November 19, 2009, 0:02 AM CT

Morphine may stimulate cancer growth

Eventhough morphine has been the gold-standard therapy for postoperative and chronic cancer pain for two centuries, a growing body of evidence is showing that opiate-based painkillers can stimulate the growth and spread of cancer cells. Two new studies advance that argument and demonstrate how shielding lung cancer cells from opiates reduces cell proliferation, invasion and migration in both cell-culture and mouse models.

The reports--to be presented November 18, 2009, at "Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics," a joint meeting in Boston of the American Association for Cancer Research, the National Cancer Institute, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer--highlight the mu opiate receptor, where morphine works, as a potential therapeutic target.

"If confirmed clinically, this could change how we do surgical anesthesia for our cancer patients," said Patrick A. Singleton, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center and principal author of both studies. "It also suggests potential new applications for this novel class of drugs which should be explored".

The proposition that opiates influence cancer recurrence, prompted by several unrelated clinical and laboratory studies, has gradually gained support. It started with a 2002 palliative-care trial in which patients who received spinal rather than systemic pain relief survived longer. Soon after that, Singleton's colleague, anesthesiologist Jonathan Moss, noticed that several cancer patients receiving a selective opiate blocker in a compassionate-use protocol lived longer than expected. Two recent retrospective studies observed that breast and patients with prostate cancer who received regional rather than general anesthesia had fewer recurrences. In February, 2009, the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation highlighted the issue......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 18, 2009, 11:18 PM CT

Catching circulating cancer cells

Just as fly paper captures insects, an innovative new device with nano-sized features developed by scientists at UCLA is able to grab cancer cells in the blood that have broken off from a tumor.

These cells, known as circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, can provide critical information for examining and diagnosing cancer metastasis, determining patient prognosis, and monitoring the effectiveness of therapies.

Metastasis the most common cause of cancer-related death in patients with solid tumors is caused by marauding tumor cells that leave the primary tumor site and ride in the bloodstream to set up colonies in other parts of the body.

The current gold standard for examining the disease status of tumors is an analysis of metastatic solid biopsy samples, but in the early stages of metastasis, it is often difficult to identify a biopsy site. By capturing CTCs, doctors can essentially perform a "liquid" biopsy, allowing for early detection and diagnosis, as well as improved therapy monitoring.

To date, several methods have been developed to track these cells, but the UCLA team's novel "fly paper" approach appears to be faster and cheaper than others and it appears to capture far more CTCs.

As per a research findings published this month in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the UCLA team developed a 1-by-2-centimeter silicon chip that is covered with densely packed nanopillars and looks like a shag carpet. To test cell-capture performance, scientists incubated the nanopillar chip in a culture medium with breast cancer cells. As a control, they performed a parallel experiment with a cell-capture method that uses a chip with a flat surface. Both structures were coated with anti-EpCAM, an antibody protein that can help recognize and capture tumor cells......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 17, 2009, 8:53 AM CT

A powerful combination punch against breast cancer

A powerful new breast cancer therapy could result from packaging one of the newer drugs that inhibits cancer's hallmark wild growth with another that blocks a primordial survival technique in which the cancer cell eats part of itself, scientists say.

While they are powerful killers of some breast cancer cells, new drugs called histone deacetylase inhibitors, or HDAC inhibitors, also increase self-digestion, or autophagy, in surviving, mega-stressed cells, Medical College of Georgia Cancer Center scientists reported during the Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics International Conference this week in Boston. The conference is sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, the National Cancer Institute and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer.

"To meet the energy demands of growth and survival, cancer cells start eating up their own organelles, so that surviving cells become dependent on this autophagy," says Dr. Kapil Bhalla, director of the MCG Cancer Center.

"By also using autophagy inhibitors, we pull the rug out from under them. The only way out is death," he says.

Scientists showed the potent HDAC inhibitor panobinostat's impact on autophagy in human breast cancer cells in culture as well as those growing in the mammary fat pads of mice. When they added the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, which inhibits autophagy, breast cancer kill rates increased dramatically......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 16, 2009, 8:18 AM CT

Protein Might Prevent Cancer

One difficulty with fighting cancer cells is that they are similar in a number of respects to the body's stem cells. By focusing on the differences, scientists at Karolinska Institutet have found a new way of tackling colon cancer. The study is presented in the prestigious journal Cell.

