Cancer
New Research Finds Six Factors Predictive of Melanoma Risk
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Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is a health risk that accounts for more than 75 percent of all skin cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Looking at this sobering statistic another way, it is estimated that one American dies from melanoma almost every hour (every 62 minutes). While those at higher risk of developing melanoma typically have included fair-skinned individuals who sunburn but don’t tan easily and have a history of sunburns, new research has identified other factors that could increase a person’s risk of melanoma.
Speaking today at the 67th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (Academy), dermatologist Darrell S. Rigel, MD, FAAD, clinical professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center (NYU) in New York, presented new research which identifies six factors that independently predicted melanoma risk in 600 people.
“Since we haven’t identified the gene responsible for melanoma yet, we can’t screen people with this gene who we know would be at risk for melanoma,” said Dr. Rigel. “Similar to how those with the known BRCA2 gene are carefully screened for breast cancer, we hope to one day be able to screen people that carry the melanoma gene. Until then, we have to rely on indirect measures or risk factors that we know are common to people who develop melanoma to try to educate those individuals to get regular skin exams by their dermatologist.”
Clean living could cut one third of common cancers
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Healthier living could prevent about one third of the most common cancers in rich countries and about one quarter in poorer ones, international researchers said on Thursday.
Better diets, more exercise and controlling weight could also prevent more than 40 percent of colon and breast cancer cases in some countries, according to the study which urged governments and individuals to do more to cut the number of global cancer deaths each year.
“At the time of publication, roughly 11 million people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer and nearly eight million people die from cancer each year,” said Michael Marmot, who led the study from the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research.
At-risk screening not advised for ovarian cancer
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Women with mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes are at increased risk for ovarian cancer, but new research indicates that annual screening exams are not worthwhile as they do not help detect the cancer at an early stage.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 belong to a class of genes called tumor suppressors. Both genes encode proteins that help to repair damaged chromosomes. With a mutation in the genes, the proteins cannot perform this job effectively and, therefore, genetic damage persists that may give way to uncontrolled cell growth, also known as cancer. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are also well known for their association with breast cancer.
One option for women with a proven BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation is to choose screening “with the main objective to identify ovarian cancer in an early stage to improve prognosis and reduce morbidity and mortality,” write Dr. Geertruida H. de Bock and colleagues at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
Calcium use may cut cancer risk in women
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Calcium consumption may reduce the risk of all cancers in women and the risk of cancers of the digestive tract in women and men, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
“Our study is one of the first cohort studies to examine dairy food and calcium intakes in relation to total cancer as well as (uncommon) cancers,” Dr. Yikyung Park, from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues note.
Using data from the National Institutes of Health-American Association of Retired Persons Diet and Health Study, the researchers assessed the impact of dairy food and calcium intake on the risk of cancer in 293,907 men and 198,903 women.
An adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent in gastric cancer therapy
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Peritoneal carcinomatosis can be thought of as a series of events that together form a peritoneal metastatic cascade. The peritoneal stromal tissue appears to be a friendly host for tumour proliferation, providing a rich source of growth factors and chemokines known to be involved in tumour metastasis. Till now, our understanding of the molecular mediators that orchestrate this cascade is weakly understood. Astragalus memebranaceus,a traditional chinese herbal medicine used for the treatment of common cold , diarrhea, fatigue anorexia and cardiac diseases. In recent years, it has been proposed that Astragalus may possess anti-apoptosis potential in peritoneal mesothelial cell. In spite of this, the anti-apoptosis effects of Astragalus saponin extract in human peritoneal mesothelial cells during peritoneal carcinomatosishas has not been studied. In this study, the anti-apoptosis effects of Astragalus saponin extract were investigated in human peritoneal mesothelial cells during peritoneal gastric cancer metastasis.
A research article to be published on February 7, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Professor Hui-Mian Xu from Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University.Human peritoneal mesothelial cell line HMrSV5 was co-incubated with gastric cancer cell supernatant and/or Astragalus injection. Morphological changes were observed. Apoptosis was determined by transmission electron microscope.
Women’s Cancer Outcome Improved by Surgical Evaluation
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Many women scheduled to undergo hysterectomy for pre-cancerous cell changes actually need a more comprehensive surgery, something they should discuss with a gynecologic oncologist, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
If seen by a specialist, it should be recommended they undergo a procedure that focuses on lymph nodes and other organs not involved in a traditional hysterectomy, said Warner Huh, M.D., a researcher at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The finding was presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists’ 2009 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer in San Antonio.
“Given the high rate of endometrial cancer, these data strongly suggest all women who have abnormal bleeding and a diagnosis of pre-cancerous lesions of the uterus should be evaluated by a gynecologic oncologist,” Huh said.
Few major complications after prostate radiation
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Less than 7 percent of men with prostate cancer who have radiation therapy experience major complications in the first 30 days, new research shows.
Radiation therapy “is quite safe for older patients, although it is associated with a small but measurable increase in short-term major complications,” Dr. Shabbir M. H. Alibhai from University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada told Reuters Health.
