March 17, 2010, 7:49 PM CT
New chemotherapy combination for endometrial cancer
Jubilee Brown, M.D., is an associate professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Gynecologic Oncology.
Credit: M. D. Anderson
Scientists from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report that in a small study of women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, gemcitabine and cisplatin, when used in combination, produced a response rate in fifty percent of patients.
Jubilee Brown, M.D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Gynecologic Oncology, presented the findings at today's plenary session of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists' 41st Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer.
While early-stage endometrial cancer typically responds well to standard therapies, low survival rates for advanced or recurrent disease result from limited and ineffective chemotherapy and hormonal therapy options. The American Cancer Society estimates that 15 percent, or three out of every 20 of women with stage IV endometrial cancer, will survive more than five years.
The Phase II study of 20 patients observed that the combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin, two drugs currently used to treat other types of cancer, limited the disease's progression, increasing progression-free survival while maintaining tolerable toxicity levels. It is believed that when administered together, gemcitabine helps overcome cell resistance to cisplatin, throwing tumor cells a potent one-two punch.........
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February 9, 2009, 6:02 AM CT
Racial difference in uterine cancer deaths
Black women with cancers of the uterus are less likely to survive the disease than white women, and relatively little progress has been made over the past two decades to narrow this racial difference. That is the conclusion of a newly released study reported in the March 15, 2009 issue of
CANCER, a peer-evaluated journal of the American Cancer Society.
While prior research has shown that black women are more likely to die from uterine cancers than their white counterparts, little is known about the factors involved in this discrepancy. In addition, studies have not looked at whether efforts to provide equal therapy to all patients have lessened this disparity in recent years.
To investigate the issue, Dr. Jason Wright, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and his colleagues studied the clinical data of 80,915 patients, 7 percent of whom were black, who were documented to have uterine cancer between 1988 and 2004 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Database. The researchers divided the data into three groups based on when women were diagnosed: 1988-1993, 1994-1998, and 1999-2004.
The scientists observed that black patients were significantly younger and had more advanced and more aggressive tumors than white women. Advanced cancers (stage III/IV) occurred in 27 percent of blacks between 1988 and 1993 and in 28 percent from 1999 to 2004. The corresponding figures for white women were 14 percent from 1988 to 1993 and 17 percent from 1999 to 2004.........
Posted by: Emily Read more Source
January 29, 2009, 6:14 AM CT
Finding endometrial cancer early
Cancer is a genetic disease. It occurs when changes take place in the genes that regulate cell division, cell growth, cell death, cell signalling and blood vessel formation either due to mutations caused by external factors such as smoking or radiation or due to inherited changes. This interaction between defective genes and environmental factors means that cancer is an extremely complex disease. Cancer of the uterus, or endometrial carcinoma, is no exception.
Cancer of the uterus is the commonest gynaecological malignancy in the West and accounts for between five and six per cent of all cancers in Swedish women. However, the symptoms are often vague, and we know little about the genetic factors that lead to the appearance and development of this form of cancer. It is therefore vital that these genes are identified, as this could enable doctors to make the diagnosis much more quickly and easily, allowing the development of more effective cancer therapy.
In her study, Sandra Karlsson, a researcher at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, has used inbred rats to locate the defective genes that cause uterine cancer. Like monozygotic (identical) twins, these inbred rats are genetically almost identical, which makes it much easier to study the influence of the environment in which they live.........
Posted by: Emily Read more Source
December 6, 2006, 8:42 PM CT
Abnormal Pap Smears Not Unusual
A report, published in health journal Sexual Health, has found nearly all women had had at least one Pap smear test in their lives with 26 percent reporting an abnormal result.
Two thirds of these women were treated at clinics after abnormal tests with about one in five women reporting negative effects on their sex lives.
More than 900 women aged between 18-59, randomly selected from the Commonwealth electoral roll, took part in the survey from 1999.
Dr Fran Boyle, a contributing author and UQ School of Population Health Senior Lecturer, said abnormal test results were more common than what most women thought.
"With widespread screening inevitably comes a greater likelihood of detecting abnormalities," Dr Boyle said.
"An abnormal result can arise for many reasons, a number of of which are not cause for alarm.
"For a number of women the immediate assumption is that it is something very serious.
"We really need to think about how the term abnormal Pap smear and the different meanings of such a result are communicated to women.
"We also need to ensure that women are well-prepared for the possibility of an abnormal result because it is something that is relatively common in the community."
Dr Boyle said the strength of this study was that it was one of the few that were based on women from the general community and not on women who had been to clinics.........
Posted by: Emily Permalink Source
August 2, 2006, 11:03 PM CT
Uterine Cancer May Yield Clues To Genetics
A new study suggests that women with endometrial cancer should be screened for inherited mutations that could lead to a high risk of several other cancers.
The study showed that 1.8 percent, or about one in 50, of newly diagnosed endometrial cancer patients have mutations for Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition also known as hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer, or HNPCC.
People with Lynch syndrome mutations are at high risk for colon, endometrial, ovarian and gastric cancer. Endometrial, or uterine, cancer is the most common cancer in women with this condition.
The study, led by scientists at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James), is reported in the Aug. 1 issue of Cancer Research.
The study is the first to comprehensively screen a large number of women with uterine cancer for Lynch syndrome mutations, said Heather Hampel, a genetic counselor in the clinical cancer genetics program and first author of the study.
"It's important to identify women with one of these mutations because they have a very high risk for developing colon cancer, and they may not be aware of that risk," said Hampel. "Because this is hereditary, half of her siblings and children may also be at risk for the syndrome.........
Posted by: Emily Permalink Source
July 11, 2006, 7:15 AM CT
Higher risk for cervical cancer with multiple HPV types
The risk for developing the tissue abnormalities, or lesions, that typically precede cervical cancer is much higher for women infected with multiple genotypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV) than previously reported, as per a research studyreported in the recent issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Eventhough doctors have known that the cervical tissue at the opening to the womb can harbor multiple HPV types, this study is the first to document that the risk for developing cervical cancer, the second most common form of cancer in women worldwide, is higher in females infected with multiple HPV types than those infected with just one HPV type.
In addition, the study's findings provide baseline data for analyzing over time the impact of the newly approved vaccine, Gardasil, on the dynamics of HPV infection.
"Women who harbor multiple infections are at higher risk for cervical lesions than those ever infected with one type only and should be followed more closely," said Eduardo L. Franco, Dr.PH., leader of the study and professor of epidemiology and oncology, and director, division of cancer epidemiology at McGill University.
Like prior studies on HPV in cervical cancer, the new research found that pre-malignant abnormalities primarily occurred in women infected with HPV 16 and 18, the targets of Gardasil.........
Posted by: Emily Permalink Source
June 19, 2006, 9:24 PM CT
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March 25, 2006, 11:02 AM CT
