March 15, 2007, 6:26 PM CT

Poliovirus To Destroy Neuroblastoma Tumors

The cause of one notorious childhood disease, poliovirus, could be used to treat the ongoing threat of another childhood disease, neuroblastoma. In the March 15 issue of Cancer Research, researchers from Stony Brook University report that an attenuated -- or non-virulent -- form of poliovirus is effective in obliterating neuroblastoma tumors in mice, even when the mice had been previously vaccinated against the virus.

By its nature, poliovirus destroys the cells it infects in an attempt to replicate copies of itself. When released from the cells it kills, the replicated particles then attack surrounding cells. The Stony Brook researchers took advantage of this viral property by injecting a stable, attenuated strain of poliovirus directly into neuroblastoma tumors transplanted into 12 mice engineered to contract polio. The virus was able to destroy tumors in all 12 mice; however tumors reoccurred in two mice by the end of the 180-day study period.

None of the mice experienced any ill effects from the virus itself. According to the researchers, any viral particles that make it to the bloodstream would be destroyed by antibodies created through poliovirus vaccination. The researchers believe that their findings, if developed to work in humans, could represent a safe, practical means of treating a deadly childhood cancer and possibly many other cancers in adults......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

March 13, 2007, 9:57 PM CT

Radiation After Surgery In Women Over Age 65

Although women over 65 make up more than half of women diagnosed with breast cancer, the effects of treatment on this group have not been widely studied.

Studies show older women are less likely than younger women to receive common adjuvant (post-surgical) therapies like hormonal treatments or radiation therapy following surgery.

Some researchers have argued that radiation therapy is not necessary in women over 65 who have surgery and take tamoxifen, especially because these women may face other life-threatening conditions. Others have argued that these women have less aggressive cancers and may not benefit from radiation because of the burden of travel, costs or other medical conditions.

Women under age 65 often receive more aggressive treatment when diagnosed with breast cancer. Upon diagnosis of early breast cancer, a woman may have breast conserving therapy (also called lumpectomy), a surgery in which the tumor is removed as well as a small portion of the tissue surrounding the tumor. Others receive mastectomy, the removal of the entire breast. In most cases, breast conserving surgery is followed by radiation, or the use of high-energy from x-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, and other sources to kill breast cancer cells and shrink tumors.

Women with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancers, or cancers that may grow faster in the presence of the hormone estrogen, often conclude their treatment by taking five years of hormonal therapy. At the time of this study, the standard treatment was tamoxifen (brand name: Nolvadex), a medicine that blocks the growth of hormone sensitive breast cancers by binding to estrogen receptors on the outside of cancer cells......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

March 12, 2007, 9:58 PM CT

Which Breast Cancer Patients Need Chemotherapy?

Most postmenopausal women with small breast tumors don't need chemotherapy to reduce their recurrence risk after lumpectomy.

To try to determine who does, a test that measures a tumor's aggressiveness based on its DNA will be tested nationally in more than 10,000 of these women.

"The dilemma physicians have with these patients is, because they have such small tumors, it's hard to tell who needs chemotherapy," said Dr. Thomas A. Samuel, Medical College of Georgia hematologist/oncologist specializing in breast cancer and a study principal investigator.

If you take 100 postmenopausal women with a small tumor that has estrogen receptors - most do - and no sign the disease has spread to the lymph nodes, probably 12 to 15 of the women need chemotherapy to reduce recurrence, Dr. Samuel says.

To save those patients' lives, all 100 have to be treated with chemotherapy, because no definitive test indicates who really needs it, says Dr. Samuel. Yet the vast majority will do well with lumpectomy, radiation and hormone therapy that keeps cells from being refueled by estrogen.

Although chemotherapy is a powerful tool, he's seen many patients struggle with notorious side effects such as hair loss, nausea, vomiting and increased risk for leukemia and heart problems. Some patients even opt to stop treatment. "I know that a number of these patients probably don't need it but there is no way for me to know who they are ahead of time. I think this trial will help us find who should get it and who should not"......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

March 6, 2007, 3:44 PM CT

Probe To Detect Spread Of Breast Cancer

High-temperature superconductors hold the key to a handheld tool for surgeons that promises to be more accurate, cost-effective and safer than existing methods for staging and treating various cancers, including breast cancer.

