Cancer
OHSU Cancer Institute researchers pinpoint how smoking causes cancer
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Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have pinpointed the protein that can lead to genetic changes that cause lung cancer.
The research will be published Tuesday, May 12, in the British Journal of Cancer.
Researchers discovered that the production of a protein called FANCD2 is slowed when lung cells are exposed to cigarette smoke. Low levels of FANCD2 leads to DNA damage, triggering cancer. Cigarette smoke curbs the production of ‘caretaker’ proteins, like FANCD2, which normally prevent cancer by fixing damages in DNA and causing faulty cells to commit suicide.
Prostate cancer deaths fall after screening program
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Prostate cancer deaths fell substantially in the decade after one Austrian state began free PSA screening tests for all men ages 45 to 75, according to a new study.
Researchers found that after the state of Tyrol began a program of free PSA screening and prostate cancer treatment in 1993, the expected death rate from prostate cancer dropped by 54 percent. That compared with a decline of 29 percent in the rest of Austria, where free screening was not available.
The findings, reported in the journal BJU International, suggest that routine PSA testing can save men’s lives—something that has long been an open question.
Five percent of breast tumors may double in month
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Five percent of breast cancer tumors appear to double in size in just over a month, Norwegian researchers said on Thursday in a study underscoring the potential benefits of more frequent screening.
The study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research also suggested detection rates of just 26 percent for a 5 mm tumor, and 91 percent for a 10 mm tumor.
The researchers used a computer model fed with national screening and cancer data to calculate how quickly tumors grow and estimate the proportion of breast cancers detected at screening.
Study Suggests Diet High in Saturated Fat Contributes to Prostate Cancer Treatment Failure
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In the online version of the International Journal of Cancer, Dr. Sara Strom and associates evaluate the association between saturated fat intake and biochemical failure among men who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP).
A cohort of 390 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy at MD Anderson Cancer Center had a semi-quantitative validated Block food frequency questionnaire modified to their regional diets and completed for the year prior to the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Body mass index (BMI) was also calculated. Clinical and pathological data were abstracted from medical records. Categorical and continual variables were analyzed.
CT Screening for Lung Cancer: Update 2007
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Screening is the pursuit of the early diagnosis of cancer before symptoms occur. The purpose of early diagnosis is to provide early treatment, which potentially prevents death from the cancer. The usefulness of screening depends on how early the cancer can be diagnosed and how many deaths can be prevented by early treatment as compared with later symptom-prompted diagnosis and treatment.
The goal of the Early Lung Cancer Action Project investigators was to develop an efficient methodology that would provide an ever-accumulating, continually updated body of evidence for evaluation of emerging new technologies for screening for cancer. This methodology recognizes that screening is a sequential process that starts with the pursuit of the early diagnosis of cancer followed by early treatment. It also recognizes that diagnostic research is fundamentally different from treatment research. To fully understand the current discussions on the evidence for lung cancer screening, key definitions are provided, including the differentiation between the first, baseline round of screening and all subsequent rounds of repeat screening and baseline and repeat cancers and their distribution by cell type. These definitions are critical in analyzing the results of various screening reports as they are not used by all.
Smoke, then Fire: Lung Cancer Screening Studies Under Further Scrutiny
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In the January 2008 issue of The Oncologist, we reported that the authors of a controversial article on CT screening for early detection of lung cancer had not revealed their financial interests in screening software and biopsy instruments [1]. We considered these interests relevant to the message of the article, and hence decided not to make the article available as a Continuing Medical Education (CME) course [2]. It was further revealed by Paul Goldberg, editor of The Cancer Letter, that the same authors, Claudia Henschke and David Yankelevitz of Weill Cornell Medical College, had not disclosed these interests in their many previous articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the Journal of the American Medical Association, and elsewhere [3].
Goldberg [4] and, independently, Gardiner Harris of The New York Times [5] reported on March 25 and March 26, 2008, respectively, that Henschke and Yankelevitz financed some of their lung cancer screening work with a $3.6 million grant from Vector, the parent company of the Liggett Group, a major cigarette manufacturer. The tobacco money was filtered through a nonprofit foundation, the Foundation for Lung Cancer Early Detection, Prevention & Treatment, that was hastily established in late 2000. Henschke, Yankelevitz, Antonio Gotto (dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and a noted cardiology researcher), and Arthur Mahon (chair of the Weill Cornell Board of Overseers) are the foundation’s officers and directors. The foundation’s support was acknowledged in a few articles published by these authors, but the origin of the money was not obvious to the journals, as recently observed by Jeffrey Drazen, the editor-in-chief of the NEJM [6]. Goldberg further documents that the authors subsequently accepted grant support from the American Cancer Society and other sources that specifically prohibit projects that receive funding from tobacco companies. In fact, the authors neither acknowledged this funding from Vector nor their foundation in the paper published by The Oncologist [7].
Heart failure patients may suffer similarly to advanced cancer patients
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Heart failure outpatients have similar numbers of symptoms and levels of depression and spiritual well-being as patients with advanced lung and pancreatic cancer, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s 9th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.
In their study, researchers from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine also found that heart failure patients with “poor” health status had greater symptoms and depression and worse spiritual well-being than patients with advanced cancer.
The study compared 60 ambulatory heart failure patients to 30 outpatients with advanced cancer being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital or Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Md. Those with heart failure were outpatients, able to attend clinics and complete questionnaires.
