Study unpicks gene changes behind breast cancer

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Advanced Prostate Cancer Drug May Help at Earlier Stage

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Common Blood Pressure Drugs May Not Cut Colon Cancer Risk

HealthDay – 1 hr 38 mins ago MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- Widely used blood pressure medications called beta blockers do not cut a person's odds of developing colon cancer, a new study contends.

Beta blockers, which include drugs such as alprenolol, carvedilol, propranolol and atenolol, are commonly prescribed to older adults for high blood pressure and heart conditions.

Prior research has also linked use of the drugs to a decreased risk of cancer. This theory is based on animal and laboratory studies that found that the stress hormone norepinephrine can promote the growth and spread of cancer cells. Beta blockers inhibit this hormone's action.

"One of the holy grails in the war on cancer is preventing angiogenesis, which is the growth of new blood vessels to feed tumor cells," explained Dr. David Robbins, associate chief of the Center for Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

"Some investigators have speculated that an indirect benefit of certain blood pressure medicines may be to help curb the growth of new blood vessels in breast and perhaps colon cancer," said Robbins, who was not involved in the new study.

In this study, published online May 14 in the journal Cancer, a team led by Michael Hoffmeister, of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, compared the beta blocker use of more than 1,700 colon cancer patients to that of about the same number of cancer-free people.

After accounting for weight, smoking status and other patient factors, the researchers found no link between beta blocker use and colon cancer risk.

The finding held true even after the researchers broke down their analyses by duration of beta blocker use, specific types of beta blockers, and sites within the colon or rectum where colorectal cancer developed in patients.

The authors conclude that their findings do not support the theory that using beta blockers cuts colon cancer risk.

That didn't surprise Robbins. "The few studies on this matter have been contradictory and it's unlikely that we'll ever see this sort of protective effect, since cancer is an incredibly complex disease driven by a myriad of unique biologic pathways," he said.

Another expert added that even though beta blockers might not help prevent colon tumors, people have other means of doing so.

"Men and women at average risk should start getting screened at age 50," said Dr. Mark Pochapin, director of the division of gastroenterology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. "Those with certain risk factors, such as a family history of colorectal polyps or cancer, should talk to their doctors about screening at a younger age."

Pochapin also added that "lifestyle modifications -- such as quitting smoking, avoiding excess intake of red or processed meats, ensuring adequate vitamin D intake, and maintaining a healthy body weight and regular exercise -- can be very beneficial in reducing one's risk for colorectal cancer."

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about colorectal cancer risk factors and prevention.

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Young cancer patients' 'Stronger' video a big hit

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Cancer Cells in Bloodstream Show Great Diversity: Study

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago TUESDAY, May 8 (HealthDay News) -- There is a great deal of genetic diversity in cells shed by cancerous tumors into the bloodstream, a new study has found.

Some cells have genes that enable them to lodge themselves in new locations, helping the cancer spread between organs, while other cells have different patterns of gene expression that might make them more benign or less likely to survive in other locations in the body.

Some circulating tumor cells even express genes that could predict their response to a specific cancer treatment, the researchers said.

"Within a single blood draw from a single patient, we're seeing

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Exercise May Boost Survival in Breast, Colon Cancer Patients

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Infection causes one in six new cancer cases: study

"A nurse carries a patient on a stretcher at a hospital. Largely preventable or treatable infections with viruses, bacteria and parasites cause about two million new cancer cases and 1.5 million cancer deaths each year, said a study published Wednesday. (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)" title

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Older Lung Cancer Patients Less Likely to Be Treated

HealthDay – Fri, May 4, 2012 FRIDAY, May 4 (HealthDay News) -- A study of seniors with non-small cell lung cancer found that older patients are less likely to receive treatment than younger patients, regardless of their overall health and prognosis.

Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer.

For this study, U.S. researchers looked at data from more than 20,000 lung cancer patients aged 65 and older in the VA Central Cancer Registry between 2003 and 2008 and found that, for all stages of lung cancer, younger, sicker patients were more likely to receive treatment than otherwise healthy older patients.

That may not be best for patients, the researchers said. Previous research has shown that older lung cancer patients who are otherwise healthy can benefit from treatment, while those with other illnesses are more vulnerable to the toxicity of cancer treatments.

"It's clear that, as human beings and physicians, we fixate on age in deciding whether to pursue cancer treatments, including lung cancer treatments. Instead, we should be looking at our patients' overall state of health," lead author Dr. Sunny Wang, a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, said in a university news release.

