Main page Cancer blog Health blog Articles Resources
Back to the main page
Archives Of Cancer Blog
Subscribe To Archives Of Cancer Blog RSS Feed 
Obesity Leads To More Aggressive Ovarian Cancer
The study, published online on Aug. 28 in the American Cancer Society's journal Cancer, showed that obesity affected survival rates, shortened the length of time to recurrence of the disease, and led to earlier death from the cancer than for women diagnosed at their ideal body weight.
"This study is the first to identify weight as an independent factor in ovary cancer in disease progression and overall survival, suggesting that there is an element in the fat tissue itself that influences the outcome of this disease in obese women," said Andrew Li, M.D., the study's principal investigator at Cedars-Sinai's Women's Cancer Research Institute at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute.
Ovary cancer, one of the most lethal cancers, affects almost one in 60 women. Most will be diagnosed with advanced disease, and 70 percent will die within five years. There are several types of ovary cancer, but tumors that begin with the surface cells of the ovary (epithelial cells) are the most common type. While prior studies have shown that obesity is a factor in the development and prognosis of cancers such as breast, uterine and colorectal, the nature of the relationship in ovary cancers has been less well understood. Obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
Bisphenol A And Breast Cancer
Defenders of bisphenol A's use have argued that its natural modification inside the human body renders the estrogen-like chemical harmless.
"We tested whether this chemical modification -- the addition of sulfate to BPA -- keeps the chemical from being absorbed by breast tumor cells," said IU Bloomington biochemist Theodore Widlanski, who led the project. "We've shown that modified versions of bisphenol A likely to be formed in the body do stimulate breast tumor cell growth in vitro. Enzymes present on the surface of breast tumor cells appear to convert the modified BPA back into BPA".
BPA is a plasticizer present at low levels in mineral water bottles, CDs and DVDs, car parts and other household products. A recent U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention study found trace amounts of BPA in 95 percent of urine samples collected from American adults.
The researchers present a model for the selective uptake of BPA into breast cancer cells by implicating human enzymes that sulfate and de-sulfate BPA.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
Fungus A Potential Cancer Fighter
Derived from a fungus discovered clinging to the walls of a New Zealand cave, the chemical tricks certain cancer cells into suicide while leaving healthy cells untouched.
"In 2000, scientists in Japan discovered that this compound might have some tremendous potential as a prototype anticancer agent, but no one has been able to study or develop it because it's so hard to get enough of it from natural sources," says Robert K. Boeckman, professor of chemistry.
"You either grow the fungus that makes it, or you go through a complicated chemical synthesis process that still yields only a minute amount," he says. "Now, after five years of effort, we've worked out a process that lets researchers finally produce enough rasfonin to really start investigating how it functions, and how we might harness it to fight cancer".
In 2000, researchers from Chiba University in Japan and the University of Tokyo simultaneously discovered a compound in certain fungi that selectively destroyed cells depending upon a gene called ras-one of the first known cancer-causing genes. They had found rasfonin, a compound that seemed tailor-made to knock out ras-dependent cancers like pancreatic cancer.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
Protein That Protect Breast Cancer Tumors
Researchers at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a new biological marker in tumors that can help indicate whether a woman's breast cancer will respond to the most commonly prescribed chemotherapy drugs.
Amy S. Lee, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, isolated the gene for the GRP78 protein (78-kDA glucose-regulated protein) in 1980. It normally helps protect cells from dying, particularly when they are under stress from a lack of glucose. In her current research, Lee finds that breast cancer tumors with high levels of GRP78 are protected from a common chemotherapy regimen based on Adriamycin, a topoisomerase inhibitor. Her findings are published as a "Priority Report" in the August 15 issue of Cancer Research.
"The importance of this study is in its potential to help clinicians who treat cancer," Lee says. "It will help sort out the patients who won't respond to particular treatment regimens and will have a higher chance of cancer recurrence".........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
Skin Cancer Fear Grows As Ozone Layer Gets Thinner
Levels of ozone, which play a crucial role in helping to filter out harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun, were thought to be rising after the systematic banning of the CFC chemicals which were damaging it.
But now experts believe global warming is changing conditions in the upper atmosphere and leading to a reduction in levels again.
