May 5, 2008, 6:05 PM CT

Mood Disorders Put Cancer Patients At Risk For PTSD

Patients with breast cancer who have a previous history of mood and anxiety disorders are at a much higher risk of experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder following their diagnosis, new research suggests.

A study of 74 patients with breast cancer at the Ohio State University Medical Center observed that 16 percent of them (12 women) suffered from PTSD 18 months after diagnosis.

Women with PTSD were more than twice as likely as patients with breast cancer without the disorder to have suffered from prior mood disorders such as depression before the cancer diagnosis. They were also more than three times more likely to have experienced anxiety disorders.

"What is unique about patients with breast cancer with PTSD is that they have already had this double hit of both anxiety and mood disorders even before they got the diagnosis," said Barbara Andersen, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

"So when they are in a new situation that is very anxiety provoking - cancer diagnosis and therapy - it is not surprising that they are at risk for developing PTSD".

The findings suggest that doctors should screen newly diagnosed patients with breast cancer for past mood disorders, she said. Those who have histories of mood and anxiety disorders may need help in order to avoid PTSD. However, the results also show that most patients with breast cancer aren't at risk for PTSD......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 29, 2008, 8:11 PM CT

How cancer spreads

Metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body, can be explained by the fusion of a cancer cell with a white blood cell in the original tumor, as per Yale School of Medicine researchers, who say that this single event can set the stage for cancers migration to other parts of the body.

Their work was Reported in the recent issue of Nature Reviews Cancer. The studies, spanning 15 years, have revealed that the newly formed hybrid of the cancer cell and white blood cell adapts the white blood cells natural ability to migrate around the body, while going through the uncontrolled cell division of the original cancer cell. This causes a metastatic cell to emerge, which like a white blood cell, can migrate through tissue, enter the circulatory system and travel to other organs.

This is a unifying explanation for metastasis, said John Pawelek, a researcher in the Department of Dermatology at Yale School of Medicine and at Yale Cancer Center, who conducted the studies with colleague Ashok K. Chakraborty and several other Yale scientists. Eventhough we know a vast amount about cancer, how a cancer cell becomes metastatic still remains a mystery.

The fusion theory was first proposed in the early 1900s and has attracted a lot of scientific interest over the years. Pawelek and colleagues began their research several years ago by fusing white blood cells with tumor cells. These experimental hybrids the scientists observed, were remarkably metastatic and lethal when implanted into mice. In addition, the researchers noted, some of the molecules the hybrids used to metastasize originated from white blood cells, and these molecules were the same as those used by metastatic cells in human cancers. Pawelek and his team then validated prior findings that hybridization occurs naturally in mice, and results in metastatic cancer......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 24, 2008, 5:04 AM CT

Advances In Breast Reconstruction

Lumpectomy or breast conservation surgery is the most common type of breast cancer surgery currently performed. A benefit of the surgery is that only part of the breast is removed, but a drawback can be the resulting physical appearance of the breast, which may be disfigured, dented or uneven. A report in April's Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® , the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), examines advances plastic surgeons have made in breast reconstruction to repair the damage left when cancer is removed.

"Eventhough breast conversation therapies are a huge advance in the therapy of breast cancer, women are still concerned about how their breast will look after surgery," said Sumner Slavin, MD, ASPS Member and report co-author. "Breast conservation surgery or lumpectomy can mean a number of things; a biopsy, partial mastectomy, wedge resection, or having a quarter of the breast taken. Women are often left with portions of their breasts removed and there are currently no implants that can address this unique cosmetic issue".

After lumpectomy or breast conservation surgery, plastic surgeons are now approaching the challenge of misshapen breasts by immediately remodeling the breast with remaining breast tissue or tissue taken from another area of the body. The result is a more natural looking breast that is more symmetrical with the unaffected breast......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 22, 2008, 9:40 PM CT

Protein that helps predict prostate cancer survival

An Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researcher has identified a protein that is a strong indicator of survival for men with advanced prostate cancer. The C-reactive protein, also known as CRP, is a special type of protein produced by the liver that is elevated in the presence of inflammation.

"This could mean that a simple blood test that is already available could help in clinical decision making and patient counseling. Patients and doctors would know better what to expect from the prostate cancer they are facing," said Tomasz Beer, M.D., director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program at the OHSU Cancer Institute, associate professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology), OHSU School of Medicine.

Beer's research will be published online in the journal Cancer on Monday, April 21.

Past research has shown that cancer causes an inflammatory response. This research also suggests that inflammation may play an important role in driving prostate cancer progression and resistance to treatment. Inflammatory cells are attracted to cancer sites and this local inflammation can lead to a release of inflammatory markers, like CRP.

"While inflammation may sometimes slow the progression of the cancer, an increasing body of evidence suggests that cancer can actually take advantage of the inflammatory response, and the reaction of the immune system may fuel cancer progression. To the extent that our hypothesis proves true, C-reactive protein may be reflecting the overall intensity of the inflammation," Beer said......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

April 17, 2008, 7:47 PM CT

Drug compound leads to death of ovarian cancer cells

In a discovery that may be useful for maintaining remission in chemo-resistant ovary cancer, Yale researchers report that pre-clinical studies have shown the drug compound NV-128 can induce the death of ovary cancer cells by halting the activation of a protein pathway called mTOR.

Gil Mor, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine, and associate research scientist Ayesha Alvero, M.D. presented the data April 15 during an oral presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

In cancer cells, mTOR signals enhance tumor growth and may be linked to resistance to conventional therapies. Inhibition of mTOR could shut down a number of of these survival pathways, including proteins that protect the mitochondria of cancer cells.

