Cancer Archives

Intermittent dosing with vemurafenib may prolong lives of melanoma patients

Drug-Resistant Melanoma Tumors Shrink When Therapy Is Interrupted — ?Intermittent Dosing? Strategy in Lab Mice Suggests Simple Way to Help People with Late-Stage Melanoma – Researchers in California and Switzerland have discovered that melanomas that develop resistance to the anti-cancer drug vemurafenib (marketed as Zelboraf), also develop addiction to the drug, an observation that may have important implications for the lives of patients with late-stage disease.

Multivitamins reduce risk of cancer in men

Daily multivitamins reduce risk of cancer in men — Brigham and Women?s Hospital study is the first to examine the long-term affect of multivitamins on a major chronic diseases – A daily multivitamin can help a man reduce his risk of cancer. The Physicians’ Health Study II is the first clinical trial to test the affects of multivitamins on a major disease such as cancer.

Aspirin reduces aggressive ovarian cancer risk

Aspirin may decrease risk of aggressive form of ovarian cancer – New research shows that women who regularly use pain relief medications, particularly aspirin, have a decreased risk of serous ovarian cancer?an aggressive carcinoma affecting the surface of the ovary, published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.

Blood test may detect aggressive prostate cancer

Scientists develop a blood test that detects aggressive prostate cancers — Spanish and British scientists design a precision blood test that uses blood cells to detect aggressive prostate cancer – Scientists have developed a test that studies genetic patterns in blood cells to detect advanced?stage prostate cancer. The study shows that gene patterns in blood cells act as a barcode and could be used together with the current PSA test to select those patients with the worst prognosis in need of immediate treatment.

Breast cancer can be detected by a simple blood test

A simple blood test could be used to detect breast cancer — University of Leicester and Imperial College London in study to determine whether DNA in blood could show early signs of cancer – A simple blood test could one day be a more accurate way to test for the early signs of breast cancer than using mammograms to spot a lump. Researchers reveals that the blood test could improve treatment by detecting whether breast cancer patients are likely to relapse and what drugs their particular type of tumour will respond to.

Smoking, heavy drinking linked to pancreatic cancer risk

Smoking, heavy drinking linked to earlier onset of pancreatic cancer — University of Michigan Health System study makes step toward learning when cancer screenings should start – Those who smoke and drink heavily may develop pancreatic cancer at an earlier age than those who don’t. In a recent study, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, heavy smokers with pancreatic cancer were diagnosed around age 62 and heavy drinkers at age 61 ? almost a decade earlier than the average age of 72.

Breast cancer’s genetic causes provide clues for new therapeutic targets

UNC Lineberger scientists lead cancer genome analysis of breast cancer — Team identifies genetic causes and similarity to ovarian cancer – The researchers, including a large group from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reported their study about genetic characterization of 800 breast tumors, finding some of the genetic causes of the most common forms of breast cancer, providing clues for new therapeutic targets, and identifying a molecular similarity between one sub-type of breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Six hours or less of sleep per night linked to aggressive breast cancer

Lack of sleep found to be a new risk factor for aggressive breast cancers — First-of-its-kind study published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment – Lack of sleep is linked to more aggressive breast cancers, according to new findings published in the August issue of Breast Cancer Research and Treatment by physician-scientists from University Hospitals Case Medical Center’s Seidman Cancer Center and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University.

Zaltrap for metastatic colorectal cancer approved by FDA

FDA approves Zaltrap for metastatic colorectal cancer – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Zaltrap (ziv-aflibercept) for use in combination with a FOLFIRI (folinic acid, fluorouracil and irinotecan) chemotherapy regimen to treat adults with colorectal cancer.

Chemotherapy resistance develops due to WNT in cancer patients

Researchers discover new mechanism behind resistance to cancer treatment — Finding could lead to development of better therapies to cure cancer – Developing resistance to chemotherapy is a nearly universal, ultimately lethal consequence for cancer patients with solid tumors ? such as those of the breast, prostate, lung and colon ? that have metastasized, or spread, throughout the body.

Breast cancer charity Komen overstated screening benefits

Breast cancer charity under fire for overstating the benefits of screening — Experts challenge ‘pink ribbon’ creator for misusing statistics to generate false hope – Professors Lisa Schwartz and Steven Woloshin of the Center for Medicine and the Media at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice argue that last year’s breast cancer awareness month campaign by Susan G Komen for the Cure “overstates the benefit of mammography and ignores harms altogether.”

Prostate Cancer genetic test may predict risk

New Test May Help Predict Prostate Cancer – Karim Kader, MD, PhD, associate clinical professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, together with a team of researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, have developed a genetic test to predict a man?s risk for prostate cancer.