Cancer
Kidney transplantees face higher melanoma risk
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People who’ve undergone a kidney transplant have an increased risk of developing melanoma, according to a new report.
“There is evidence from previous studies that the immunosuppression regimen (used after a kidney transplant) affects the risk of melanoma,” Dr. Christopher S. Hollenbeak told Reuters Health. “We are currently working to identify specific regimens in the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) data in order to determine whether risk is associated with specific agents.”
Indian Researcher Discovers Reason For Malignancy of Skin Cancer
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An Indian origin researcher and his team have discovered one of the reasons why melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer, is so malignant.
Piyush Gupta, lead author of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology research team, found that melanoma, unlike other cancers, is born with its metastatic (spread of cancer cells) engines in full operation.
Testicular cancer survivors at risk of other cancer
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Men like cyclist Lance Armstrong and comedian Tom Green who survived testicular cancer are at increased risk of developing other types of cancer for at least 35 years after being diagnosed with the original disease, a new analysis shows.
“The study also showed for the first time a greater risk of malignant mesothelioma, a cancer affecting the lining of the lungs, and esophagus cancer among testicular cancer survivors, likely due to the outdated practice of treating these patients with chest radiation”, said Dr. Lois B. Travis of the National Cancer Institute.
Vitamin’s effect on cancer varies by smoker status
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High intake of beta-carotene seems to decrease the risk of tobacco-related cancers among people who’ve never smoked, but to increase the risk among current or past smokers, new research suggests. Although the findings are based on a study of women, the researchers believe that similar results would be obtained in men.
“Based on the findings from our study and others, I would advise against beta-carotene supplements for current or past smokers,” senior author Dr. Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault, from INSERM in Villejuif, France, told Reuters Health. “For beta-carotene-rich foods, the message is less clear, since they often contain other vitamins that may counteract the interaction of beta-carotene with smoking.”
Beer and spirits boost colon tumor risk
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Beer and spirits drinkers face a higher risk of colorectal tumors, but wine drinkers may have a lower risk, according to a report in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
“Alcohol is pernicious with regard to colorectal” tumors, Dr. Joseph C. Anderson from Stony Brook University, New York told Reuters Health. “Lifestyle plays a role as genetics does in the development” of these tumors.
More veggies may curb pancreatic cancer risk -study
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Eating more raw vegetables every day, especially yellow and dark green ones, may help cut the risk of pancreatic cancer in half, according to a study released on Thursday.
Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco found eating five or more servings of yams, corn, carrots, onions or other similar vegetables is linked with lower risk of the disease—one of the most deadly and hard-to-treat cancers.
Sperm banking gives cancer patients emotional lift
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Sperm banking may not only preserve young cancer patients’ ability to have children, but their emotional well-being as well, according to Japanese researchers.
They found that among 51 young men who banked their sperm before undergoing chemotherapy, 80 percent said that the move helped them in the “emotional battle against cancer.” Even those who were unsure whether they wanted to have children in the future gained some peace of mind from sperm banking, according to the researchers.
Why blacks less likely to have chemo still unclear
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A recent study showed that black patients are much less likely than white patients to receive recommended chemotherapy after surgery for advanced colon cancer. A new study suggests that there is no single or simple explanation for why this is so.
To try to understand the factors involved in black-white differences in recommended colon cancer treatment, doctors took a look-back at 5,294 black and white patients 66 years of age or older who had surgery for advanced colon cancer. All of them had Medicare health insurance, and therefore the same access to care.
Testicular cancer risk linked to mothers’ weight
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Pregnant women’s weight is apparently associated with the subsequent risk of Testicular cancer in male offspring once they become adults, according to a Scandinavian study.
Higher maternal weight leads to higher levels of estrogens, which can be transferred from mother to fetus via the placenta.
What Women Should Know About Smoking and Bladder Cancer
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Many women concerned about their health are surprisingly unaware of their risk for Bladder Cancer. Yet, the number of women who have had Bladder Cancer is similar to that of ovarian and cervical cancers. Sadly, women have a higher death rate from Bladder Cancer than men because women more often are diagnosed at an advanced stage in the disease, when treatment is more complicated, invasive and expensive, making the prognosis worse.
Scientists identify “Jekyll and Hyde” cancer gene
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French and American scientists said Wednesday they have identified a “Jekyll and Hyde” type of cancer gene that could lead to better ways to diagnose and treat the disease.
Unlike other cancer genes that either promote cancerous tumors or block their growth, researchers at the University of Lyon in France and the Buck Institute in Novato, California have found a gene that does both.
Prevention of Lung Cancer
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Prevention
Doctors can not always explain why one person gets cancer and another does not. However, scientists have studied general patterns of cancer in the population to learn what things around us and what things we do in our lives may increase our chance of developing cancer.
Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor; anything that decreases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a protective factor. Some of the risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many can not.
Future of Cancer Diagnosis
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It has been said that a human being is a veritable encyclopedia of proteins. Proteins are the fabric of life - they provide the bricks and mortar of our cells, and run day-to-day operations. When these functions go awry - when too much or too little protein is produced, when a daisy-chain network of proteins working together is disrupted - illness can arise.
While an errant genetic code may underlie a disorder, biologists have estimated that 98% of disease is caused by something wrong in the proteins that genes produce.
High intake of milk may raise ovarian cancer risk
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Could a lot of dairy be too much of a good thing? An analysis of 21 studies that investigated ties between ovarian cancer and the consumption of milk products and lactose provides some support for the notion that a high intake is associated with increased ovarian cancer risk.
“The important observation,” said Dr. Susanna C. Larsson, “is that a high intake of milk and milk sugar (lactose) was associated with increased risk of ovarian cancerr in prospective studies (in which diet has been assessed before the cancer diagnosis) but not in case-control studies (in which diet has been assessed after the cancer diagnosis.”
Iodine pills curb radiation-induced cancer risk
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A study confirms that exposure in childhood to radioactive iodines, mainly iodine-131, increases the risk of thyroid cancer and suggests that both iodine deficiency and iodine supplementation may be important and independent modifiers of this risk.
These results have important public health implications, researchers say. They think, based on their study, that giving iodine pills to iodine-deficient populations may substantially reduce the risk of thyroid cancer from radioactive iodine exposure in childhood that may occur after radiation accidents or during medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