NV-128, developed by Novogen Limited, holds promise as a more targeted treatment for ovary cancer because it works differently from traditional therapies that are dependent on enzymes known as caspases to trigger cell death. Therapies using caspases to kill cancer cells can be ineffective in chemo-resistant cancer cells due to mutations that short-circuit signals that trigger cancer cell death.

We consider that the capacity of NV-128 to trigger caspase-independent cell death, in otherwise chemoresistant ovary cancer cells, opens new possibilities for the use of NV-128 as a potential addition to conventional chemotherapy targeting ovary cancer cells, said Mor......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

April 17, 2008, 7:41 PM CT

Inherited colon cancer mutation is widespread

A gene mutation responsible for the most common form of inherited colon cancer is older and more common than formerly believed, as per a recent study.

The findings provide a better understanding of the spread and prevalence of the American Founder Mutation, a common cause in North America of Lynch syndrome, a hereditary cancer syndrome that greatly increases a persons risk for developing cancers of the colon, uterus and ovaries.

The same researchers discovered the mutation in 2003. That research identified nine families with the mutation and concluded that a German immigrant couple brought the mutation to North America in 1727.

The latest study includes an additional 32 families and indicates that the mutation is actually about 500 years old, suggesting that it arose several generations earlier in Europeans or perhaps in Native Americans.

Of the 41 families overall, most are clustered in Kentucky, Ohio and Texas.

Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and Creighton University conducted the study, published recently in the journal Cancer Research.

The increased age of the American Founder Mutation means that it is significantly more prevalent in the United States than previously thought, says principal investigator Albert de la Chapelle, a researcher with Ohio States Human Cancer Genetics program......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 9:12 PM CT

Radiation beneficial for older breast cancer patients

A patients with breast cancer age alone should not determine whether or not she receives standard breast-conservation therapys, including a lumpectomy and radiation treatment; however, if additional health problems (comorbidities) are present, therapys should be individualized based on age and the type of comorbidities, as per a research studyin the April 1 edition of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

The occurrence of breast cancer in women increases as women age. As per the National Cancer Institutes SEER Cancer Statistics Review, women between the ages of 75 and 79 have the highest occurence rate of breast cancer diagnoses at 497 cases per 100,000 people. Along with cancer, most women in this age group are dealing with additional health problems. As per a 1999 womens health and aging study in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, the majority of older patients diagnosed with cancer have at least one other medical condition and more than half of patients with cancer over the age of 65 have three or more associated medical conditions.

This study, conducted by the departments of Radiation Oncology, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, at the University of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine in Philadelphia, sought to determine the impact of these additional medical problems on patients with breast cancer who receive the same standard therapys as patients with no additional medical problems and if old age is a reason to deny some standard therapys......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 8:54 PM CT

Smoking related to subset of colorectal cancers

Smoking puts older women at significant risk for loss of DNA repair proteins that are critical for defending against development of some colorectal cancers, as per research from a team led by Mayo Clinic scientists.

In a study being presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the scientists observed that women who smoked were at increased risk for developing colorectal tumors that lacked some or all of four proteins, known as DNA mismatch repair (MMR) proteins. These proteins keep cells lining the colon and rectum healthy because they recognize and repair genetic damage as well as mistakes that occur during cell division.

Scientists think that, in this study population, few if any of the four proteins were absent because of an inherited genetic alteration. We believe that smoking induces a condition within intestinal cells that does not allow MMR genes to express their associated proteins, and this loss leads to formation of tumors in some women, says the studys lead author, Mayo gastroenterologist Paul Limburg, M.D.

The scientists also discovered a direct association between the number of cigarettes smoked daily by study participants and increased risk of developing these specific tumors. They say a number of prior studies have observed only a very weak positive association between use of cigarettes and development of the cancer......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 8:44 PM CT

Mouth may tell the tale of lung damage

Cells lining the mouth reflect the molecular damage that smoking does to the lining of the lungs, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Examining oral tissue lining the mouth to gauge cancer-inducing molecular alterations in the lungs could spare patients and those at risk of lung cancer from more invasive, uncomfortable procedures used now, said senior researcher Li Mao, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology.

"We are talking about just a brushing inside of the cheek to get the same information we would from lung brushings obtained through bronchoscopy," said study presenter and first author Manisha Bhutani, M.D., a post-doctoral fellow in Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology.

The team examined the oral and lung lining tissue - called the epithelium - in 125 chronic smokers enrolled in a large, prospective lung cancer chemoprevention study.

The status of two crucial tumor-suppressing genes was analyzed. The genes, p16 and FHIT, are known to be damaged or silenced very early in the process of cancer development. "There is substantial damage long before there is cancer," Mao said......... Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

April 13, 2008, 8:43 PM CT

Connection between protein and prognosis in breast cancer

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute scientists have observed that a tumor protein present in an aggressive form of breast cancer is correlation to a poor prognosis.

The presence of the protein, called growth factor receptor-bound protein-7, often referred to as GRB-7, in breast cancer tumors, is strongly correlation to the growth and spread of the cancer, as per principal investigator Shiuh-Wen Luoh, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology) in the OHSU School of Medicine.

The research will be presented Sunday, April 13, at 1 p.m. at the annual American Association for Cancer Research meeting in San Diego.

The GRB-7 protein previously has been shown to be important to cell communication in the spread of cancer. The GRB-7 gene is located close to the HER-2/Neu gene that regulates breast cancer growth. The OHSU Cancer Institute scientists discovered that the levels of GRB-7 protein are often heightened at the same time that HER-2/Neu levels are high. Also, not infrequently, they found breast tumors that overexpressed one but not the other protein. Overexpression means that there is an abundant presence of the protein.

It is surprising that we found discordance in the overexpression of these genes because they are so close together, Luoh said......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source