The study was published May 1 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Patients aged 65 to 74 who were severely ill from other illnesses -- and thus less likely to benefit from and more likely to be harmed by cancer treatment -- received treatment at about the same rate as patients in the same age range with no other illnesses.

These patients were more likely to receive treatment than patients aged 75 to 84 who had no other illnesses and better prognoses.

"The message here is, don't base cancer treatment strictly on age," Wang said. "Don't write off an otherwise healthy 75-year-old, and don't automatically decide to treat a really ill 65-year-old without carefully assessing the risks and benefits for that patient."

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about non-small cell lung cancer.

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Men's Breast Cancer Often More Deadly, Study Suggests

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Bayer challenges India cancer drug ruling

"German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG has challenged a ground-breaking Indian ruling that allowed a local firm to produce a vastly cheaper copy of its patented drug for kidney and liver cancer. (AFP Photo/Axel Schmidt)" title

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Breast cancer is rare in men, but they fare worse

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Indian drug giant Cipla slashes cancer drug prices

"An Indian pharmacist speaks on the phone while standing near a display of Cipla products in Mumbai in 2005. Indian generic drug giant Cipla said Friday it had slashed by up to 76 percent prices of three anti-cancer medicines in what it called a "humanitarian" move and promised to cut the costs of more products" title

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Lower-Dose Radioiodine Effective Against Thyroid Cancer

HealthDay – 3 hrs ago WEDNESDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- People with thyroid cancer are often given a radioactive iodine treatment to wipe out stray cancer cells, a treatment that comes with its own health risks.

Now, two new studies find that a safer, lower dose of radioactive iodine is just as effective as the higher dose at getting rid of any such cells that remain after surgery.

The research also found that patients were just as likely to have their thyroid shrunk away if they took a drug called Thyrogen (thyrotropin) as if they underwent thyroid hormone withdrawal -- which leads to fatigue, pain and weight gain -- before embarking on the radioiodine treatment.

The two studies, published in the May 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, compared low- and high-dose radioactive iodine in a total of more than 1,000 patients. The participants, from Britain and France, also received either Thyrogen or thyroid hormone withdrawal as part of the therapy.

In either study, the researchers found that patients who received the low-dose (30 millicuries) of radioactive iodine in combination with Thyrogen were just as apt to have their remaining thyroid cells mopped up -- with fewer side effects -- than patients who received higher-dose (100 millicuries ) radioiodine along with either Thyrogen or hormone withdrawal.

However, the researchers say they plan on monitoring the patients for several years to see if rates of cancer recurrence are similar in the different groups.

"We try to give the lowest possible effective radiation dose so that we cure the current cancer, but we do not increase the risk of producing a second cancer resulting from the radiation itself," explained Dr. Ujjal Mallick, an oncologist at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care in Newcastle upon Tyne, in England, and lead author of the UK study.

Radioactive iodine has been associated with increased risk of a number of cancers, particularly leukemia, as well as short-term side effects such as nausea.

"Our study shows that clinicians can consider low-dose radioactive iodine in selected patients that have up to a four-centimeter tumor in the thyroid gland that has not spread outside the neck and have been operated on by expert surgeons," Mallick said.

The number of people diagnosed with thyroid cancer has been on the rise in the past decade, and there will be more than 56,000 new cases in the United States in 2012, according to the American Cancer Society's estimate. The disease, which is highly curable if caught early, affects more women than men, with patients tending to be diagnosed in their 40s and 50s.

The new studies suggest that, "we can spare a lot of young patients by using low-dose radioactive iodine," Mallick said.

However, Dr. David Cooper, an endocrinologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, said that patients under 45 probably can probably avoid radioactive iodine altogether if their tumors are small (less than 2 centimeters) and the cancer has not spread to other parts of their body. Cooper was not involved in the new studies.

In fact, some of the low-risk patients in the current studies might not have needed radioactive iodine treatment at all, Cooper said.

"The chance that a person with low-risk thyroid cancer is going to come back in a year or two with recurrence is no different whether they got radioactive iodine or not," Cooper said.

In low-risk cases, the whole point of radiation treatment is more about getting rid of the normal tissue, which makes monitoring patients for recurrence easier, and less about wiping out disease, which surgery usually takes care of, Cooper said. However tests are usually sensitive enough to pick out recurrence even in patients who do not receive radiation to help eliminate their thyroid.