Molecular signal pathways that stimulate the division of stem cells are generally the same as those active in tumour growth. This limits the possibility of treating cancer as the drugs that kill cancer cells also often adversely affect the body's healthy cells, especially stem cells. A newly released study from Karolinska Institutet, conducted in collaboration with an international team of researchers led by Professor Jonas Frisen, is now focusing on an exception that can make it possible to treat a form of colon cancer.

The results concern a group of signal proteins called EphB receptors. These proteins stimulate the division of stem cells in the intestine and can contribute to the formation of adenoma (polyps), which are known to carry a risk of cancer. Paradoxically, these same proteins also prevent the adenoma from growing unchecked and becoming malignant.

The new results show that EphB controls two separate signal pathways, one of which stimulates cell division and the other that curbs the cells' ability to become malignant. Using this knowledge, the researchers have identified a drug substance called imatinib, which can inhibit the first signal pathway without affecting the other, protective, pathway......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 11, 2009, 8:12 AM CT

Discovery in worms may lead to better cancer treatment

Scientists at Queen's University have found a link between two genes involved in cancer formation in humans, by examining the genes in worms. The groundbreaking discovery provides a foundation for how tumor-forming genes interact, and may offer a drug target for cancer therapy.

"When cancer hijacks a healthy system, it can create tumors by causing cells to divide when they shouldn't," says Ian Chin-Sang, a developmental biologist at Queen's and lead researcher on the study. "Certain genes control the normal movement and growth of cells, and by studying how these genes interact, we can understand what is abnormal when cancer is present".

There is an important gene in humans called PTEN that acts as a tumor suppressor. When the PTEN gene function is lost, it can lead to cancers. For example, 70-80 per cent of all prostate cancers have lost PTEN function. Another gene family, called Eph receptors, often shows high levels in cancers, but a correlation between PTEN and Eph Receptors in cancer formation has never been shown. The Queen's study shows the remarkable relationship between these genes in worms.

When the research team increased Eph receptor levels in worms, the PTEN levels diminished and the worms died prematurely. When they decreased the Eph receptor level in the worm, the PTEN levels went up and the worm lived longer than normal. The team believes the same principals are applicable to humans......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 10, 2009, 8:34 AM CT

New imaging techniques pave way for cancer drugs

A recently devised method of imaging the chemical communication and warfare between microorganisms could lead to new antibiotics, antifungal, antiviral and anti-cancer drugs, said a Texas AgriLife Research scientist.

"Translating metabolic exchange with imaging mass spectrometry," was published Nov. 8 in Nature Chemical Biology, a prominent scientific journal. The article describes a technique developed by a collaborative team that includes Dr. Paul Straight, AgriLife Research scientist in the department of biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M University in College Station, Dr. Pieter Dorrestein, Yu-Liang Yang and Yuquan Xu, all at the University of California, San Diego.

"Microorganisms encode in their genomes the capacity to produce a number of small molecules that are potential new antibiotics," Straight said. "Because we do not understand the circumstances under which those molecules are produced in the environment, we see only a small fraction of them in the laboratory".

An example is the antibiotic erythromycin, which is often prescribed for people who are allergic to penicillin, Straight said.

"We know that Saccharopolyspora erythraea, the bacteria from which erythromycin is derived, encodes the capacity to produce numerous other small molecules that might be potentially valuable drugs," he said. "Conventional microbial culture and drug discovery techniques uncovered erythromycin. Other potentially useful metabolites may require some unconventional methods for identification"......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 9, 2009, 8:22 AM CT

Prostate biopsy is not always necessary

Scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that some elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in men appears to be caused by a hormone normally occurring in the body, and are not necessarily a predictor of the need for a prostate biopsy.

Elevated levels of PSA have traditionally been seen as a potential sign of prostate cancer, leading to the widespread use of PSA testing. However, the scientists observed that parathyroid hormone, a substance the body produces to regulate calcium in the blood, can elevate prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in healthy men who do not have prostate cancer. These "non-cancer" elevations in PSA could cause a number of men to be biopsied unnecessarily, which often leads to unnecessary therapy.

"PSA picks up any prostate activity, not just cancer," said lead investigator Gary G. Schwartz, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of cancer biology and epidemiology and prevention at the School of Medicine. "Inflammation and other factors can elevate PSA levels. If the levels are elevated, the man is commonly sent for a biopsy. The problem is that, as men age, they often develop microscopic cancers in the prostate that are clinically insignificant. If it weren't for the biopsy, these clinically insignificant cancers, which would never develop into fatal prostate cancer, would never be seen"......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

November 9, 2009, 8:21 AM CT

Predictive value of lung cancer response on PET scan

A rapid decline in metabolic activity on a PET scan after radiation treatment for non-small cell lung cancer is correlated with good local tumor control, as per a research studypresented by scientists at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital at the 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting.

