental Biology 2006 in San Francisco. The presentation was part of the scientific program of the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) held at Experimental Biology, and Mr. Tomlins is the winner of the 2006 ASIP Experimental Pathologist-in-Training Award.

The ETV4 gene is a member of the same family as the two other genes, ETV1 and ERG, reported earlier. All three are ETS genes, a group of approximately 30 genes that encode related transcription factors. Like other family members, ETV4 has a role in normal cell division but is uncommonly active, or overly expressive, only when it becomes fused with other genes on different chromosomes. Using the same technology as the earlier study, the researchers were able to demonstrate that the ETV4 gene had become fused with another prostate cancer gene on another chromosome.........

Posted by: Mark      Permalink         Source

April 2, 2006, 10:59 PM CT

Lung Cancer May Run In Families

Studying thousands of people, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have documented a 25 percent increased risk of developing one of a number of cancers in first-degree relatives of lung cancer patients who have never smoked compared to families of people who neither smoke nor have lung cancer.

Researchers say their study, one of the largest ever done and the only one to include both men and women, strongly suggests that these lung cancer patients and their affected relatives share an inherited genetic susceptibility to cancer development.

"This study demonstrates the importance of familial factors in the general development of cancer," says the study's first author, Olga Gorlova, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology. "These susceptibility factors can be environmental, but are more likely to be influenced by genetic factors, because genes control pathways common to a number of cancers."

Such marked cancer susceptibility also likely explains why patients in this study, who never smoked but might have been exposed to secondhand smoke, developed lung cancer in the first place, she says. Gorlova will present the study at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). She will discuss the findings in a press briefing on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at 11 a.m. ........

Posted by: Scott      Permalink         Source

April 1, 2006, 9:22 AM CT

Cancer Cells May Move Via Wave Stimulation

Mayo Clinic scientists have uncovered a new cellular secret that may explain how certain cancers move and spread -- a feature of cancers that makes therapy particularly difficult. If the mechanism that drives cancer movement -- also called metastasis -- can be understood well enough to manipulate it, new and better therapys can be developed for patients with metastatic cancers.

Significance of the Mayo Clinic Research

The Mayo scientists focused on odd protrusions observable by microscope on the surface of certain cancer cells: circular waves. Until now, no one has fully understood the function of these waves. The Mayo findings in the current edition of Cancer Research http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/current.shtml are the first to show one role the waves play. They selectively round up activated growth-promoting proteins from the cell surface and take them to the interior of the cell. Under normal conditions, this process would help terminate signals from these growth-promoting proteins. However, in cancer cells it appears that either these waves may not function properly, or that the internalized proteins may remain active longer, which allows them to "instruct" a cell to acquire malignant traits such as excessive growth and invasive movement that constitute metastasis. These waves are important for helping to keep these cancer-growth commands at bay.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

March 30, 2006, 7:29 AM CT

Metabolites Responsible For Breast And Prostate Cancer

Cancer scientists have discovered that metabolites of natural estrogens can react with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to cause specific damage that initiates the series of events leading to breast, prostate and other human cancers. This understanding of a common mechanism of cancer initiation could result in cancer prevention and in better assessment of cancer risk.

The scientists will present their findings at the 81st annual meeting of the Southwestern and Rocky Mountain Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (SWARM-AAAS) on Friday, April 7, at the University of Tulsa, in Tulsa, Okla.

The symposium - "Catechol Estrogen Quinones as Initiators of Breast and other Human Cancers" - will be led by Drs. Ryszard Jankowiak of the Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, and Ercole Cavalieri of the Eppley Cancer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center.

"We have a novel approach to cancer. We know the initiating step," said Dr. Cavalieri. "We think prevention of cancer is a problem we can solve by eliminating this initiating step. Estrogens can induce cancer when natural mechanisms of protection do not work properly in our body, and the estrogen quinones are able to react with DNA. In fact, if these protections are insufficient, due to genetic, lifestyle or environmental influences, then cancer can result.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

March 29, 2006, 11:10 PM CT

New Gene Responsible For Spread Of Cancer Discovered

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have identified a new gene that causes the spread of cancer.

Professor Philip Rudland, Dr Guozheng Wang and Dr Roger Barraclough from the University's Cancer and Polio Research Fund Laboratories have discovered an additional member of the S100 family of protein genes - S100P - that causes the spread of malignant cells from an original tumour to other parts of the body.

If present in the primary tumour, metastagenes such as S100P trigger the rapid spread of malignant secondary tumours to other tissues in the body via the bloodstream - a process known as metastasis. Eventhough primary tumours can be removed surgically, secondary tumours are more difficult to control. This research has been funded by the Cancer and Polio Research Fund.

The new discovery builds on several years' work carried out at the University to investigate the genes that cause malignant tumours to travel to other tissues in the body. To date, three other metastasis-inducing genes have been discovered - S100A4, osteopontin, and more recently, AGR2.

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are often the only options available to treat secondary tumours but these procedures can be problematic to the patient as they can damage other healthy tissue and do not always succeed in eradicating the cancer.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source