The research, led by Mallick and his colleagues, involved 421 patients at 29 centers in the U.K. who had thyroid cancer that had not spread outside the neck. The other study looked at 684 patients in France who had small thyroid tumors that had not metastasized (spread) beyond the neck.

All of the patients had undergone surgery to remove the bulk of their thyroid gland and were receiving thyroid hormone therapy to replace the natural thyroid hormone.

In both studies, researchers found that the rates of effective thyroid reduction in the months after treatment were similar in both the low- and high-dose groups.

Mallick and his colleagues found that about 84 percent of patients who received low-dose radioactive iodine along with Thyrogen had undetectable levels of thyroid tissue six to nine months later, compared with about 90 percent in the high-dose-plus-Thyrogen group and about 88 percent in the high-dose-plus-hormone-withdrawal group.

In addition, the rates of common side effects of radiation such as neck pain and nausea were higher in the high-dose group than in the low-dose group.

"These studies are not all that earth shattering" because smaller studies have shown that low-dose therapy is effective, Cooper said. "However these studies add something because they involve hundreds of people that were monitored carefully."

Many doctors in the United States are already using Thyrogen for thyroid ablation because patients feel awful during the weeks of thyroid hormone withdrawal leading up to radioactive iodine therapy, Cooper said.

However, a major problem with radioactive iodine treatment in the United States is that doctors use it in patients outside of the 2009 American Thyroid Association recommendations, which state that radioiodine should be used for certain people with tumors larger than 1 centimeter that have other properties, such as invasiveness, Cooper said. (Cooper was the lead author of these recommendations).

The current studies could help doctors at least see that a large dose of radioactive iodine is not necessary, Cooper said.

For his part, Mallick said, "In our hospital, we are going to start to implement the low-dose radioactive iodine for patients who match the criteria in the study."

He and his collaborators are about to start a new trial comparing low-dose with no radioiodine to see if radiation is necessary in selected low-risk patients after surgery. "This will answer a question that has plagued clinicians for several decades," he said.

More information

To learn more about radioactive iodine, visit the American Cancer Society.

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Votrient Approved to Treat Cancer That Begins in Soft Tissue

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Aspirin tied to lower lung cancer risk in women

Reuters – 1 hr 28 mins ago NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a new study of more than 1,200 Asian women, those who took aspirin at least a couple of times a week had a much lower risk of developing lung cancer -- whether or not they had ever smoked.

The findings, which link regularly taking aspirin to a risk reduction of 50 percent or more, do not prove that aspirin directly protects against lung cancer. There may be other explanations for the connection.

But the study backs up a number of previous ones linking regular aspirin use to lower risks of certain cancers, including colon, prostate and esophageal cancers.

Still, experts say it's too early to recommend widespread aspirin use for cutting cancer risk.

Even low-dose aspirin carries risks, like stomach irritation and ulcers.

"The question about whether aspirin use protects against lung cancer is still open to considerable debate at this point, and the published evidence to date is not conclusive," Dr. Wei-Yen Lim, who led the new study, said in an email.

Avoiding tobacco smoke remains the best way to protect yourself, said Lim, of the National University of Singapore.

Published in the journal Lung Cancer, the study included 398 Chinese women diagnosed with lung cancer and 814 cancer-free women.

Lim's team found that women who had used aspirin regularly -- at least twice a week for one month or longer -- were less likely to have lung cancer.

Among women who'd never smoked, the odds were 50 percent lower for aspirin users versus non-users. And among smokers, aspirin use was tied to a 62 percent lower risk of lung cancer.

The researchers were able to account for some other factors, like the women's age, education and fruit and vegetable intake. But there could still be other differences that would help explain why aspirin users had a lower lung cancer risk, according to Lim.

This type of study, the researcher said, is not designed to show whether taking aspirin cuts cancer risk. That takes a clinical trial, where people are randomly assigned to take aspirin or not.

And the findings do not give an idea of how much risk-reduction there might be.

There was a fairly large relative difference in cancer risk between aspirin users and non-users in the study. But the absolute reduction in any one person's risk, if there is one, might be small.

Other studies have linked regular aspirin use to lower risks of several types of cancer. Most recently, an analysis of past clinical trials found that people given daily low-dose aspirin were less likely to develop cancer after three years of use. (See Reuters story of March 21, 2012.)