Cancer experts warned yesterday that the results meant it was more important than ever for people to take precautions when in the sun.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
Top Sprinter Lost In The Fog Has Cancer
Image courtesy of msnbc
The horse underwent an exploratory procedure Friday which determined the cancer in his spleen had spread, said veterinarian, Don Smith, in a conference call with trainer Greg Gilchrist.
"Unfortunately, we found two other tumors in his abdomen," Smith said. "There is one in his membrane and ligament, about the size of an egg. Unfortunately, there is another along his back and it's about the size of a football".
They plan to bring the horse back to Golden Gate Fields so that Lost in the Fog can rest comfortably in his own stall.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
How Acid Reflux Leads To Esophageal Cancer
The study observed that the enzyme NOX5-S is affected by exposure to acid and that it produces stress on cells, activating genes that lead to DNA damage. For the first time, scientists have outlined the signaling pathway from cells damaged by acid, to the progression of esophageal cancer. They believe the same process may happen in the body when cells are exposed to acid reflux.
"The role of acid is controversial. But we show that by exposing cells to acid for short periods of time, that affects a particular enzyme, triggering a chain of events that possibly leads to cancer of the esophagus. Now that we have a better understanding of the signaling pathway, we can possibly identify who is at risk of developing cancer by determining the levels of this enzyme," says senior author Weibiao Cao, a researcher at Rhode Island Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine and surgery at Brown Medical School.
The study looked at human cancer cells and biopsies from patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE), a condition where cells in the esophagus have been altered by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or acid reflux. Acid reflux is thought to bea major risk factor for cancer in people with Barrett's esophagus.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
Nurses Have A Larger Role In Smoking Cessation
"These reports are evidence that nurses are widely recognized as central to global efforts to reduce the detrimental health effects of tobacco use," said Dr. Molly C. Dougherty, Nursing Research editor and professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Nursing Research articles contain tobacco cessation information including original research evaluating methods for treating tobacco dependence. For example, one study found that smokers who received tobacco cessation information from their nurses were nearly 50 percent more likely to quit than smokers with no nursing intervention. The report also notes that nurses often care for underserved people, who are disproportionately affected by tobacco use.
Summaries in the journal highlight innovative methods for treating tobacco dependence and practical approaches for clinical use, including recommendations from 42 researchers, clinicians, educators and representatives from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Cancer Institute.
"This information represents a call to action for nurses, health care providers and policy-makers. Health care professionals, and particularly nurses, have tremendous access to patients and families affected by tobacco use. Nurses are in the unique position to act as agents of change when it comes to preventing and treating tobacco dependence," Dougherty said.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
Herceptin Effective Even With Low HER-2 Levels
Until now it was believed that trastuzumab combined with cytotoxic drug treatment was effective only in HER-2--positive, or HER-2--overexpressing, breast cancer - which represents about 25 percent of all breast cancers, said Dr. Ruth Lupu, director of translational breast cancer research at the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute, who led the study, reported in the August 10 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Lupu is also professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a researcher at The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
The study was conducted as part of the Cancer Center's breast cancer SPORE (Specialized Program of Research Excellence) grant.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
"DES Daughters" And Risk Of Breast Cancer
Reporting in the recent issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a nationwide team of scientists observed that DES daughters over age 40 had 1.9 times the risk of developing breast cancer, in comparison to unexposed women of the same age. They also observed that the relative risk of developing the cancer was even greater in DES daughters over age 50, but say the number of older women in their study group is, as yet, too small for a firm statistical comparison.
"This is really unwelcome news because so a number of women worldwide were prenatally exposed to DES, and these women are just now approaching the age at which breast cancer becomes more common," said the study's lead author, Julie Palmer, Sc.D., professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health.
She said an estimated one to two million women in the U.S. were exposed to DES, which was frequently prescribed to women from the 1940s through 1960s to prevent miscarriages.
The ongoing study suggests that DES-exposed women are in the process of developing the typical range of breast cancers after age 40 at a faster rate than non-exposed women of the same ages. The scientists also observed that the highest relative risk of developing breast cancer was observed in study participants from the cohorts with the highest cumulative doses of DES exposure.........
Posted by: Jessica Permalink Source
Older Blog Entries Older Blog Entries 1 2 3 4 5 6