September 25, 2006, 4:53 PM CT

A Drop Of Blood Predicts Stomach Cancer

Stomach cancer is the fifth-most common cancer in Taiwan. A team of researchers at National Taiwan University Hospital have improved our abilities to detect stomach cancer earlier. After years of hard work, they discovered a toxic factor "GroES" that causes stomach cancer. In the future, a simple blood test will give a positive or negative result for the presence of this substance, allowing immediate access to endoscopic examinations for patients for whom this is indicated. In this way, cancers can be detected and treated earlier.

World Health Organization statistics show that stomach cancer attacks some 800,000 people worldwide each year. The cancer commonly attacks people in their 50s and 60s, and is the most frequently-occurring malignant tumor type. Since the disease shows no symptoms in its early stages, usually the cancer is already in Stage III before it is detected. Consequently, Zhou Lupin, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at National Taiwan University, is now heading up a team that is using immunological analysis to detect the cancer-causing "GroES" factor. The test has already achieved a 65 percent accuracy rate.

Zhou says that if the human body is infected with GroES, it produces antibodies to the factor. This can cause chronic inflammation of the stomach, causing the endothelial cells to rupture and proliferate. This long-term inflammation can also cause stomach cancer. As a result, in the future it will be necessary only to test for the presence of "GroES" to identify patients in a high-risk group for developing stomach cancer. Patients who test positive can be counseled to have an endoscopic examination as soon as possible, and if cancer is found, early treatment can begin.........

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September 25, 2006, 4:44 PM CT

Combination of Xeloda And Taxol Metastatic Breast Cancer

Combination of Xeloda and Taxol is an effective treatment for women with metastatic breast cancer. New research from US Oncology Network and the University of North Carolina has recently reported that the combination of Xeloda (capecitabine) and Taxol is an effective and tolerable regimen for initial treatment of women with metastatic breast cancer. Women who were HER-2 negative were not included in the study. This is a phase II study and it is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In this study the researchers evaluated 55 patients who were newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer. These patients received oral Xeloda and weekly Taxol. Patients who had HER-2 positive tumors were not included in the study.

No patient had a complete response, however percent; of patients achieved a partial response. When stable disease is also taken into account 65 percent of patients derived benefit for the treatment. On average the response lasted for 10 months and median survival was 17 months.

From these findings the researchers have concluded that Xeloda plus Taxol is an effective, well-tolerated, and fairly convenient treatment combination as initial therapy for women with metastatic breast cancer.........

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September 20, 2006, 8:48 PM CT

Painless prostate biopsy

Prostate biopsy need not be the painful ordeal that many men anticipate, according to findings presented at the annual meeting of North Central Section of the American Urological Association in San Diego.

By administering topical anesthetic several minutes prior to lidocaine injection at the prostate apex and the surrounding rectal tissue significantly reduces pain during the procedure, scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, report.

Typically, local anesthetic has been injected between the prostate base and seminal vesicle where the neurovascular bundle lies, presenter Dr. Richard Ashley told Reuters Health.

"But what we find is that, when we inject at that location, even though it is anatomically correct, the patient still experiences a lot of pain," he said.........

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September 20, 2006, 8:43 PM CT

Thrive After Breast Cancer

Beyond: Live & Thrive After Breast Cancer, a new semi-annual publication from Meredith Special Interest Media, part of the Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP) will debut with the Fall/Winter 2006 issue.

The magazine, which provides women who have or had breast cancer the support and latest information on treatment and recovery, hits newsstands September 19, 2006, with a $5.99 cover price.

"Since more than two million American women live with breast cancer, we wanted to provide this community a resource of support, inspiration and hope," says Kelly Kegans, editor of Beyond.

An advisory board of leading experts in the breast cancer field contributed to the premiere issue of Beyond. They include: Susan Brown, the health manager at Susan G. Komen Foundation; Carolyn M. Kaelin, director of Comprehensive Breast Health Center and breast cancer survivor; and Lillie Shockney, Administrative Director at Johns Hopkins Breast Cancer.........

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September 20, 2006, 5:11 AM CT

Insights into chemotherapy bad taste problem

About two million cancer patients currently receiving certain drug therapies and chemotherapy find foods and beverages to have a foul metallic flavor, as per a medical study. In general, more than 40 percent of hospitalized patients suffer from malnutrition due to taste and smell dysfunction.

"Unfortunately, these problems that impact nutrition and quality of life are underestimated and understudied by oncologists," said Andrea Dietrich, Virginia Tech professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE).

Dietrich believes there are two components to the metallic flavor the taste of metal ions on the tongue and the production of metal-catalyzed odors in the mouth that create a retro-nasal effect. "I am attempting to gain a better understanding of the metallic sensation, its prevention, and application to human health," Dietrich said.

Along with two of her university colleagues, Susan E. Duncan, professor of food science and technology, and YongWoo Lee, an assistant professor in the biomedical sciences and pathology department and a member of the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Dietrich is the recipient of a $200,000 grant from the Institute of Public Health and Water Research (IPWR) to examine the problems of foul flavored water. The interdisciplinary investigative team combines proficiency in food oxidation and off-flavors, water chemistry, cell biology, and human perception.........

