Cancer
New drug ups survival in advanced colon cancer
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Among patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to other areas of the body and who have not been helped by standard chemotherapy, a new drug called panitumumab produces a highly significant improvement in time without worsening of disease, according to data released at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
“Panitumumab is a new important treatment option for patients with chemo-resistant colorectal cancer, and it can add to the survival of these patients and their quality of life,” researcher Dr. Marc Peeters from University Hospital Ghent in Belgium said at a press briefing.
Panitumumab targets a growth factor receptor that is a key player in cancer cell growth.
Johns Hopkins scientists identify genes in fruitflies that may shed light on human cancer spread
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By searching through all the genes in the fruitfly genome, Johns Hopkins scientists have identified those required for a certain type of cell migration and simultaneously captured a global view of all the genes turned on when cells are on the move.
The study, to be published April 3 in Developmental Cell, has implications for understanding cell migration and perhaps controlling cancer cells that move similarly to spread beyond an original tumor, which are what eventually kills most cancer patients.
The research identified several hundred genes that are preferentially turned on in so-called border cells of the fruitfly ovary that migrate during normal development. Two main types of genes came out of this search: those known to be involved in maintaining cell shape and structure and which become very dynamic in migrating cells; and a group of genes involved in transporting materials from the inside of a cell to its membrane surface and back again.
Panitumumab shows promise for patients with colorectal cancer
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Results from a Phase III study of a new drug show promise for patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, according to a study presented during the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Investigators have shown that panitumumab improves progression-free survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who had failed standard chemotherapy. In the randomized trial of 463 patients, those who received panitumumab with best supportive care every two weeks (231 pts) showed a 46 percent decrease in the rate of tumor progression or death versus those who received only best supportive care (232 pts). At week 24, approximately four times as many pantimumab patients were alive and progression-free versus those on best-supportive care (18 percent versus five percent). Twice as many panitumumab patients were alive and progression-free at week 32 (10 percent versus four percent).
Studies show HPV testing is more sensitive than current screening methods
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The current technique for screening for cervical cancer involves collecting cells by way of a pap smear and examining them under a microscope. Although this method has reduced cervical cancer in countries where it is regularly used, it has several weaknesses.
A new study found that the test for human papillomavirus (HPV), which is present in almost all cervical cancers, is more sensitive than cytology (cell examination) in detecting cervical cancer. The study published online April 3, 2006 in the International Journal of Cancer, the official journal of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), and is available via Wiley InterScience.
Cytology is currently the gold standard for cervical cancer detection, but it has several limitations: high-quality samples must be collected; identifying the cell changes that may lead to cancer is highly subjective; and the method itself is very repetitive, which can further lead to interpretive errors. Several studies have shown that HPV testing is more sensitive than cytology at detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), the changes in cervical cells that can lead to cancer. The current study was an analysis of data from several countries comparing the two methods.
Racial gap seen in chemo for colon cancer
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Black patients with colorectal cancer are 20 percent less likely than white patients to be recommended for add-on (or “adjuvant”) chemotherapy, new research indicates.
The finding comes from a look-back study that included all 17,174 black and white colorectal cancer patients diagnosed in Alabama during a recent 7-year period. Dr. Hanaa S. Elhefni, from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio reported the results at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
At a press briefing on health disparities, in which Dr. Elhefni’s study was highlighted, Dr. Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, an oncologist from the University of Chicago said: “This study shows that doctors are not recommending treatments for colorectal cancer that we know are effective and we need to find out why.”
Prolonged mobile phone use raises brain tumour risk
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The use of mobile phones over a long period of time can raise the risk of brain tumours, according to a Swedish study released on Friday, contradicting the conclusions of other researchers.
Last year, the Dutch Health Council, in an overview of research from around the world, found no evidence that radiation from mobile phones or TV towers was harmful. A four-year British survey in January also showed no link between regular, long-term use of cell phones and the most common type of tumour.
But researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life looked at the mobile phone use of 2,200 cancer patients and an equal number of healthy control subjects.
Researchers Discover Cancer Cells May Move Via Wave Stimulation
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Mayo Clinic researchers have uncovered a new cellular secret that may explain how certain cancers move and spread—a feature of cancers that makes treatment especially difficult. If the mechanism that drives cancer movement—also called metastasis—can be understood well enough to manipulate it, new and better treatments can be developed for patients with metastatic cancers.
Significance of the Mayo Clinic Research
The Mayo researchers 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 cancerous 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.
Serum tumor markers predict extravesical disease in clinical stage T2 bladder cancer
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Bladder cancer clinical staging is notoriously poor in patients with muscle invasive disease.
While prospective randomized trials have demonstrated a small survival benefit when neoadjuvant chemotherapy strategies are employed, the selection criteria for preoperative chemotherapy are not well defined. Improving clinical staging with novel imaging or laboratory modalities remains a challenge.
In the April issue of the Journal of Urology, Margel and colleagues evaluated the utility of preoperative levels of CEA, CA-125 or CA 19-9 to predict extravesical disease in patients with clinical stage T2 bladder cancer. Quantitative beta-hcg was not measured. Serum levels of these markers were measured in 91 patients treated with radical cystectomy. Of these patients, 51% (46) had disease localized to the bladder and 49% had extravesical disease. Nineteen percent of patients had evidence of lymph node metastases.
