You are here: Home / Archives for Cancer Research Institute

ETS and women from Moscow

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The association between exposure to ETS and the risk of lung cancer in life-time non-smoking women was investigated by means of a hospital based case-control study in Moscow, Russia. The main importance of our study is that it was conducted on a population with a specific smoking pattern from which no information is available on health effects of ETS. A total of 189 incident cases of histologically confirmed lung cancer were identified in 2 principal cancer treatment hospitals in Moscow.

 

A total of 358 female oncology patients from the same hospitals were selected as controls. The controls matched by the hospitals to the cases were similarly restricted to never-smokers. Women diagnosed with cancer of the upper respiratory organs were ineligible for selection as controls. Personal interviews of cases and controls were conducted in the hospital wards, using a closed-form structured questionnaire. An elevated risk of lung cancer was observed in women whose husbands smoked. The odds ratio (OR) adjusted by age and education for husband’s smoking was 1.53 (95% CI, 1.06-2.21).

 

Smoking by other members of the family, by colleague’s, or by fathers in the women’s childhood do not affect the risk of lung cancer. The risk is higher for women whose husbands smoke “papirosy” (OR 2.12; 95% CI, 1.32-3.40), a special Russian type of cigarettes with a long mouthpiece, and usually very high levels of tar (> 30 mg/cig) and nicotine (> 1.8 mg/cig). Our study suggests that the association between exposure to ETS of the spouse and risk of lung cancer in non-smoking women is somewhat stronger for squamous-cell carcinoma (OR, 1.94; 95% CI, 0.99-3.81) than for adenocarcinoma (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 0.96-2.39).

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,

CIGARS AND CANCER

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By the end of the 19th century, physicians began recording an increase in the incidence of bronchogenic (lung) cancer cases. By 1900 lung cancer became the most common organ cancer in men. A landmark paper by Adler in 1912 implicated tobacco use in these cancers, although researchers at various hospitals began suspecting tobacco as a carcinogen as early as 1900. Thousands of articles on the relationship of various tobacco products to heart disease, respiratory disease, and cancer have been published since Adler. Most of these articles have focused on the outcome of cigarette use and lung cancer.

 

By comparison, cigar use and its relationship to disease has only been documented by little over a 100 comprehensive research studies. These various articl es fail to differentiate between processed tobacco as opposed to fermented leaf, or machine made vs. hand made cigars. One can argue differences between the quantity of tar and nicotine present in an American El Producto vs. a Dominican Davidoff. Few papers differentiate between grams of cigar tobacco smoked vs. numbers of cigars smoked daily (a 2 corona per day user certainly uses less cigar tobacco than a 2 double corona per day user.) No perfect study has at yet been written.. Given the amount of articles however, and the general agreement in some of the findings, some conclusions can be drawn between the relationship of cigars and cancer.

 

Much of the literature regarding cigars and cancer began with lung cancer risk studies. In the 1980′s researchers began to look at cigars and oral cancer risk. Today research has expanded into various forms of oral cancers, esophageal and other gastroin testinal cancers, bladder, prostate, and biliary system cancers. One researcher even studied melanoma of the eye and outcomes with tobacco use following radiation therapy. I thought it easier to summarize the various forms of cancer that have been studied with cigars in mind with a simple graph which follows. Confusion still abounds as not all research techniques have been standardized, not all research tools separate cigars from pipes or even cigar only smokers, nor even attempt to quantify cigar tobacco amounts.

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,

Women who smoke and who are infected with genital warts have a much higher risk of genital cancer than other women

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Women who smoke and who are infected with genital warts have a much higher risk of genital cancer than other women. One particular strain of wart virus known as HPV16 increased the risk of cancer by six times in smokers, Margaret Madeleine and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle reported Tuesday. “This is supportive evidence that HPV16 is particularly important for vulvar cancer,” Madeleine said.

 

Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Madeleine’s team said they are checking on a reported increase in the rate of non invasive cancer of the vulva–the external female genitals. Cervical and Vulvar Links Smoking and wart virus are also linked with cervical cancer, but the link with vulvar cancer was more controversial. Madeleine’s team worked with 510 women in the Seattle area who had cancer of the vulva and 1,400 women who did not. They checked them for three types of wart virus–HPV-6, HPV16 and HPV18–as well as genital herpes infection. Women who had never smoked but who had HPV16 had 2.9 times the risk of vulvar cancer as opposed to uninfected women who never smoked. Smokers who were free of the virus had a 4.9 times greater risk of vulvar cancer. But women who both smoked and had HPV16 infection had 18.8 times the risk of cancer.