In addition, the scientists also observed that the higher the metabolic activity and tumor size on a PET scan before therapy, the more likely a patient is to die from lung cancer.

"PET scanning is an emerging tool of molecular imaging in lung cancer, in contrast to Computerized axial tomography scans and MRI scans which are anatomic imaging," said Maria Werner-Wasik, associate professor of Radiation Oncology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, and the study's main author. "It has become an important tool in the assessment of lung cancer staging and assessment of therapy response".

Dr. Werner-Wasik and his colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of 50 lung cancer patients who received PET imaging before and after radiation treatment. They analyzed the prognostic factors for tumor local failure. They measured the metabolic activity using the maximum Standardized Uptake Value (mSUV). They also measured the tumor size, or the Metabolic Tumor Volume.

The risk of local failure decreased for each unit decline in mSUV by the first post-therapy scan. When in comparison to the pre-therapy PET scan, the mSUV of the primary tumor declined by 72 percent in the by the first post-therapy scan, 76 percent by the second scan......... Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

November 9, 2009, 7:56 AM CT

Women with denser breasts have higher cancer recurrence

A newly released study finds that women treated for breast cancer are at higher risk of cancer recurrence if they have dense breasts. Reported in the December 15, 2009 issue of Cancer, a peer-evaluated journal of the American Cancer Society, the study's results indicate that patients with breast cancer with dense breasts appears to benefit from additional therapies following surgery, such as radiation.

Prior studies indicate that women with dense breast tissue are at increased risk of breast cancer. Scientists have suspected that high breast density may also increase the risk of cancer recurrence after lumpectomy, but this theory has not been thoroughly studied.

Scientists led by Steven A. Narod, MD, of the Women's College Research Institute in Toronto, evaluated the medical records of 335 patients who had undergone lumpectomy for breast cancer. Investigators monitored the patients for cancer recurrence and compared recurrence with breast density as seen on mammogram, categorized as low density (<25 percent dense tissue), intermediate density (25 percent to 50 percent dense tissue) or high density (>50 percent dense tissue).

The scientists observed that patients with the highest breast density had a much greater risk of cancer recurrence than did women with the lowest breast density. Over ten years, women in the highest breast density category had a 21 percent chance of cancer recurrence, compared with a 5 percent chance among women in the lowest category. The difference in the recurrence rates at ten years was even more pronounced for women who did not receive radiation. In those women, 40 percent with high-density breast tissue had a recurrence compared with none of the patients with low density......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 6, 2009, 8:56 AM CT

New Synthetic Molecules Trigger Immune Response

Scientists at Yale University have developed synthetic molecules capable of enhancing the body's immune response to HIV and HIV-infected cells, as well as to prostate cancer cells. Their findings, published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could lead to novel therapeutic approaches for these diseases.

The molecules - called "antibody-recruiting molecule targeting HIV" (ARM-H) and "antibody-recruiting molecule targeting prostate cancer" (ARM-P) - work by binding simultaneously to an antibody already present in the bloodstream and to proteins on HIV, HIV-infected cells or cancer cells. By coating these pathogens in antibodies, the molecules flag them as a threat and trigger the body's own immune response. In the case of ARM-H, by binding to proteins on the outside of the virus, they also prevent healthy human cells from being infected.

"Instead of trying to kill the pathogens directly, these molecules manipulate our immune system to do something it wouldn't ordinarily do," said David Spiegel, Ph.D., M.D., assistant professor of chemistry and the corresponding author of both papers.

Because both HIV and cancer have methods for evading the body's immune system, therapys and vaccinations for the two diseases have proven difficult. Current therapy options for HIV and prostate cancer - including antiviral drugs, radiation and chemotherapy - involve severe side effects and are often ineffective against advanced cases. While there are some antibody drugs available, they are difficult to produce in large quantities and are costly. They also must be injected and are accompanied by severe side effects of their own......... Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

November 5, 2009, 8:28 AM CT

Religion and medicine

Do pediatric oncologists feel that religion is a bridge or a barrier to their work? Or do they feel it can be either, depending on whether their patients are recovering or deteriorating? A novel Brandeis University study examines these questions in the current issue of Social Problems

Through in-depth interviews with 30 pediatricians and pediatric oncologists at elite medical centers, the authors discovered that physicians tend to view religion and spirituality pragmatically, considering them resources in family decision-making and in end of life situations, and barriers when they conflict with medical decisions, said main author Brandeis sociologist Wendy Cadge.

