Cancer
Experts identify gene variants linked to lung cancer
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Researchers in China and the United States have identified mutations of two genes which appear to make ethnic Chinese more susceptible to lung cancer, they wrote in the journal Cancer.
Their finding involves two genes, ABCB1 and ABCC1, which were previously thought to be linked to eliminating carcinogens from the lungs and protecting them against inhaled toxins.
In their study, the researchers analyzed the genes of 500 patients with lung cancer and 517 cancer-free participants in southeastern China.
Newly identified gene powerful predictor of colon cancer metastasis
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Cancer Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Charité – Universitäts Medizin Berlin (Germany) have identified a gene which enables them to predict for the first time with high probability if colon cancer is going to metastasize. Assistant Professor Dr. Ulrike Stein, Professor Peter M. Schlag, and Professor Walter Birchmeier were able to demonstrate that the gene MACC1 (Metastasis-Associated in Colon Cancer 1) not only promotes tumor growth but also the development of metastasis.When MACC1 gene activity is low, the life expectancy of patients with colon cancer is longer in comparison to patients with high MACC1 levels. (Nature Medicine, doi: 10.1038/nm.1889)*.
According to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, more than 108,000 people developed colon cancer in the US in 2008. Despite surgery, chemo- and radiotherapy, only 50 percent of patients can be cured because 20 percent of the patients have already developed metastasis by the time their colon cancer is diagnosed. In addition, one-third of patients whose treatment of the original colon cancer was successful will, nevertheless, go on to develop metastasis.
The MDC and Charité researchers are convinced that the identification of the MACC1 gene will aid medical doctors in identifying those patients as early as possible who are at high risk of developing life-threatening metastasis in the liver and the lungs. As a result, more intensive treatment and follow-up care could be offered to high risk patients.
New study shows that a cough medicine ingredient could effectively treat prostate cancer
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A study published today in the December issue of the European medical journal Anticancer Research demonstrates that an ingredient used in a common cough suppressant may be useful in treating advanced prostate cancer. Researchers found that noscapine, which has been used in cough medication for nearly 50 years, reduced tumor growth in mice by 60% and limited the spread of tumors by 65% without causing harmful side effects.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that 186,320 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008 and 28,660 will die from it. One man in 6 will get prostate cancer during his lifetime. Although slow-growing in most men, the cancer is considered advanced when it spreads beyond the prostate. There is no known cure.
The laboratory study was a joint effort by Dr. Israel Barken of the Prostate Cancer Research and Educational Foundation, Moshe Rogosnitzky of MedInsight Research Institute, and Dr. Jack Geller of The University of California San Diego. Noscapine has previously been studied as a treatment for breast, ovarian, colon, lung and brain cancer and for various lymphomas, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and melanoma. This study, however, is the first to demonstrate its effectiveness in treating prostate cancer.
Common Treatment for Chronic Prostatitis Fails to Reduce Symptoms
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Alfuzosin, a drug commonly prescribed for men with chronic prostatitis, a painful disorder of the prostate and surrounding pelvic area, failed to significantly reduce symptoms in recently diagnosed men who had not been previously treated with this drug, according to a clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study is to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Although these results are disappointing, it is just as important to find out what doesn’t work as it is to know what does,” said NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D. “We have conclusively shown that a drug commonly prescribed for men with chronic prostatitis did not significantly reduce symptoms compared to a placebo.”
Chronic prostatitis, which has no known cause and no uniformly effective therapy, is the most common type of prostatitis seen by physicians. Men with this condition experience pain in the genital and urinary tract areas, lower urinary tract symptoms such as pain in the bladder area and during urination, and sexual problems that can severely affect their quality of life. Population-based surveys estimate that 6 percent to 12 percent of men have prostatitis-like symptoms.
U.S. blacks lag whites in colorectal cancer progress
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Colorectal cancer diagnoses and deaths have fallen in the United States this decade, but the gap in progress between whites and blacks is widening, the American Cancer Society said on Monday.
Improvement has come about chiefly due to prevention and early detection through colonoscopy and other screening methods recommended starting at age 50, the group said in a report.
Colorectal cancer, which includes cancer of the colon and rectum, ranks third among all types of cancer in the United States both in the number of people who get it and in the number who die, but rates have been falling since the 1980s.
Joint pain is increased in breast cancer patients
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Joint pain is more common and more severe in women with breast cancer than age-matched women without breast cancer, researchers reported at the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
The extent and impact of joint pain as a result of treatment for breast cancer should not be underestimated, Dr. Deborah Fenlon, with the University of Southampton, UK, noted, since joint pain may disrupt patients’ lives for years after treatment has stopped.
Fenlon and colleagues analyzed responses to questionnaires completed by 247 women with breast cancer following treatment and 272 women without breast cancer having routine mammograms. The average time since diagnosis in the breast cancer group was 36 months.
Computer-Aided Mammography Finds More Cancer, More False Positives
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Computer programs designed to help radiologists could identify more cases of breast cancer, but they might also increase the number of false-positive results, which can lead to biopsies in healthy women, according to a recent systematic review.
Using computer-aided detection (CAD) mammography, “you do catch some cases that would have been missed if the mammogram had been read only by a single radiologist,” said review author Meredith Noble, a research analyst at ECRI Institute.
Typically, a radiologist examines a woman’s screening mammogram to check for signs of cancer. When using CAD with mammography, the radiologist still reads the mammogram, but a computer program also evaluates the mammogram and marks suspicious areas for the radiologist to review further.