Aspirin appeared to prevent about three cases of cancer per 1,000 aspirin users per year.

There are also biological reasons that aspirin might offer protection: it blocks an enzyme called cyclooxygenase-2, or COX-2, which promotes inflammation and cell division and is found in high levels in tumors.

Dr. Andrew T. Chan of Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the study, said that the evidence on aspirin and lung cancer has been "mixed."

"The number-one thing a person can do to minimize the risk of lung cancer is to not smoke," he said in an interview.

On the other hand, there is stronger evidence that aspirin may be protective against colon cancer, according to Chan, a gastroenterologist who researches colon cancer prevention.

"I don't think the evidence is definitive," Chan said. And it's too soon to recommend that all middle-aged and older adults take a daily aspirin.

But it may be reasonable for people to discuss the pros and cons of low-dose aspirin with their doctors, according to Chan.

"People are usually interested in more than preventing one particular cancer," he noted. "So it's important to view this in the context of a person's overall health."

That includes understanding the risks of aspirin. For many people, gastrointestinal side effects may be "minor," Chan said.

But some people can develop bleeding ulcers. Aspirin is also linked to an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke -- bleeding in or around the brain.

Many middle-aged and older adults already take daily aspirin for their cardiovascular health.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that men age 45 to 79 take aspirin to prevent heart attacks, as long as their personal benefit is likely to outweigh the risk of bleeding. For women age 55 to 79, aspirin is recommended to prevent ischemic strokes (strokes caused by a blood clot), with the same caveat.

Lim said that if your doctor has recommended aspirin to you, stick with that advice.

"For people who are currently well," the researcher said, "we do not recommend taking aspirin to reduce their risk of lung cancer, as the effect of aspirin on lung cancer is still being evaluated."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/IzaxsH Lung Cancer, online April 3, 2012.

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Hispanics Seem to Have Better Odds of Lung Cancer Survival

HealthDay – 1 hr 24 mins ago MONDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanic people with lung cancer tend to live longer than white or black people with the disease, according to a new study.

Researchers say Hispanics' increased likelihood of survival may be due to genetic factors or environmental advantages, such as lower rates of tobacco use.

In the study, the researchers examined diagnosis and survival data on cancer patients from a national database that pooled information from U.S. cancer registries.

They identified 172,000 adults diagnosed with any stage of the most common form of lung cancer, known as non-small cell lung cancer, between 1988 and 2007. Of these patients, Hispanics had a 15 percent lower risk of death during the study than whites. This was true for both U.S.- and foreign-born Hispanics.

The study, published online in the journal Cancer, pointed out that Hispanics tend to have better odds of survival despite facing more obstacles to health care and higher rates of poverty than other groups.

"This is important because it shows that our findings are indicative of the Hispanic population in general and not specific to specific groups of Hispanics," lead study author Ali Saeed, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said in a journal news release.

The study's authors added that the white patients who were studied had a slightly higher likelihood of survival than those who were black. Hispanics were more likely to be diagnosed with a less serious form of lung cancer, known as bronchioalveolar carcinoma.

"Our findings will motivate researchers and physicians to understand why Hispanics have more favorable outcomes and may shed light on potential environmental factors and/or genetic factors that can explain our observations," said Saeed. "For instance, the fact that Hispanics developed higher frequencies of bronchioalveolar carcinoma could be due to genetic predispositions and/or their lower smoking rates."

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about lung cancer.

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Childhood Obesity May Raise Odds of Adult Liver Cancer

HealthDay – 13 mins ago FRIDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- Adults who were obese as children are at increased risk for liver cancer, a new study suggests.

Researchers looked at the birth weight and body-mass index (a measurement of body fat based on height and weight commonly called BMI) of more than 165,000 men and 160,000 women in Denmark born between 1930 and 1989.

Of those participants, 252 developed hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer in adulthood.

The study authors calculated that at age 7, the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma increased by 12 percent for every one-point increase in BMI. By age 13, that risk increased to 25 percent. Therefore, as units of BMI increased into adulthood, so did the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. This was consistently similar across both genders and all ages.

Other factors associated with liver cancer include alcoholism, infection by hepatitis B and C, and other liver diseases. But the study results did not change when participants with these factors were removed from the study, which indicates that childhood obesity was the major factor in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, the researchers said.