Study raises questions about prostate cancer therapies targeting IGF-1
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Therapies under development to treat prostate cancer by inhibiting the ability of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) to activate its target receptor could have unexpected results especially if a major tumor suppressor gene – p53 – is already compromised, according to new research by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
IGF-1 is a polypeptide hormone that can influence growth, differentiation and survival of cells expressing the type 1 receptor (IGF-1R). Past clinical, epidemiological and experimental studies have strongly implicated IGF-1 as a contributing factor in the natural history of prostate cancer. However, very little has been done to prove absolutely that the expression or activation of the IGF-1 signaling pathway at physiologically relevant levels is sufficient to cause a healthy prostate cell to become a cancer cell.
Norman Greenberg, Ph.D., and colleagues conducted a pair of experiments by manipulating gene expression directly in the epithelial compartment of the mouse prostate gland to better understand the role of IGF-1R. In contrast to studies that correlated elevated levels of IGF-1 with the risk of developing prostate cancer, Greenberg’s research showed that eliminating IGF-1R expression in an otherwise normal mouse prostate caused the cells to proliferate and become hyperplastic. Although persistent loss of IGF-1R expression ultimately induced cell stasis and death, both of these processes are regulated by the tumor suppressor gene p53 that is commonly mutated in human prostate cancers. Hence the researchers hypothesized that tumors with compromised p53 might not respond predictably to therapies targeting IGF1 signaling.
Black women may overestimate cancer screening rates
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Many African-American women may overestimate the number of cancer screening tests they have had, potentially putting them at risk of late cancer detection, a small study suggests.
Researchers at the American Cancer Society found that among 116 black women they interviewed about their cancer screening history, there were generally large discrepancies between the women’s memories and their medical records.
In most of these cases, women remembered having a test that, based on the records, was not done, the researchers report in the journal Oncology Nursing Forum.
Early-onset osteoporosis linked to cancer risk
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Early onset of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis seems to be related to an increased risk of certain cancers, while later onset of osteoporosis may be related to a decreased risk of other cancers, researchers report.
They note in the International Journal of Cancer that the risk of breast, endometrial and other cancers has been reported to be lower among women with pre-existing osteoporosis. This is most likely because of lower estrogen levels, which increase the likelihood of osteoporosis but reduce the odds of certain cancers.
“Other osteoporosis risk factors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, however, may increase risk,” Dr. Katherine A. McGlynn, of the National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland, and colleagues suggest.
Viruses may play a role in lung cancer development
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Papers presented at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference, jointly organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Geneva, Switzerland highlight emerging evidence that common viruses may contribute to the development of lung cancer.
Experts agree that smoking is by far the most important factor that contributes to lung cancer development. But other factors can play a role in some cases.
In one report at the conference (Abstract No. 124PD; Friday 25th April, 09:50) Dr. Arash Rezazadeh and colleagues from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, describe the results of a study on 23 lung cancer samples from patients in Kentucky.
2 types of image are better than 1 for analyzing tumors
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Doctors treating individuals with cancer would find a noninvasive method to determine the amount of oxygen in a tumor very useful, because low levels of oxygen in a tumor have been linked to a poor outcome. A new method to do this and to image the surrounding organs and tissues at the same time has been developed and used to image tumors in mice by Murali Krishna and colleagues, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda. The importance of this technical advance for furthering our understanding of tumor development in pre-clinical studies is discussed in an accompanying commentary by Mark Dewhirst and colleagues, at Duke University, Durham. As are some of the challenges that need to be overcome to develop the approach for use in the clinic, where it could be used diagnostically to determine the best treatment approach for tumors and other diseases as well as to monitor responses to treatment.
Pregnancy is possible after cancer treatment
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It has been reported for the first time in Germany that healthy ovarian tissue has been taken from a non-pregnant woman with cancer and then re-implanted after cancer therapy. The patient is now 32 years old and could become pregnant as a result. This case is described by Ralf Dittrich and his colleagues from Erlangen University Hospital in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105[15]: 274-8).
OHSU Cancer Institute researcher identifies protein that helps predict prostate cancer survival
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An Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researcher has identified a protein that is a strong indicator of survival for men with advanced prostate cancer. The C-reactive protein, also known as CRP, is a special type of protein produced by the liver that is elevated in the presence of inflammation.
“This could mean that a simple blood test that is already available could help in clinical decision making and patient counseling. Patients and doctors would know better what to expect from the prostate cancer they are facing,” said Tomasz Beer, M.D., director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program at the OHSU Cancer Institute, associate professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology), OHSU School of Medicine.
Beer’s research will be published online in the journal Cancer on Monday, April 21.
Cancer survivors have low levels of physical activity and high levels of obesity
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A new study reveals that many cancer survivors are inactive and obese, which may negatively affect the control of their disease. The findings, which come from a study of cancer survivors in Canada, show that a cancer diagnosis does not appear to prompt significant behavior change and that interventions to increase physical activity and promote better eating habits among cancer survivors are warranted. The study is published in the June 1, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
Obesity and physical inactivity are known to be detrimental to health, and in cancer patients, studies have linked these factors to negative outcomes including disease recurrence, cancer-specific death and reduced quality of life. However, few studies have looked at the prevalence of physical activity and obesity in populations of cancer survivors.
To determine this prevalence and compare it to individuals without a history of cancer, Kerry S. Courneya, Ph.D. of the University of Alberta in Edmonton analyzed data from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey consisting of computer-assisted interviews of more than 114,000 adults. Survey participants reported their cancer history, height and body weight (to calculate body mass index), and participation in various leisure time activities.