Selenium, Vitamin E Do Not Prevent Prostate Cancer
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Findings from one of the largest cancer chemoprevention trials ever conducted have concluded that selenium and vitamin E taken alone or in combination for an average of five and a half years did not prevent prostate cancer, according to a team of researchers coordinated by the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) and led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic.
Data and analysis gathered through Oct. 23, 2008, from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) were published in the Dec. 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by Scott M. Lippman, M.D., professor and chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at M. D. Anderson, Eric A. Klein, M.D., of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and 30 coauthors from the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.
Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) with some additional contribution from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the Phase III trial began recruitment in August 2001 and aimed to determine whether selenium, vitamin E, or both could prevent prostate cancer and other diseases in relatively healthy men.
Cancer patients’ depression tied to family woes
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Treating cancer patients’ depression may help their children stay mentally healthy too, new research in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggests.
Dr. Florence Schmitt of the University Hospital of Turku in Finland and her colleagues conducted a study of 381 families in which a parent had cancer. They found that, overall, the families of cancer patients were doing well, but that an ill parent’s depression or physical impairment was linked to worse family function.
“Support systems need to be more family-oriented and child-centered in their approach to cancer psychosocial care,” Schmitt and her team write in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
European origin may up Latinas’ breast cancer risk
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Among United States Latinas, a greater degree of European genetic ancestry is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, the results of a new study indicate. This could be due to environmental factors, genetic factors, or the interplay of the two, the study team suggests.
Latina women generally have a lower risk of breast cancer compared with European, African-American or non-Latina white women do, according to the report, which published in Cancer Research. This is partially explained by differences in the number of known risk factors; but genetics may also be involved.
Latinas are a group originating from genetically divergent populations, mostly Europeans and Indigenous Americans, note Dr. Laura Fejerman of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues. In their study, the researchers evaluated the genetic ancestry of 440 Latinas with breast cancer and 597 Latinas without breast cancer.
U.S. study weighs lifetime risks from CT scans
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As many as 7 percent of patients from a large U.S. hospital system had enough radiation exposure from CT scans during their lifetime to slightly raise their risk of cancer, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
The finding is part of an effort to develop tools that help doctors assess a patient’s overall cancer risk from exposure to computed tomography, or CT scans, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston told a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.
CT scans—an X-ray machine that rotates around the body taking different images—speed diagnosis of illness and injuries, and are routinely used to track the advance of cancer. But a number of recent studies have raised alarms about the potential cancer risks from the radiation.
Cancer patients’ race may affect well-being
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Emotional and social quality of life reports from cancer patients may be influenced by race and ethnicity, researchers report the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.
“Specifically,” Dr. Deepa Rao told Reuters Health, “African-Americans with cancer reported poorer physical and social well-being, but better emotional well-being, than European-Americans.”
Rao, of Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, and colleagues examined how race or ethnicity might influence the social and emotional well-being of cancer patients. Previous studies found poorer physical health among African-Americans compared with European-Americans.
New statistical model could help reduce breast-lesion biopsies
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A new method of characterizing breast lesions found during an MRI exam could result in fewer biopsies of benign tumors with the benefits of reduced pain and expense for patients and providers, according to a paper that will be presented today (Sunday, Nov. 30) at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Wendy DeMartini, M.D., and colleagues in the breast imaging department at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance developed a preliminary statistical model that breast radiologists could use eventually when deciding whether a lesion found on breast MRI is likely to be malignant or benign. Their retrospective review of almost 2,600 breast MRI exams performed during a four-year period at the SCCA found three crucial patient and lesion characteristics that, when used in combination, could predict the likelihood of malignancy, including identifying some lesions with probabilities of cancer close to zero.
Such a model, if confirmed by more research, could be beneficial because MRI exams are so sensitive that they reveal cancerous and non-cancerous lesions that often look alike and behave similarly when contrast dye is injected into the patient. Biopsy is often necessary to determine whether a lesion is cancerous. Statistical models may improve the ability to distinguish between such lesions and avoid unnecessary biopsies.
Testing for cancer at home
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It might not be pleasant, but it could save your life. A new Canadian campaign advocating home screening for colorectal cancer could reduce deaths from the disease by catching it early, when it is often asymptomatic but also highly curable.
The Canadian province of Ontario has one of the world’s highest rates of colorectal cancer, according to the provincial health ministry, and it’s the second deadliest cancer in the province. The disease has a 90-percent cure rate when caught during its early stages but because the cancer is often asymptomatic until it is further progressed, it can be missed.
About 40 percent of the 20,000 Ontarians diagnosed with colon cancer each year will die, said Dr. Philip Branton, scientific director of the Canadian Health Research Institute, in a release.
Tamoxifen easier on the brain than thought: study
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Concern that treatment with tamoxifen and other “anti-estrogen” therapies in women with breast cancer may contribute to compromised brain function does not appear to be warranted, at least over the short term, according to a report in the medical journal Cancer.
Anti-estrogen therapy “did not have any significant effects on cognitive function, and I think it is safe to say that patients needn’t worry about cognitive side effects of these medications,” Dr. Kerstin Hermelink from Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany told Reuters Health.
Hermelink and colleagues assessed the effects of hormonal treatment-induced menopause and anti-estrogen therapy on cognitive function in 101 women with breast cancer. They used 12 cognitive tests to assess the patients before the start of cancer therapy, towards the end of chemotherapy, and 1 year after the start of the study.
