June 6, 2006, 7:10 AM CT

Study Disputes Claims on Raloxifene

The National cancer institute in April announced that raloxifene is equal in efficiency to tamoxifen in prevention of breast cancer with lesser side effects. However the final results of this study challenges the view presented by scientists from the national cancer institute.

In the press conference scientists from the National cancer institute said that raloxifene is clearly superior to tamoxifen in prevention of breast cancer because of lesser incidence of side effects. They claimed that raloxifene users had 36 percent fewer uterine cancers and 29 percent fewer blood clots, making it a safer choice.

However the final results of the study published show that the incidence of uterus cancer was not statistically different between the two groups. Also some scientists think that the incidence of blood clots in the study were so low to draw any meaningful conclusion.

The release of the details of the study at the annual meeting of the American society of clinical oncology has created a heated debate among experts. A number of think that the study should have been first presented at this meeting rather than making the details known in a hasty fashion at a news conference. Presenting such important studies at meetings like American society of clinical oncology, provide great opportunity for peer review.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink

June 5, 2006, 11:37 PM CT

Origin of Childhood Brain Tumors

Using cells obtained from cancer-stricken mice, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) at Stanford University have showed that reducing production of sterols - chemicals, such as cholesterol, that are a vital part of cell membranes - can prevent the rapid growth of medulloblastoma cells in culture. Medulloblastoma is the most common form of cancerous childhood brain cancer. The cancer is due to a breakdown in normal communication between cells.

The findings of the new study, which was reported in the May 15, 2006, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), are important because they trace molecules connected to sterol metabolism that have powerful effects on medulloblastoma cells. The new work potentially paves the way for novel therapys, said senior researcher Matthew P. Scott, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at Stanford University.

Medulloblastoma is a brain cancer that occurs most usually in the first decade of life with half of cases arising in children under six years of age. It has a mortality rate of 20-40 percent and accounts for 20 percent of the incidence of all childhood central nervous system tumors.

The need for new therapys is acute since even those who recover from the tumors can be functionally impaired due to damage caused by the tumor and therapys. The tumors form in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that plays an important role in sensory perception and motor control, and can spread to other parts of the brain and spinal cord.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

June 5, 2006, 11:31 PM CT

High School Teacher Helps Discover New Cancer Drug

Sixteen years ago, when Stuart Shifrin, then a chemistry teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, volunteered to be one of the first teachers in a new research internship program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), all he expected from the experience was to see how scientific research is conducted. Instead, his summer research project has developed into a promising new chemotherapy drug.

The Student and Teacher Internship Program, sponsored by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and run by the Montgomery County Public Schools, places high school students and teachers in NIH labs to experience science in action. Shifrin, whose father died of colon cancer, asked to work at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He was placed in the lab of Leonard M. Neckers, then a principal investigator in NCI's Medicine Branch. Neckers and his postdoctoral fellow, Luke Whitesell, were examining a group of drugs that appeared to turn cancerous cells into normal cells.

"We asked Stuart to put some drugs called benzoquinone ansamycins on cancer cells and tell us what happened," said Neckers. "The literature said these drugs worked by interfering with the cancer cells' tyrosine kinase metabolism, and we wanted to see if that was true." Tyrosine kinases are enzymes that have been implicated in cancer.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

June 5, 2006, 7:05 AM CT

Switch From Tamoxifen To Aromasin

Women, who are taking tamoxifen as adjuvant treatment of breast cancer, would benefit from switching to aromasin (exemestane) after 2 to 3 years of starting tamoxifen according to a new study. This data comes from Intergroup Exemestane Study (IES) which showed that this switch would result in 17 percent improved survival and 25 percent improvement in breast cancer recurrence compared to women who continue with tamoxifen for 5 years.

This study is notable because this is the first time any hormonal treatment has shown improved overall survival over tamoxifen in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. These new findings are based on nearly 5 years of follow-up after initiation of the IES trial. This was a large randomized double blind multinational clinical trial of post-menopausal woman with early stage breast cancer. A total of 2352 women switched from tamoxifen to aromasin after 2 to 3 years while a total of 2372 women continued on tamoxifen for 5 years. This study was conducted under the leadership of Professor Charles Coombes who is the director of cancer medicine at Imperial College, London.

Earlier results of the IES trial has shown that switching to aromasin after 2 to 3 years of tamoxifen results 35 percent decrease in breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women who have hormone receptor positive breast cancer. Based on this study this drug was approved by US FDA and European regulatory agencies for therapy of early breast cancer. Improvement in overall survival was not seen at that time.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink

June 2, 2006, 6:48 AM CT

Steps To Preventing Lung Cancer

Did you realize that approximately 10% of lung cancer patients have never in their lives smoked cigarettes? When asked about lung cancer prevention, most people will tell you that the easiest way to prevent lung cancer is to never take up the dangerous habit of cigarette smoking. And while its true that smoking often leads to lung cancer, the fact that 10% of lung cancer patients are not now nor have ever been smokers cannot be easily explained.