Pediatricians, more than pediatric oncologists, say that religion is outside the purview, or boundary, of their profession, most likely because they deal primarily with healthy children. Pediatric oncologists, conversely, say that religion can help families cope with a dying child or an unfavorable medical outcome, said Cadge.

"Physicians view religion and spirituality as a barrier when it impedes medical recommendations and as a bridge when it helps families answer questions medicine inherently cannot," the authors wrote.

Only one doctor in the study directly asked patients and their families about religion and spirituality regularly. The other pediatricians said that direct conversations about religion were either not relevant or too personal, drawing a clear boundary between public and private that puts religion on the private side of the line......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 5, 2009, 8:19 AM CT

Green tea may prevent oral cancer

Green tea extract has shown promise as cancer prevention agent for oral cancer in patients with a pre-cancerous condition known as oral leukoplakia, as per scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The study, published online in Cancer Prevention Research, is the first to examine green tea as a chemopreventative agent in this high-risk patient population. The scientists observed that more than half of the oral leukoplakia patients who took the extract had a clinical response.

Long investigated in laboratory, epidemiological and clinical settings for several cancer types, green tea is rich in polyphenols, which have been known to inhibit carcinogenesis in preclinical models. Still, clinical results have been mixed.

"While still very early, and not definitive proof that green tea is an effective preventive agent, these results certainly encourage more study for patients at highest risk for oral cancer," said Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, and the study's senior author. "The extract's lack of toxicity is attractive - in prevention trials, it's very important to remember that these are otherwise healthy individuals and we need to ensure that agents studied produce no harm"......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 4, 2009, 8:22 AM CT

Weight training for breast cancer survivors

In addition to building muscle, weightlifting is also a prescription for self-esteem among breast cancer survivors, as per new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research. Breast cancer survivors who lift weights regularly feel better about bodies and their appearance and are more satisfied with their intimate relationships compared with survivors who do not lift weights, as per a newly released study reported in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

Survivors' self-perceptions improved with weight lifting regardless of how much strength they gained during the year-long study, or whether they suffered from lymphedema, an incurable and sometimes debilitating side effect of breast surgery.

"It looks like weight training is not only safe and may make lymphedema flare ups less frequent, but it also seems help women feel better about their bodies," says senior author Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a member of Penn's Abramson Cancer Center. "The results suggest that the act of spending time with your body was the thing that was important -- not the physical results of strength."

The new insights come from a randomized controlled trial that tested the impact of twice-weekly weight lifting for 12 months on survivors' health and emotional status. In the first report from the trial, reported in the New England Journal (NEJM) in August, Schmitz and his colleagues observed that lymphedema sufferers who lifted weights were less likely to experience a worsening of their arm-swelling condition......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 4, 2009, 8:13 AM CT

Size and shape of the blood vessels predict prostate cancer behavior

A diagnosis of prostate cancer raises the question for patients and their physicians as to how the tumor will behave. Will it grow quickly and aggressively and require continuous therapy, or slowly, allowing treatment and its risks to be safely delayed?

The answer may lie in the size and shape of the blood vessels that are visible within the cancer, as per research led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute in collaboration with the Harvard School of Public Health.

The study of 572 men with localized prostate cancer indicates that aggressive or lethal prostate cancers tend to have blood vessels that are small, irregular and primitive in cross-section, while slow-growing or indolent tumors have blood vessels that look more normal.

The findings were published Oct. 26 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology

"It's as if aggressive prostate cancers are growing faster and their blood vessels never fully mature," says study leader Dr. Steven Clinton, professor of medicine and a medical oncologist and prostate cancer specialist at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

"Prostate cancer is very heterogeneous, and we need better tools to predict whether a patient has a prostate cancer that is aggressive, fairly average or indolent in its behavior so that we can better define a course of therapy surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal treatment, or potentially new drugs that target blood vessels that is specific for each person's type of cancer," Clinton says......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

November 2, 2009, 11:01 PM CT

Space-Industry Technology to Treat Breast Cancer

Scientists at Rush University Medical Center and Argonne National Laboratory are collaborating on a study to determine if an imaging technique used by NASA to inspect the space shuttle can be used to predict tissue damage often experienced by patients with breast cancer undergoing radiation treatment. The study is examining the utility of three-dimensional thermal tomography in radiation oncology.