 

“They seem to work in synergy,” Madeleine said. “It’s more than you would expect to see just from smoking or having the virus by itself.” Madeleine said neither HPV-6 nor HPV-18 had the same effect. Genital wart virus is fairly common–infecting up to 20 percent of young women volunteering for clinical studies. Madeleine said most of the infected women probably caught the virus soon after becoming sexually active. “It’s current smoking in the presence of the infection that magnifies the risk,” she said. Infection with genital herpes also slightly increased the risk of vulvar cancer.

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,

Studies blow away doubts about passive smoking

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Two medical studies showing that passive smoking increases the risk of heart disease and lung cancer have blown away any lingering doubts about the dangers, the British Medical Association said Friday. “The new evidence published by the British Medical Journal shows that living with a smoker is a major health hazard,” Dr. Bill O’Neill, the science and research adviser for the BMA, said in a statement. “The tobacco industry must now stop its pathetic attempts to evade the evidence and accept that cigarettes not only harm and kill those who smoke them, they harm and kill non-smokers too.” The dangers of involuntary smoking on non-smokers have been known since the early 1960s, but the two latest studies published Friday provide the most definitive results to date and dispel any arguments that excess risk is just chance or due to other factors.

 

Dr. Malcolm Law of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in London analysed 19 published studies involving 6,600 people about the risk of heart disease for a non-smoker living with a smoker. He found that people who have never smoked have an estimated 30 percent greater chance of developing heart disease if they live with a smoker. “This is surprisingly large–almost half the risk of smoking 20 cigarettes per day even though the exposure is only one percent of that of a smoker,” said Law. “Breathing other people’s smoke is an important and avoidable cause of ischemic heart disease, increasing a person’s risk by a quarter,” he added. In a separate study also from the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Allan Hackshaw said 37 studies showed that passive smoking raised a non-smoker’s chance of getting lung cancer by 26 percent.

 

The risk for the non-smoker rose with the number of cigarettes their partner smoked and the number of years they lived together. Hackshaw explained that carcinogens in environmental tobacco smoke are inhaled and passed into the blood. Non smokers who lived with smokers had increased concentrations of tobacco specific carcinogens in blood and urine samples. “It is therefore to be expected that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke causes cancer,” he said.

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,

Bacterial protein improves cancer vaccine

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A non-toxic form the bacterial protein Shiga B-subunit together with tumor associated molecules has been found to stimulate the immune system of mice to attack cancer cells, providing a new approach for improving cancer vaccines. According to a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Immunology, the B-subunit of Shiga toxin binds specifically to receptors found on dendritic cells in vivo and in vitro, and can act as a specific carrier molecule for tumor associated antigens.

 

The combination of the B-subunit and tumor-associated antigens causes dendritic cells to activate tumor-killing white blood cells. “This is an important step forward in the development of a cancer vaccine because the results show that the non-toxic B-subunit fused to tumor associated antigens stimulates cancer-fighting cells in vivo without the need for an adjuvant,” said Eric Tartour at the University Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC; Paris).

 

Adjuvants, which nonspecifically enhance the immune response when injected along with antigen, have been required because immunizing solely with tumor antigens fails to produce a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response, according to Tartour. “The observation that the Shiga B-subunit coupled to tumor associated antigens does not need an adjuvant to produce an effective anti-tumor response reflects the potency of this new approach to tumor vaccines,” he said.

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,

Women Over 70 Benefit From Surgery for Breast Cancer

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Women over 70 years old may be denied life-saving surgery available to younger patients for the treatment of breast cancer, according to representatives of the Cancer Research Campaign in England. Younger women routinely have surgery to remove breast cancer tumors but older patients usually only receive tamoxifen because doctors consider them too frail for surgical intervention, according to the report. A new study called the “Golden Oldies Trial” funded by the CRC shows that older women would enjoy an average of three extra years of life if they received the needed surgery.

 

Researchers from the CRC monitored 455 women, aged 70 and older, with operable breast cancer, dividing the patients into two groups. The first group received tamoxifen alone and the second group received tamoxifen along with surgical intervention. After following the women for 12 years, the researchers found that in the surgery group, 66 out of 225 women were still living, compared to only 43 out of 230 in the non-surgery group.