Audrius Brazdeikis, research assistant professor of physics in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Houston, and Quentin Pankhurst, a professor of physics from the University College of London (UCL), have developed a novel detection procedure combining nanotechnology and advanced magnetic sensing based on high-temperature superconductors. Their innovation will enable surgeons to more effectively locate the sentinel lymph node the first lymph node to which a tumors metastasizing cancer cells will drain.

The researchers produced an ultrasensitive magnetic probe to detect minuscule magnetic fields in the body. The probe is a supersensitive magnetometer an instrument used to track the presence of clinically introduced magnetic nanoparticles. During breast cancer surgery, a surgeon will inject a magnetic nanoparticle dye, already approved as an imaging contrast agent by the Food and Drug Administration, into the tumor or into tissues surrounding the tumor.

Receiving a $250,000 grant to be used from 2004 to 2006 from the United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry under the UK-Texas Bioscience Collaboration Initiative, Brazdeikis and Pankhurst were required to show "proof of concept" by building a device and showing it worked. An ethics committee in the UK since has approved the detection procedure for a clinical trial of women undergoing breast cancer surgery at University College Hospital, London......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

February 27, 2007, 8:37 PM CT

Larger women risk womb cancer

Cancer Research UK says that the dramatic increase in cases of womb cancer could be associated with rising obesity levels in Britain. Dr Lesley Walker, from the charity said, "As per the National Sizing Survey conducted in 2004 the average British woman now has a 34in waist, which is over 6ins bigger than the average size of a woman in the 1950s, when it was 27.5ins. Women are larger than they were when they existed on a wartime diet and were generally more active and this is having serious consequences."

The international research reveals that women with a waist of over 34 inches are more likely to develop womb cancer than those who are slimmer. The study of 223,000 women worldwide suggests that those with a waist under 31 inches have half the risk of womb cancer than their obese counterparts. The research also observed that the link between womb cancer and weight was more pronounced in postmenopausal women and in those who had never used HRT or the pill......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

February 27, 2007, 8:31 PM CT

Taxotere Improves Survival in Prostate Cancer

One step forward in prostate cancer:

According to a press release by Sanofi-Aventis, long-term results indicate that Taxotere (docetaxel) improves survival in patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is second only to non-melanoma skin cancers as the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the U.S. The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that is located between the bladder and rectum. It is responsible for forming a component of semen.

Prostate cancer is stimulated to grow by male hormones, particularly testosterone. Hormone therapy, which is intended to reduce levels of male hormones available to cancer cells, is a treatment option for men diagnosed with prostate cancer. By reducing levels of male hormones, the cancer cells are deprived of their growth stimulus, causing the cancer to shrink. Unfortunately, patients ultimately stop responding to hormone therapy after receiving treatment for a period of time; they are then referred to as having hormone-refractory or androgen-independent prostate cancer......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

February 26, 2007, 8:57 PM CT

How T lymphocytes attack

Our immune system finds it difficult to eliminate tumours effectively. Deciphering the strategies it implements may increase the immune system's effect on tumour cells and thus improve the clinical perspectives for anticancer immune treatment. At the Institut Curie, INSERM and CNRS scientists have used two-photon microscopy to demonstrate, for the first time in vivo and real-time, how T lymphocytes infiltrate a solid tumour in order to fight it.

These "defenders" methodically encircle the enemy positions and "patrol" until they meet a tumour cell, which they have previously learnt to recognise. They then halt to eliminate it, before resuming their rounds. The rapidity of the advance achieved by T lymphocytes is indicative of either the absence of an adversary, or defeat of the immune system in the battlefield.

This scenario was published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

How is a tumour destroyed by T lymphocytes? This scenario has recently been visualised by scientists at the Institut Curie. The original images obtained and assembled in twelve video sequences are the result of close collaboration between a specialist in two-photon microscopy, Luc Fetler, an INSERM scientist in the CNRS/Institut Curie "Physical Chemistry Curie" Unit1, and immunologists, notably Alexandre Boissonnas, in the INSERM "Immunity and Cancer" Unit at Institut Curie......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

February 26, 2007, 7:57 PM CT

Common Ingredient In Big Macs And Sodas

The future of cancer detection and therapy may be in gold nanoparticles - tiny pieces of gold so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye. The potential of gold nanoparticles has been hindered by the difficulty of making them in a stable, nontoxic form that can be injected into a patient. New research at the University of Missouri-Columbia has observed that a plant extract can be used to overcome this problem, creating a new type of gold nanoparticle that is stable and nontoxic and can be administered orally or injected.