Preliminary results from the study are being displayed during the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, being held from November 1 - 5, 2009.

Approximately 80 percent of patients with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy develop acute skin reactions that range in severity. The more severe reactions cause discomfort and distress to the patient, and sometimes result in therapy interruptions. The severity is quite variable among patients and difficult to predict.

"Because reactions commonly occur from 10 to 14 days after the beginning of treatment, if we could predict skin reactions sooner we appears to be able to offer preventative therapy to maximize effectiveness and minimize interruption of radiation therapy," said Dr. Katherine Griem, professor of radiation oncology at Rush.

Scientists at Rush and Argonne are studying if three-dimensional thermal tomography (3DTT) can detect the earliest changes that may trigger a skin reaction. 3DTT is a relatively new thermal imaging process that is currently being used as a noninvasive away to detect defects in composite materials. The basic idea of thermal imaging is to apply heat or cold to a material and observing the resulting temperature change with an infrared camera to learn about its composition......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

November 2, 2009, 8:46 AM CT

Nano-scale drug delivery for chemotherapy

scale delivery vehicles and demonstrated in animal models that this new nanoformulation can eliminate tumors after a single therapy. After delivering the drug to the tumor, the delivery vehicle breaks down into harmless byproducts, markedly decreasing the toxicity for the recipient.

Nano-delivery systems have become increasingly attractive to scientists because of their ability to efficiently get into tumors. Since blood vessels supplying tumors are more porous, or leaky, than normal vessels, the nanoformulation can more easily enter and accumulate within tumor cells. This means that higher doses of the drug can be delivered, increasing its cancer-killing abilities while decreasing the side effects linked to systematic chemotherapy.

"When used to deliver anti-cancer medications in our models, the new formulation has a four-fold higher maximum tolerated dose than the same drug by itself, and it induced nearly complete tumor regression after one injection," said Ashutosh Chilkoti, Theo Pilkington Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering. "The free drug had only a modest effect in shrinking tumors or in prolonging animal survival".

The results of Chilkoti's experiments were published early online in the journal Nature Materials........ Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

October 29, 2009, 11:08 PM CT

Drug-radiation eliminates lung cancer

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have eliminated non-small cell lung (NSCL) cancer in mice by using an investigative drug called BEZ235 in combination with low-dose radiation.

In a study appearing in the recent issue of Cancer Research, UT Southwestern scientists observed that if they administered BEZ235 before they damaged the DNA of tumor cells with otherwise nontoxic radiation, the drug blocked the pro-survival actions of a protein called PI3K, which normally springs into action to keep tumor cells alive while they repair DNA damage.

Scientists tested this novel therapeutic strategy in mice transplanted with NSCL cancers obtained from patients.

They observed that tumors in the mice treated with BEZ235 alone were significantly smaller than those in mice not given the drug. Eventhough the tumors stopped growing, they did not die.

By contrast, tumors were completely eradicated in mice treated with a combination of BEZ235 and radiation.

"These early results suggest that the drug-radiation combination might be an effective treatment in patients with lung cancer," said Dr. Pier Paolo Scaglioni, assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study.

NSCL cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The cancer cells often harbor mutations in a gene called K-RAS. Patients with such K-RAS mutations typically are more resistant to therapy with radiation and have a poor prognosis......... Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

October 29, 2009, 9:14 PM CT

Blocking heat shock protein to fight cancer

Like yoga for office drones, cells do have coping strategies for stress. Heat, lack of nutrients, oxygen radicals all can wreak havoc on the delicate internal components of a cell, potentially damaging it beyond repair. Proteins called HSPs (heat shock proteins) allow cells to survive stress-induced damage. Researchers have long studied how HSPs work in order to harness their therapeutic potential.

Donna George, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics, and Julie Leu, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics, both at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in collaboration with the lab of Maureen Murphy, PhD at Fox Chase Cancer Center, identified a small molecule that inhibits the heat shock protein HSP70. They also showed that the HSP inhibitor could stop tumor formation and significantly extend survival of mice. They describe their findings in this month's issue of Molecular Cell

HSP70 is an intracellular quality control officer, refolding misfolded proteins and preventing protein aggregation, which among other disorders, is linked to neurodegenerative diseases. HSP70 also ferries proteins to their proper intracellular locations. Tumor cells, which face an abundance of cellular stresses, typically overexpress HSP70, making it a potentially interesting anticancer target......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source