The study was slated for presentation Thursday at the International Liver Congress in Barcelona.

"Childhood obesity not only leads to the development of many adverse metabolic conditions -- such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease -- but also fatty liver disease, which may subsequently result in liver cancer," Dr. Frank Lammert, a scientific committee member of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, said in an association news release.

"The importance of maintaining a healthy childhood BMI cannot be underestimated," Lammert said in the release. "These alarming study results point to a potential correlation between childhood obesity and development of liver cancer in adulthood."

Data and conclusions presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

The American Liver Foundation has more about liver cancer.

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China study finds mine workers at higher risk of cancer, heart disease

Reuters – 40 mins ago HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese workers who are exposed to silica dust in mines, and pottery and gemstone factories suffer not only from respiratory illnesses, but are at higher risk of contracting heart and infectious diseases and cancer, researchers in China have found.

Silica is a compound found in sand and rock. When rocks are drilled or broken, fine silica dust particles are produced that lodge deep in the lungs and can lead to scarring, severe respiratory problems and death.

Researchers monitoring the health of 74,040 mine and pottery workers over an average of 33 years found that they suffered a far higher risk of contracting a range of diseases compared with people who were not exposed.

"In addition to a higher risk of respiratory disease, we see a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease in exposed workers. This is a new discovery," said Professor Weihong Chen at the School of Public Health, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province.

"Before we were mostly concerned about respiratory diseases ... as to whether it raises the risk of cancer, we can give a definite answer: We see a heightened risk of lung cancer in workers exposed to silica."

Compared with people operating in cleaner environments, workers exposed to silica were nearly seven times more likely to contract infectious diseases, nearly five times more susceptible to respiratory tuberculosis and nearly twice as vulnerable to cardiovascular disease, Chen and colleagues said in a paper published this week in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

Exposed workers who have spent at least a year in either metal mines or pottery factories were found to be nearly twice as susceptible to cancers of the nose and throat.

More than 23 million workers in China and more than 10 million in India are exposed to silica dust. This occupational health hazard is also present in the developed world, with 1.7 million people in the United States and 3 million in Europe similarly exposed.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 24,000 workers in China die each year from silicosis - a disease caused by silica penetrating deep into the lungs, causing inflammation and scarring. Many victims die relatively young, in their mid-40s, according to social workers.

Medical research has also estimated that one in two former gold miners has silicosis in South Africa, where gold mines employed as many as 500,000 people in the 1980s.

Chen said she hoped the study would help lead to work place interventions.

"We recommend that worksites control levels of such pollutants; it's a public health problem. Through changes in the work environment, we can reduce the risk of disease and (early) death," she said. "Factories can use stronger ventilators, and more effective masks for workers will reduce silica exposure."

The full paper is available at: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001206

(Editing by Chris Lewis)

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Warren Buffett Has Early Stage Prostate Cancer

HealthDay – 30 mins ago WEDNESDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett says he has prostate cancer and will undergo radiation treatment in the coming months.

The 81-year-old chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said in a letter to investors on Tuesday that he has stage 1 cancer, an early form of the disease that is treatable.

"The good news is that I've been told by my doctors that my condition is not remotely life-threatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way," Buffett said.

After receiving the diagnosis last Wednesday, Buffett said he had other tests that "showed no incidence of cancer elsewhere in my body."

In his letter, Buffett said he expects to begin two months of daily radiation treatment in mid-July. It will restrict his travel, "but will not otherwise change my daily routine."

He added that, "I discovered the cancer because my PSA level

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Chemo + Radiation Best for Bladder Cancer, Study Finds

HealthDay – 29 mins ago WEDNESDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) -- The addition of two well-tolerated chemotherapy drugs to radiation therapy led to significantly longer survival rates among patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

In a new study splitting 360 patients into groups receiving radiation alone or radiation plus chemotherapy, British researchers found that those undergoing combined therapies had a 67 percent rate of local disease-free survival after two years, compared with 54 percent in the radiation group. Five-year overall survival rates were 48 percent in the chemo-radiation group, compared with 35 percent in the radiation-only group.

"Overall, the results establish that the addition of chemotherapy to radiotherapy should become standard practice for organ-preserving treatments of bladder cancer," said Dr. Manish Vira, director of the fellowship program in urologic oncology at the Arthur Smith Institute for Urology in Lake Success, N.Y. "The tried-and-true treatment method is still

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