Because gold nanoparticles have a high surface reactivity and biocompatible properties, they can be used for in vivo (inside the bod)) molecular imaging and therapeutic applications, including cancer detection and treatment. The promise of nanomedicine comes from the high surface area and size relationships of nanoparticles to cells, making it possible to target individual cells for diagnostic imaging or treatment. Gold nanoparticles could function as in vivo sensors, photoactive agents for optical imaging, drug carriers, contrast enhancers in computer tomography and X-ray absorbers in cancer treatment. Despite their promise, however, researchers have been plagued with problems making nontoxic gold nanoparticle constructs.

Kattesh Katti, professor of radiology and physics in MU's School of Medicine and College of Arts and Science, and director of the University of Missouri Cancer Nanotechnology Platform, worked with other MU researchers in the fields of physics, radiology, chemistry and veterinary medicine. The team tested plant extracts for their ability as nontoxic vehicles to stabilize and deliver nanoparticles for in vivo nanomedicinal applications. The scientists got interested in gum arabic, a substance taken from species of the acacia tree, because it is already used to stabilize everyday foods such as yogurt, Big Macs and soda. Gum arabic has unique structural features, including a highly branched polysaccharide structure consisting of a complex mixture of potassium, calcium and magnesium salts derived from arabic acid. The researchers observed that gum arabic could be used to absorb and assimilate metals and create a "coating" that makes gold nanoparticles stable and nontoxic......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

February 26, 2007, 7:00 PM CT

Genes That Can Slow Cell Division

Cancer cells differ from normal cells in, among other things, the way they divide. When a normal cell complies with a signal telling it to divide, it also begins to activate a "braking system" that eventually stops cell division and returns the cell to a resting state. When that braking system is faulty, uncontrolled cell division and the growth of cancer can result. Weizmann Institute scientists studied this system of brakes, and identified a number of the genes involved.

According to the study's findings, which appeared in Nature Genetics online on February 25, aberrations in the activities of these genes are tied to certain types of cancer, as well as to the relative aggressiveness of the cancer. These insights may, in the future, lead to the development of ways to restore the brakes on runaway cell division and halt the progression of cancer.

First, the scientists mapped the network of genes that is activated in normal cells upon receiving the order to divide. The "divide!" signal comes from outside the cell in the form of a chemical called a growth factor, and it initiates a chain of events inside the cell. The genes activated in this sequence produce proteins, some of which cause cell division and others that put the brakes on that division. To find which genes were responsible, the scientists needed to sift through a huge quantity of data on genes and their activities. To cope with this monumental task, a team of Weizmann Institute researchers from diverse fields pooled their knowledge and experience: Prof. Yosef Yarden of the Biological Regulation Department, Prof. Eytan Domany of the Physics of Complex Systems Department, Prof. Uri Alon of the Molecular Cell Biology Department, and Dr. Eran Segal of the Computer Science and Applied Mathematics Department. Working with them were Prof. Gideon Rechavi of the Sheba Medical Center and researchers from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, headed by Prof. Gordon B. Mills......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

February 21, 2007, 9:45 PM CT

Taxol chemotherapy in breast cancer

Cancer researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have taken a step towards understanding how and why a widely used chemotherapy drug works in patients with breast cancer.

In laboratory studies, the researchers isolated a protein, caveolin-1, showing that in breast cancer cells this protein can enhance cell death in response to the use of Taxol, one of two taxane chemotherapy drugs used to treat advanced breast and ovarian cancer. But in order to work, they found the protein needs to be "switched on," or phosphorylated. The results were reported in the current (February 23) issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Their finding suggests it may eventually be possible to test individual breast cancer patients for the status of such molecular markers as caveolin-1 in their tumors to determine the efficacy-to-toxicity ratio for Taxol, said the studys first author, postdoctoral fellow Ayesha Shajahan, Ph.D., of Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown.

"Because breast tumors are not all the same, it is important to know the cancers molecular makeup in order to increase the efficiency, and lower the toxicity, of chemotherapy drugs, and this work takes us some steps forward in this goal," she said. "It also offers insights into why some breast cancer cells can become resistant to therapeutic drugs"......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source