Hope For Cancer

New cancer drug sabotages tumour’s escape route

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:52:31 +0000

Some untreatable cancers could soon be held in check by an experimental drug that targets not only the tumour itself, but also how it evolves to spread through the body. The new drug, Cabozantinib, or cabo for short, simultaneously neutralises two mechanisms cancers need to survive. First, it chokes each tumour’s blood supply by blocking [...]

Older Age Worsens Breast Cancer Prognosis

admin — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Older age at diagnosis of postmenopausal, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer may independently worsen outcomes, researchers found. Breast cancer-specific mortality was 25% higher for women 65 to 74, and 63% higher for women 75 or older, compared with those under 65 (both P

How Cancer Cells Change Once They Spread To Distant Organs

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:45:48 +0000

Oncologists have known that in order for cancer cells to spread, they must transform themselves so they can detach from a tumor and spread to a distant organ. Now, scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have revealed critical steps in what happens next – how these cells reverse the process, morphing back into classical cancer [...]

Newly Approved Drug for Metastatic Melanoma Nearly Doubles Median Survival

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:17:54 +0000

Researchers from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, together with scientists from 12 other sites in the United States and Australia, report for the first time that a newly approved drug for patients with metastatic melanoma nearly doubles median survival times, a finding that will change the way this deadly form of skin cancer is treated. [...]

Hospitals scramble to get scarce kids’ cancer drug

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:46:41 +0000

An Ohio drugmaker began releasing limited supplies of a crucial medication to treat childhood leukemia Thursday, sending hospital pharmacists facing life-threatening shortages scrambling for their share. Jerrod Milton, chief of pharmacy at Children’s Hospital of Colorado, was among those first in line as Ben Venue Laboratories began accepting new orders for the drug methotrexate, three [...]

Breast Cancer Spreads By Using Patient’s Immune System

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:12:53 +0000

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) spreads easily through the lymphatic and blood vessels, forming metastasis, which can cause several organs in the body to fail, IBC is also the deadliest form of breast cancer. A new study shows how IBC cells use IL-8, a chemokine of the immune system secreted as part of the anti-inflammatory response [...]

Heart Disease May Be Risk Factor for Prostate Cancer

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:30:22 +0000

may be a risk factor for prostate cancer, a new study suggests. If this link is confirmed in future research, it means that lifestyle changes that reduce heart disease risk — such as weight loss, exercise and a healthy diet — may also protect men against prostate cancer, the Duke Cancer Institute researchers said. “What’s [...]

Similarities Between Genetic Signatures In Developing Organs And Breast Cancer Could Predict And Personalize Cancer Therapies

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:02:57 +0000

Reviving a theory first proposed in the late 1800s that the development of organs in the normal embryo and the development of cancers are related, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have studied organ development in mice to unravel how breast cancers, and perhaps other cancers, develop in people. Their findings provide new [...]

ACLU: Student has right to wear ‘I (heart) Boobies’ bracelet

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:48:35 +0000

An Indiana eighth grader sued his school district in federal court Monday for the right to wear a bracelet promoting breast cancer awareness with the message “I (heart) Boobies,” WTHR reported. The lawsuit says the boy’s mother bought the bracelet for him in support of the Carol M. Baldwin Cancer Research Fund, named after actor [...]

Many Doctors Don’t Follow Ovarian-Cancer Screening Guidelines

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:05:31 +0000

The government estimates that more than 15,000 women died last year from ovarian cancer. But routine screening of women with no symptoms isn’t recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or other professional groups, even for women at high risk for the disease. That’s because the benefits [...]

Rates of Repeat Breast Cancer Surgery Vary Widely

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:06:21 +0000

Among women who undergo breast-conserving surgery for invasive breast cancer, the likelihood of having a second surgery varies by institution and by surgeon. These results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Breast-conserving surgery (also referred to as a lumpectomy or partial mastectomy) is commonly used for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer. [...]