 

Surgery cut the risk of dying from breast cancer by 10 to 15 percent and extended life expectancy by three years, according to the study. “Part of the reason older women have been denied surgery is that we’ve underestimated their life expectancy and undervalued their lives. A healthy woman of 70 can now expect another 14 years of life, and that’s surely a period that’s worth preserving if we can,” said Professor Mike Baum, team leader of the study. The CRC is calling for Britain’s National Health Service to end the discrimination by providing older patients with the option of having surgery for their breast cancer.

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,

Healthy eating and cancer

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Diana Dwyer is a registered dietician who had breast cancer twice plus another cancer as an infant. She has written a book with the menus and recipes that she follows. The proceeds from the sale of her books are donated to the Diana Dyer Cancer Survivors’ Nutrition and Cancer Reseach Endowment at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) in Washington, DC. to – The proceeds from the sale of her books (A Dietitian’s Cancer Story available in both English and Spanish) etc etc.

 

Her endowment exclusively funds research projects that focus on nutritional strategies after a cancer diagnosis, either during treatment or recovery, which will optimize the chances for long-term survival (ie secondary prevention, not just primary prevention). She hopes her endowment helps to focus national awareness on the nutritional needs of the 8.5 million cancer survivors in the US (22 million world-wide), along with the fact that we deserve science- based answers to help guide our choices of food and dietary supplements that will increase our odds for survival.

 

Incredibly, AICR has determined that only 1-3% of the NCI budget is spent on nutrition related research, in spite of the fact that the development of 35-45% of all cancers are now thought to be related to diet and nutritional intake. Even less is spent on research studying nutrition and cancer survival. She wrote the book to be just what she wished her own cancer center had given her when she finally asked the question “What can I do to help myself?” As such, it has been most rewarding that many cancer centers have already purchased her book in quantity to have available to give patients as an educational resource. That has been her dream for the distribution of her book.

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,

Study Suggests Breast Cancer Is Linked to Use of Antibiotics

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Frequent use of antibiotics has been linked to a greater risk of breast cancer, say researchers who studied thousands of American women and found that those who took the drugs most often had twice the risk of the disease. The study uncovered a relationship between greater use of antibiotics and a heightened risk of breast cancer, but researchers sought to temper their findings by cautioning that they had only highlighted an association, not a causal link. “This is potentially worrisome, but we don’t know why this connection exists, we only have an observation,” said Dr. John D. Potter, director of the division of public health sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and an author of the report. “At the moment, we need to see these results replicated with more research before drawing any conclusions.”

 

The study, published in the latest issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, is now the second to draw a connection between antibiotics and breast cancer. In 2000, scientists in Finland found that women younger than 50 who had taken antibiotics for urinary tract infections also had an elevated risk for getting the disease. But the research had several limitations and left scientists with a number of questions, including whether the phenomenon could be tied to all classes of antibiotics. In the latest study, researchers pored over the medical records of over 10,000 adult women in the state of Washington, including 2,266 with breast cancer. As the number of antibiotic prescriptions a subject had filled went up, they found, her risk for breast cancer climbed.

 

Those who had more than 25 prescriptions over an average of 17 years were twice as likely to get the disease. And women who filled some prescriptions but fewer than 25 had a 50 percent higher risk than those who had not used any. The trend applied to all forms of antibiotics. “It was a dosage-response trend: the higher the usage, the higher the risk,” said Dr. Christine M. Velicer, a research associate at the Group Health Cooperative’s Center for Health Studies and the lead author of the study. “Something appears to be going on here that we need to study further.” The news comes at a time when health officials at the World Health Organization and elsewhere have suggested that antibiotic use has spiraled out of control and could create dire consequences, a warning that the latest findings may help to reinforce.