Underutilization of partial nephrectomy for localized renal cell carcinoma in the U.S.
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In the past, the gold standard for the treatment of localized renal tumors has been radical nephrectomy. Over time however, experience with nephron sparing surgery and, now, laparoscopic approaches have demonstrated oncologic equipoise and may provide for an improved quality of life for patients as compared to those undergoing radical nephrectomy for localized renal masses.
The incidence of localized small renal tumors is increasing (3.8-5.6% annually) and one would predict that the incidence of nephron sparing approaches would increase in concert. Though more technically demanding than radical nephrectomy, nephron sparing offers the intuitive benefit of maximizing residual functioning renal tissue, while maintaining cancer control. A recent evaluation of the SEER database revealed that in 2001, 58% of patients with tumors < 2cm, and 80% of patients with tumors 2-4 cm were managed with radical nephrectomy. This study by Hollenbeck and colleagues suggests that while the use of nephron sparing approaches in the management of small renal masses has increased, it remains underutilized and very much regionalized to urban, teaching, high volume centers in the United States.
Custom made nanoparticles will transform cancer diagnosis and treatment
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Researchers have developed “custom” nanoparticles that promise to provide a more targeted and effective way of delivering anticancer drugs than conventional medications or any of the earlier attempts to fight cancer with nanoparticles.
The special nanoparticles were designed at the molecular level to attack specific types of cancer without affecting healthy cells.
The researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, say the nanoparticles also have the potential to reduce the nasty side effects associated with chemotherapy.
Smokers, Drinkers and Men Appear to Develop Colorectal Cancer at Earlier Ages
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Alcohol use, tobacco use and male gender are associated with an earlier onset of colorectal cancer and also with location of tumors, findings that could have important implications for screening, according to a study in the March 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths, according to background information in the article. Screening asymptomatic patients is an important strategy for reducing these deaths, because by the time patients experience symptoms, the cancer may have progressed beyond the point where it can be cured. Generally, physicians recommend that patients begin screening at age 50 years, the authors write. However, physicians might recommend that individuals with certain risk factors, including family history, begin screening at earlier ages. Screening methods include flexible sigmoidoscopy, which involves inserting a flexible optical instrument through the rectum into the lower portion of the large intestine, and colonoscopy, which involves inserting a longer flexible optical instrument through the rectum and into the entire colon, is more expensive, has higher complication rates and usually is performed by a gastroenterologist or surgeon rather than a primary care physician.
Treatment for Deadly Brain Tumors and Infections Discovered by Researchers
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In a study published in the March 15 issue of The Journal of Immunology, researchers at Board of Governors’ Gene Therapeutics Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have developed a way to overcome immune privilege in the brain to eradicate potentially deadly brain tumors such as glioblastoma multiforme and other types of brain infections.
Brain tumors account for 85 to 90 percent of all primary central nervous system tumors. Of those tumors, almost 40 percent are either the deadly glioblastoma multiforme or anaplastic astrocytomas. Each year about 19,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with primary brain cancers, and close to 70 percent of those diagnosed will not survive more than five years. In addition, approximately 150,000 Americans a year are diagnosed with metastatic brain tumors, cancer that has spread into the brain from another part of the body.
New discovery explains how a common gene variant may increase cancer risks
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Roughly 15 percent of the population carries a gene variant that may increase the risk of developing cancer. The cause of this increased risk has been unknown until now. But now a research team at Stockholm University in Sweden can explain why.
“The variant makes the cell motor sputter and mutate, so cancer can arise,” says Associate Professor Thomas Helleday, who leads the research team at the Department of Genetics, Microbiology, and Toxicology, Stockholm University.
Even though it is easy to identify the some 15 percent of the population who have the harmful gene, which is called XRCC3 T241M, it is not meaningful to examine them since there are also other unknown factors that influence if this variant increases risk of cancer.
Environmental chemicals implicated in cancer
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New research at the University of Liverpool suggests that environmental contaminants, such as pesticides, are more influential in causing cancer than previously thought.
Previous studies in cancer causation have often concluded that exposure to carcinogenic or endocrine-disrupting chemicals, for example, organochlorines (OC) - found in pesticides and plastics - occurs at concentrations that are too low to be considered a major factor in cancerous disease. Now new research at the University of Liverpool, published in the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, has found that exposure even to small amounts of these chemicals may result in an increased risk of developing cancer - particularly for infants and young adults.
The research consisted of systematic reviewing of recent studies and literature concerning the environment and cancer, and was supported by the Cancer Prevention and Education Society.
Swedish scientists move closer to a cancer vaccine
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Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have helped to identify a molecule that can be used as a vaccination agent against growing cancer tumours. Although the results are so far based on animal experiments, they point to new methods of treating metastases.
The results are presented in the online edition of the prestigious scientific journal Nature Medicine, and represent the collaborative efforts of researchers at KI and Leiden University Medical Centre in Holland.
The study analysed an immunological cell, a T cell, which recognises other cells with defects common to metastasing ones. These defects (which are found in MHC class 1 molecules) allow the tumour cell to evade the “conventional” T cell-mediated immune defence.
