Cancer Research Lab

Some breast cancers that are not detected using mammography or ultrasound, can be seen when magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is employed, according to findings from a study of women with genetic or familial risk.

The interim results of the HIBCRIT (High Breast Cancer Risk Italian Trial) are reported by Dr. Francesco Sardanelli of the University of Milan and associates in the March issue of Radiology.

These findings demonstrate that “the addition of MR imaging to the screening regimen for high-risk women may enable detection of otherwise unsuspected breast cancers,” Dr. Sardanelli said.

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Misconceptions keep many patients from participating in lung cancer clinical trials, according to a report in the March Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

“Patients’ prior misperceptions about clinical trials (e.g., fear being offered a trial, assume placebo is a possibility, think they will wait to consider a trial if nothing else works, and over-confidence in standard treatment) often prevent them from making an informed decision in the first step — they automatically say no,” Dr. Gwendolyn P. Quinn from H. L. Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida.

“Physicians can lead discussions about a clinical trial by dispelling common myths,” Dr. Quinn suggests.

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Cellular autophagy appears to be a mechanism that the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib (Gleevec, Novartis) inhibits chronic myelogenous leukemia and may also inhibit other types of malignant cells, German researchers report in the March issue of Leukemia.

“Gleevec was considered as a targeted anticancer drug which is specific for only certain types of malignancies,” senior investigator Dr. Hermann M. Schaetzl said, “and which acts in stopping cancer growth. We describe a much broader effect of this compound which might be beneficial for all kind of tumors.”

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The findings from a new study suggest that exposure to a bacterial endotoxin, found in raw cotton fiber and dust, confers protection against lung cancer in textile workers.

An association between textile jobs and a reduced lung cancer risk was first noted in the 1970s. The endotoxin was thought to mediate this effect by altering the innate and acquired immune systems. However, data examining the effect of endotoxin exposure on lung cancer risk have been lacking.

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Despite carrying a price tag of $50,000 or more for 1 year of treatment, trastuzumab (Herceptin) is cost-effective as adjuvant therapy for early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, according to the findings of two studies appearing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology for February 20.

“In the subgroup of patients with HER2-positive, high-risk breast cancers, trastuzumab enhances the clinical advantage of adjuvant chemotherapy at a cost generally considered appropriate for the added value that trastuzumab produced,” Dr. Nicola Lucio Liberato, lead author of the first study, said in a statement.

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Oral contraceptives with low estrogen and progestin are more effective in lowering the risk of ovarian cancer than older formulations, according to investigators at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

The protective benefits of oral contraceptive pills have long been recognized, Dr. Galina Lurie and her associates note in their report, published in the March issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. However, over the last 30 years the doses of hormone have decreased to reduce the frequency of side effects. Research conducted to determine how the potency changes have affected ovarian cancer risk has yielded inconsistent results.

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Among liver transplant candidates with chronic hepatitis B, survival is comparable for those listed with cirrhosis versus those with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Patients with HCC typically receive a higher transplant priority score than those with cirrhosis, resulting in earlier transplantation and possibly reduction in waiting list mortality, according to the report in the March issue of Liver Transplantation. However, survival following transplantation may be reduced in HCC patients due to the risk of disease recurrence.

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Research designed to gain a clearer molecular picture of ovarian tumor vasculature has identified a number of tumor vascular proteins that may serve as biomarkers of the disease, as well as molecular targets for ovarian cancer and a variety of other solid tumors.

“We identified a tumor vascular cell profile of ovarian cancer that was distinct from the vascular profile of normal ovary and other tumors,” report Dr. George Coukos from University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and colleagues in the March 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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Pictures of a corpse and mouth cancers will be displayed on cigarette packets in India from June in a bid to shock people into stopping smoking, health officials said on Tuesday.

Other packs will show a toddler with tubes running up his nostrils with the caption “Your smoking kills babies”, rather than the milder, pictureless warning “Cigarette smoking is injurious to health” currently displayed.

More than 2,500 Indians die every day due to diseases linked to consumption of tobacco products, according to official figures, and the health ministry admits laws banning smoking in public places have had little impact.

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U.S. health regulators have approved GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s oral medication Tykerb for patients with advanced breast cancer after other treatments have failed, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Tykerb (lapatinib) is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of HER2 and epidermal growth factor receptor. It blocks the intracellular HER-2/neu protein, whereas Herceptin (trastuzumab) blocks HER-2/neu on the outside of cancer cells.

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