 

Across the globe, penicillin and other antibiotics that attack bacteria are being prescribed in vain to treat viral diseases that they are useless against. That trend, some researchers say, has led to the emergence of more aggressive bacteria that can resist traditional antibiotics. “It’s well known that there is a tendency to use these drugs against the common cold and other things they’re not effective for,” Dr. Potter said. “What we found should not be used as evidence to base medical or health policy decisions on, but it is a reminder about misusing antibiotics.” What role the drugs play in the onset of cancer, if any, is still open to debate. Dr. Potter said that he suspected they might diminish levels of bacteria in the intestines that help protect the body from cancer. Another theory is that women who use antibiotics more often are naturally predisposed to breast cancer because they have weaker immune systems or hormonal imbalances. At the same time, the study did rule out a number of risk factors commonly associated with the disease, like age, a family history of cancer, and contraceptive use. One expert, Dr. Robert Morgan, a physician at the City of Hope National Cancer Center near Los Angeles, said more research needed to be done to see if the findings bear out. But in the meantime, Dr. Morgan said, it would be a boon to officials trying to persuade doctors and patients not to overuse antibiotics. “It’s going to cause physicians to be more careful about doling out prescriptions,” he said. “But people shouldn’t read too far into this. They still need to take their antibiotics.”

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,

Effects of procyanidins on colon cancer

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Apples may ward off colon cancer Apples contain many beneficial chemicals An apple a day may help to keep bowel cancer at bay, say researchers. The key could be chemicals in the fruit called procyanidins, a team from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research believe. These chemicals were shown to significantly reduce the number of precancerous lesions in lab animals. The research, which could lead to new cancer treatments, was presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Our work suggests that eating the whole apple, including the skin, might offer some anti-cancer benefits. Dr Francis Raul Parallel research suggests the chemicals – one of a class of compounds called polyphenols – work by altering signalling pathways that control the process by which cells commit suicide at the end of their natural life. This process goes awry in cancer cells, leading to uncontrolling division, and the formation of tumours. Lead researcher Dr Francis Raul said: “These studies not only offer insights into the mechanisms of the chemopreventive properties of these polyphenols, they also offer proof of their potential to prevent colon cancer.” Polyphenols of various types are concentrated in the skin of apples.

 

They are antioxidants, preventing molecules called free radicals from inflicting damage on the body’s tissue. Different diets The French researchers split the polyphenols found in apples into two general categories, and exposed cancer cells to each. The first class of monomer polyphenols, which included the flavonoids, failed to have any significant effect at concentrations ranging from 10 to 100 micrograms per millilitre. But the second class, featuring the procyanidins, triggered signals that lead to cell suicide, thus thwarting the growth and spread of cancer. Next, the researchers fed rats who had been injected with a substance known to trigger colon cancer a liquid containing apple-derived procyanidins. After about six weeks on this diet, these rats were found to have about half the number of precancerous lesions in their colons as counterparts on a regular diet. Dr Raul said the results might eventually lead to new treatments to combat tumour growth.

 

He said: “For now, our work suggests that eating the whole apple, including the skin, might offer some anti-cancer benefits. “That is certainly something we can comfortably do without further study.” Another study by American researchers presented at the meeting investigated the effect of eating vegetables on non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a type of lymph cancer. They found that people who consume three or more servings of vegetables per day – not including potatoes – are 40% less at risk of developing the disease than people who eat less than one serving a day.

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , , ,

New Cancer Treatment Breakthrough

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A scientific breakthrough in cancer research has been made by one of Europe’s foremost medical pioneers, Matthias Rath, M.D. Dr. Rath’s research provides evidence that the spread of cancer cells can be inhibited by the use of natural substances. The impact of these natural substances is in stark contrast to synthetic drugs that often bring with them debilitating side effects, and commonly are too specific in physiological focus to achieve overall effect. Dr. Rath and his team of scientists investigated the enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that cancer cells use to digest surrounding connective tissue and spread in the human body.

 

Their research revealed that a specific nutrient combination containing the amino acids L-lysine and L-proline, vitamin C, and a polyphenol fraction from green tea acted as a natural inhibitor of MMPs. Dr. Rath’s approach has been successful where pharmaceutical drugs have failed miserably — an admission even the pharmaceutical industry itself has had to make. In less than one week after Dr. Rath announced his cancer research breakthrough in a public lecture in San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Bernadette Tansey reported in a two-page article in the business section (May 12, 2002) that several synthetic matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors (MMPIs) developed by pharmaceutical companies had had zero effect on cancer metastasis.

 

The demise of these synthetic drugs left Ms. Tansey to conclude that there is no simple answer for cancer. Fortunately for the 1.2 million persons who will develop some form of cancer this year, she is mistaken. Dr. Rath’s natural approach to inhibiting cancer metastasis already has had a number of success stories. This approach is an effective, side-effect free option for stopping the spread of cancer cells naturally.

Filed Under: Cancer Research Institute Tagged With: , , , ,
« Older Posts