Cancer Research Lab

A common coding variant in CASP8 decreases the risk for breast cancer, according to a report in the February 11th advance online publication of Nature Genetics.

“More breast cancer genes will be identified over the next year or so, and this may help define pathways that might be good treatment targets,” Dr. Angela Cox from Sheffield University Medical School, UK said. “It may be also possible to identify combinations of genes which together account for a higher percentage of the familial risk.”

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Compared with other anovulatory factors, pregnancy and oral contraceptive are associated with the lowest risk of developing ovarian cancer, according to a report in the January issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The findings suggest that a single definition of years of ovulation may not be suitable for gauging the impact of ovulation on ovarian cancer risk, the authors note.

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In a study of polypectomized and colon cancer patients, consumption of a synbiotic preparation containing one prebiotic and two probiotics significantly reduced several colorectal cancer biomarkers.

The authors of the report, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition for February, note that prebiotics are nondigestable food ingredients that promote the growth of beneficial resident bacteria. Probiotics are living organisms thought to have a beneficial effect on health. Findings from animal studies have supported an anti-tumor effect for both types of agents, but confirmatory data from human studies is lacking.

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Women with breast cancer who are involved in the process of selecting a surgeon are more likely to be treated by more experienced surgeons and in hospitals with cancer programs, according to a report in the January 20th issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Surgeon and hospital characteristics can influence the outcomes of cancer treatments, the authors explain, but little is known about the factors associated with referral pathways.

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Elevated expression of two genes — one involved in DNA synthesis (RRM1) and the other in DNA repair (ERCC1) — are associated with prolonged survival among patients with completely resected, stage 1 non-small-cell lung cancer, investigators report in the New England Journal of Medicine for February 22.

However, translating this knowledge into development of practical markers for cancer outcomes “has not been possible … because of technical limitations,” the authors note.

So Dr. Gerold Bepler and his team, at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, developed an automated, quantifiable, immunohistochemical technique, which they used to determine levels of RRM1 (ribonucleotide reductase M1) and ERCC1 (excision repair cross-complementation group 1).

They tested their system using tissue samples from 187 patients who had undergone complete surgical resection for stage 1 non-small-cell lung cancer at their institution. None of the patients had been treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

For patients whose tumors had levels of RRM1 below the median, the median disease-free survival was 54.5 months. For those with higher levels, disease-free survival was 120 months (p = 0.004). The median overall survival was 60.2 months and > 120 months, respectively (p = 0.02).

The investigators observed that ERCC1 expression was significantly associated with overall survival, but not disease-free survival.

Dr. Bepler and his group then stratified patients according to level of expression of each gene. Results showed that, for those with high expression of one protein and those with low expression of both, overall survival ranged from 56.8 months to 80 months. For those with high levels of both proteins, disease-free and overall survival were > 120 months, significantly longer than in the other three groups.

“Although high expression of either protein alone was associated with a good prognosis, co-expression of the two proteins characterized the group with an excellent outcome,” the investigators write.

Dr. Bepler and his associates point out that RRM1 and ERCC1 expression is associated with poor response to gemcitabine and platinum chemotherapy. So it is possible that gene expression profiles could be used to determine treatment for patients with cancer.

Few men newly diagnosed with very low-risk prostate cancer and who are therefore eligible for active surveillance, in lieu of definitive treatment, opt for this approach, new study results indicate.

The findings were reported Thursday in Orlando at The Prostate Cancer Symposium, co-sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Society of Urologic Oncology.

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Higher methionine intake is apparently associated with a reduction in pancreatic cancer risk, according to a report in the January issue of Gastroenterology.

Impaired methyl group metabolism may contribute to pancreatic diseases and carcinogenesis, the authors explain, suggesting that methyl group donors like methionine could influence the risk of pancreatic cancer.

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Women with locally advanced cervical cancer undergoing radiation therapy have better survival when they receive concomitant cisplatin-based treatment in a 5-day inpatient regimen rather than an easier weekly outpatient protocol, according to New York-based researchers.

“Because of the ease of weekly dosing and the lower cost of outpatient cisplatin administration in combination with radiation therapy for the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer,” Dr. Mark H. Einstein said, there has been “a trend to use outpatient weekly cisplatin despite no randomized, controlled comparison trials showing equivalency to inpatient 5-day regimens.”

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The selective estrogen receptor modulator toremifene significantly increases bone mineral density and improves lipid profiles in men receiving androgen deprivation therapy for advanced prostate cancer.

That’s according to two planned interim analyses of an ongoing multicenter study presented today in Orlando at The Prostate Cancer Symposium, co-sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Society of Urologic Oncology.

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The investigational oral platinum drug satraplatin, in combination with prednisone, prolongs progression-free survival of patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer who have failed either docetaxel or non-docetaxel-containing chemotherapeutic regimens.

The findings are based on phase III data reported Friday in Orlando at The Prostate Cancer Symposium, co-sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Society of Urologic Oncology.

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