Alibhai and colleagues compared major 30-day complications in men who had radiation therapy or radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate) for early “organ-confined” prostate cancer.
Despite being older and having more co-existing illnesses, men who received radiation had lower complication rates in each category compared with men who had surgery, the investigators found.
Moles and melanoma risk similar worldwide
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Although where one lives may influence the risk for skin cancer, people with a large number of moles seem to have a consistent risk regardless of their latitude of residence, researchers have found.
Moles, also known as melanocytic nevi, are a precursor of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.
“We carried out a study in collaboration with groups around the world to further understand the risk for melanoma that is associated with having large number of nevi,” Dr. Julia A. Newton-Bishop told Reuters Health.
They call it Mellow Yellow?
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A hardline Hindu organization, known for its opposition to “corrupting” Western food imports, is planning to launch a new soft drink made from cow’s urine, often seen as sacred in parts of India.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Corps, said the bovine beverage is undergoing laboratory tests for the next 2 to 3 months but did not give a specific date for its commercial release.
The flavor is not yet known, but the RSS said the liquid produced by Hinduism’s revered holy cows is being mixed with products such as aloe vera and gooseberry to fight diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
Booklet helps cancer patients navigate costly care
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The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has released a guide to help cancer patients and their doctors communicate more effectively about the costs associated with their treatment and care.
The booklet, available online at http://www.cancer.net/managingcostofcare, provides a summary of the costs associated with treatment and a list of financial resources for patients who need help paying for their treatment and care.
According to ASCO, the cost of treating cancer is increasing at a rate of 15 percent per year—nearly three times the rate of increase of overall health care costs in the country. The latest cancer drugs often cost thousands of dollars per month, putting a strain on many families’ finances, the agency notes.
Pregnancy has no impact on breast cancer, but can delay diagnosis and treatment
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A new study finds women who develop breast cancer while pregnant or soon afterwards do not experience any differences in disease severity or likelihood of survival compared to other women with breast cancer. The study is published in the March 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
So-called pregnancy-associated breast cancers (PABC), defined as breast cancer that develops either during or within one year following pregnancy, is relatively rare and presents a dilemma for clinicians. An estimated 0.2 to 3.8 percent of pregnancies are complicated by breast cancer, and approximately 10 percent of breast cancer patients under age 40 develop the disease during pregnancy. But as age at the time of pregnancy continues to increase, the incidence of PABC can be expected to increase.
Previous research has suggested that pregnancy is associated with poorer outcomes among women with breast cancer.
Some workplaces may alter cancer risk
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The occupation or industry in which one works may either increase or decrease risk for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an immune system cancer often found in middle-aged adults.
An analysis of newly diagnosed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) cases diagnosed between July 1998 and June 2000 confirms previous reports of increased risk for NHL among farmers, printers, leather workers, medical professionals, and some electronic workers, researchers report in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
However, “it is not the job title or industry that causes the increased risk, but rather the specific exposures to chemical and biologic agents in the work place that may increase the risk of NHL,” Dr. Maryjean Schenk told Reuters Health.
Mistrust makes some women delay breast exam
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A lack of trust in the health care system leads many women from minority groups to delay breast cancer screening, according to results of a study reported Thursday at the American Association for Cancer Research conference on the Science of Health Care Disparities in Carefree, Arizona.
“Our medical systems, in general, have some work to do to build better-trusted relationships with racial and ethnic women,” Dr. Karen Patricia Williams from Michigan State University in East Lansing told the conference.
Williams and colleagues analyzed medical mistrust and breast cancer screening behaviors among 116 African American, 113 Latina, and 112 Arab American women who were eligible for screening; their average age was 46 years.
Hispanic women and breast cancer: An understudied group
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Data from the ELLA Binational Breast Cancer Study will be released for the first time at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Carefree, Arizona.
“Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, but little is known about their risk for breast cancer,” said Elena Martinez, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson. “The study recruited women who were recently diagnosed with invasive breast cancer living in the United States and in Mexico. We hope to understand more about what puts these women at risk for specific types of breast cancer.”
Martinez will moderate a press conference in both English and Spanish at the Science of Cancer Health Disparities meeting. The English-language press conference will take place at 10:00 a.m. MST on Wednesday, February 4, while the Spanish-language press conference will take place at 11:00 a.m. MST on the same day. Reporters unable to attend in person can call in to each conference at 888-282-7404.
Breast cancer risk rapidly declines after women stop taking postmenopausal combined hormone therapy
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Women who stopped taking the postmenopausal hormone combination of estrogen plus progestin experienced a marked decline in breast cancer risk which was unrelated to mammography utilization change, according to a study from the Women’s Health Initiative led by a Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) investigator that was published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“These findings support the hypothesis that the recent reduction in breast cancer incidence in the United States is predominantly related to a decrease in combined estrogen plus progestin use,” said Rowan T. Chlebowski, M.D., Ph.D., a LA BioMed chief investigator and lead author for the study.
Breast cancer in the United States began to decline in 2003, after the Women’s Health Initiative’s initial findings that combined hormone therapy was related to higher risk of breast cancer and heart problems.