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September 19, 2006, 8:53 PM CT

Progress in Leukemia Research

Scientists from Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that the genetic change comes early in the disease, and that it over-activates a second gene that helps govern blood cell development.

Now a mouse model of leukemia is set to help with the therapy of acute myeloid leukemia. This new research has developed a new strain of mice that should help reveal how an unusual change in a certain gene contributes to a particularly deadly form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

This particular genetic change, known as partial tandem duplication, is located in a gene called mixed-lineage leukemia. This represents a partial tandem duplication is a type of gene mutation that occurs when a section of a gene is repeated, like a stutter in the gene's DNA.

The new mouse model should help leukemia researchers to learn how this mutation contributes to AML development, and it may lead to new ways to treat, diagnose and perhaps prevent the disease.

The findings were published online Sept. 14 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

"When leukemia strikes, it's like a hurricane arriving without an advance weather forecast - you have no information about how it got there, and it's a level-5 storm," says Michael A. Caligiuri, principal investigator of the study and director of the OSUCCC.........

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September 18, 2006, 9:51 PM CT

Link Between Kidney Cancer And Sunlight Exposure

Closer to the equator you live, higher your chances for kidney cancer. Using newly available data scientists have shown a clear association between deficiency in exposure to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B (UVB), and kidney cancer.

UVB exposure triggers photosynthesis of vitamin D3 in the body. This form of vitamin D also is available through diet and supplements. Prior studies from this core research team have shown an association between higher levels of vitamin D3 and a lower risk of cancers of the breast, colon and ovary.

"Kidney cancer is a mysterious cancer for which no widely accepted cause or means of prevention exists, so we wanted to build on research by one of the co-authors, William Grant, and see if it might be correlation to deficiency of vitamin D," said co-author of study Cedric Garland, Dr. P.H., professor of Family and Preventive Medicine in the UCSD School of Medicine, and member of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center.

There will be approximately 208,500 cases and 101,900 deaths from kidney cancer worldwide in 2006, including 39,000 new cases and 12,700 deaths in the United States, as per the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the American Cancer Society.

The study, reported in the International Journal of Cancer's online edition dated September 15, is the research team's newest finding relating exposure to the sun as a source of vitamin D, and estimated vitamin D deficiency to higher rates of several major types of cancer.........

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September 17, 2006, 10:06 PM CT

Cancer Drug Against Muscular Dystrophy

(La Jolla, CA September 17, 2006) -- Muscle weakness and fiber deterioration seen in muscular dystrophy can be countered by a class of drugs currently under study for their effects against cancer, a Burnham Institute study has found.

The report shed light on the potential use of these drugs, called histone deacetylase inhibitors, in promoting regeneration and repair of dystrophic muscles, thereby countering the progression of the disease, in two different mouse models of muscular dystrophy. Led by Burnham Institute assistant professor Lorenzo Puri, M.D., Ph.D., in collaboration with the Dulbecco Telethon Institute (DTI) of Rome and other colleagues in Italy and at the National Institutes of Health, the study was made available to researchers worldwide by expedited publication at Nature Medicine's website on September 17, 2006.

Puri's team discovered that ongoing treatment with the deacetylase inhibitor Trichostatin A, currently under clinical study for breast cancer, restored skeletal muscle mass and prevented the impaired function characteristic of muscular dystrophies. Importantly, these restored muscles showed an increased resistance to contraction-coupled degeneration--the primary mechanism by which muscle function declines in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and related dystrophies.........

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September 15, 2006, 1:55 PM CT

Cancer Cells Signals Metastasis

The most aggressively malignant cancer cells have a "toggle switch" that enables them to morph into highly mobile cells that invade other tissues and then nest comfortably in their new surroundings, a new study in rats suggests.

This picture of how cancer cells shift between two alternating states -- travelers and nesters -- represents a new understanding of how cancer metastasizes, or spreads to other parts of the body, said the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers who conducted the study.

"Understanding this toggle switch might ultimately enable scientists to find ways to stop cells from metastasizing, which is the most deadly trait of cancer," said the study's lead investigator, Mariano Garcia-Blanco, M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular genetics and microbiology.

The researchers will publish their findings in the Sept. 19, 2006, issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, now available on line. The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Until now, scientists have believed that cancer cells must transform permanently from stationary epithelial cells into migratory mesenchymal cells in order to metastasize.

The Duke team discovered that highly malignant cells are equal parts epithelial and mesenchymal, transitioning between the two as their surroundings necessitate. The proteins that the cell produces dictate which way the cell shifts.........

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September 14, 2006, 9:13 PM CT

Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards Dies Of Esophageal Cancer

Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, whose brassy, tough-talking persona and trademark white hair cut an indelible profile in Democratic politics, died Wednesday evening at her home in Austin, surrounded by her family, her spokesman, Bill Maddox said.

She was 73.

Richards, who served as governor of the Lone Star State from 1991 to 1995, announced in March that she was being treated for esophageal cancer. Maddox said Richards had shielded many family members and friends from the extent of her illness.

"It was a shock to a lot of us," he said.........

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