Cancer in its simplest definition is the potential end result of a mutation or alteration that occurs within a gene. And sometimes, there is just no way to stop (or prevent) a gene from changing, nor is there a way to control the genes you inherit. When one gene in particular, the epidermal growth factor receptor gene, undergoes a mutation, the mutation is such that it basically gives the green light for malignant cells to grow and also to divide. Such a situation is totally unavoidable.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

June 1, 2006, 4:45 PM CT

Ebert To Undergo Cancer Surgery

It's the sequel no one wanted to see: Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert, who battled back from cancer three times before, will be undergoing cancer surgery again.

The Pulitzer Prize winner and host of the nationally syndicated movie review show "Ebert & Roeper" said Wednesday he will have surgery June 16 -- two days before his 64th birthday -- to remove a malignant growth on his salivary gland.

"It is not life threatening, and I expect to make a full recovery," he said. "I'll continue to function as a film critic during this time".

Ebert had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on his thyroid gland in 2002 and two surgeries on his salivary gland in 2003.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

June 1, 2006, 4:40 PM CT

Plight Of The Russian Cancer Children

When three-year-old Nastya Kuzmina came down with a cold earlier this year, her mother was not, at first, unduly concerned. In Orel, a remote western Russian province hundreds of miles from Moscow, a cold is an annual ritual for children and adults alike in the chilly winter, Elena's cheerful daughter had always been robust and healthy.

But the cold did not go away. It got worse, sucking the energy out of Nastya's tiny body. Within weeks, the bright-eyed toddler who loved reciting poems and drawing dolls' dresses was too weak even to get out of bed.

The local doctor knew something was badly wrong, but could not say for certain what it was. He suspected cancer, but did not, he explained to Nastya's petrified parents, have the facilities he needed to make a proper diagnosis. The family must go to Moscow. Throughout the long and gruelling train journey up country, the family prayed there had been some mistake.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

May 25, 2006, 10:27 PM CT

BRCA Genes

In the last few decades, marked advancement and progress were made in our understanding of molecular basis of breast cancer. Most investigators believe in a "two hit theory" for the causation of breast cancer in those women who have inherited a genetic defect. This means that although these women are born with a specific a genetic abnormality with high risk of breast cancer development, additional insults induced by the environment may be essential to cause the process of breast cancer development.

In early 1990s, researchers have discovered mutations for the gene that is responsible for p53 protein, (located on the chromosome 17) to be responsible for causing a syndrome called Li-Fraumeni syndrome. Li-Fraumeni syndrome is responsible for increased breast cancer risk, sarcomas and other tumor types. In 1997, genetic mutations in the PTEN gene, which is located on the 10th chromosome, have been shown to be linked to Cowden's syndrome. Cowden's syndrome is related to higher risk of developing breast cancer, and characteristic skin lesions. Cowden's syndrome is correlated with elevated risk of breast malignancy and skin lesions. Recently it has been shown that mutations involving STK11/LKB1 gene, which is located on the 19th chromosome, is linked to Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. This syndrome is associated with breast cancer, gastro-intestinal system cancers and hamartomas. Mutations in MLH1 and MLH2 are linked to Muir-Torre syndrome, which has been shown to be associated with elevated risk of breast cancer, genitourinary system and gastro-intestinal system tumors.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink

May 24, 2006, 6:59 AM CT

Women With High Risk Should Have MRI of the Breast

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast is a much more sensitive test for detecting breast tumors when compared to mammogram. A recent study has found that women who have genetic mutation and high risk of developing breast cancer should receive MRI of the breast rather than mammogram as the screening test for breast cancer.

Women who inherit BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations have about 60 to 80 percent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the best screening test for those women who have BRCA mutation. MRI is expensive and costs 10 times more than mammography but is capable of detecting small tumors, which may be missed by mammogram giving a chance to treat such tumors earlier. However the high sensitivity of MRI causes significant false positive results, by showing many non-cancerous breast abnormalities.

Researchers used computer models that set a threshold of $100,000 spent for each year of life gained and demonstrated that use of MRI in high-risk women is cost effective for young women (35 to 54 years) who carry BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.........

Posted by: Sherin      Permalink

May 22, 2006, 1:49 PM CT

Vaccine Curbs Brain Tumor Growth

A novel vaccine has significantly increased life expectancy in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most dangerous type of brain tumor, a researcher from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is reporting at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS).

Median survival for the 23 patients tested at M. D. Anderson and at Duke University Medical Center is at least 19 months, and only four patients have died from the cancer, says Amy Heimberger, M.D., an assistant professor of Neurosurgery at M. D. Anderson. That figure surpasses the median survival of 14 months for patients with GBM who are treated with the most current chemotherapy and radiation, and the 4-month median survival for untreated patients, she says.

"We can't say this vaccine is better than chemotherapy because we haven't tested the two therapys head-to-head yet," she says. "However, so far, results have exceeded the expectations we had for this vaccine".

Heimberger's study was chosen by AANS for a Young Investigator's Award, and is being cited as one of the conference's most important findings.

The trial is now closed at both institutions. Given its statistically significant findings, a pharmaceutical company has acquired the rights to the drug and a larger, multi-institutional, randomized study is being planned, Heimberger says.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink         Source

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