October 3, 2006, 10:28 PM CT
Older Women and Breast Cancer
In an editorial entitled "Treating Breast Cancer: The Age Old Dilemma of Old Age" which appears in the September 20, 2006, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jeanne Mandelblatt, M.D., of Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center calls on doctors treating breast cancer in older women to look beyond the year in which a woman was born and to take into account her overall health, frailty and ability to tolerate various cancer treatment.
"Older women who perceive more ageism in their interaction with providers are less likely to receive radiation or chemotherapy," Mandelblatt wrote.
Women want their physicians to consider their disease, not their birthdays. "In our work with older women, we found that 33 percent would choose chemotherapy if it would extend their lives by 12 or more months," she said.
Older women in good health may do better than younger women in poorer health. "At this time, we do not need more research to document what we already know: older women get less intensive treatment. What we need is an understanding of the biology of cancer in this population [women 65 or older with breast cancer], tools that can help clinicians identify physiological reserve and ability to withstand the rigors of more aggressive treatment, and more consistent elicitation of women's informed preferences".........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink Source
September 25, 2006, 4:44 PM CT
Xeloda And Taxol Metastatic Breast Cancer
Combination of Xeloda and Taxol is an effective therapy for women with metastatic breast cancer. New research from US Oncology Network and the University of North Carolina has recently reported that the combination of Xeloda (capecitabine) and Taxol is an effective and tolerable regimen for initial therapy of women with metastatic breast cancer. Women who were HER-2 negative were not included in the study. This is a phase II study and it is reported in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
In this study the scientists reviewed 55 patients who were newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer. These patients received oral Xeloda and weekly Taxol. Patients who had HER-2 positive tumors were not included in the study.
No patient had a complete response, however percent; of patients achieved a partial response. When stable disease is also taken into account 65 percent of patients derived benefit for the therapy. On average the response lasted for 10 months and median survival was 17 months.
From these findings the scientists have concluded that Xeloda plus Taxol is an effective, well-tolerated, and fairly convenient therapy combination as initial treatment for women with metastatic breast cancer.........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink
September 25, 2006, 5:16 AM CT
When You Find A Mammogram Abnormality
If you get a call from your physician telling you that your mammogram was abnormal, do not panic. Mammogram abnormality does not always represent breast cancer. Now if you have an abnormal mammogram what to do now?
Experts in the field indicate that if an abnormality is detected in the mammogram performing a breast biopsy is the best strategy, for follow up of the abnormality even though there are several other options available.
Breast biopsy is considered to be the standard approach to mammogram abnormality, and recently a report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) compared the effectiveness of biopsy, with four other available options. These options includes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound imaging, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning; and scintimammography.
The report convincingly concludes that biopsy is the gold standard; when it comes to the long-term follow up an abnormality that is detected in the mammogram.
Of course biopsy is more invasive, but is a more accurate test and requires sampling of the breast tissue. The removed tissue is analyzed under the microscope using special stain to determine the presence of malignancy.
The four tests mentioned above were not as accurate as a biopsy. These tests missed between 4 percent and 9 percent of breast cancers in women with average risk. The report also suggest that in higher risk women the miss rate would be even higher. ........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink
September 20, 2006, 8:35 PM CT
More Lymph Nodes The Better
Latest research shows that the more number of lymph nodes removed, the better result with fewer recurrence of breast cancer.
Among women with node-negative breast cancer, those who had fewer than six lymph nodes removed during axillary lymph node dissection were more likely to experience a cancer recurrence than women who had a larger number of nodes removed. These results were reported in the Annals of Oncology.
Axillary lymph node dissection refers to the removal of axillary (underarm) lymph nodes in order to determine whether breast cancer has spread. Understanding the extent to which cancer has spread plays an important part in therapy planning.
Among women with node-negative cancer (cancer that has not spread to lymph nodes), some women will eventually experience a cancer recurrence. In order to better predict risk of recurrence, scientists are evaluating the relationships between tumor and therapy characteristics and patient outcomes.
In order to determine whether the number of lymph nodes removed during axillary lymph node dissection influences subsequent risk of recurrence, scientists in Spain conducted a study among 1606 women with node-negative breast cancer. All of the women had undergone axillary lymph node dissection. The number of lymph nodes removed ranged from one to 54. Half the women had more than 12 nodes removed.........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink Source
September 15, 2006, 2:18 PM CT
Which Breast Cancer patient To Get Chemo
Now there is a new test to determine if a breast cancer patient would benefit from chemotherapy. This test which measures the amounts of two members of the same protein family helps identify breast cancer patients who will likely benefit from chemotherapy and those who won't, as per researchers.
The test is known as OncoPlanTM and this test is now commercially available. Clinical trials have shown that it can predict the aggressiveness of the patient's tumor and the relative risk of disease recurrence following surgery in breast, colon and gastric cancers. Now, scientists in the U.S. and Canada have studied whether it also can help identify patients with breast cancer who would benefit most from chemotherapy.
Results were presented at the first meeting on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, organized by the American Association for Cancer Research.
OncoPlan measures two forms of Shc protein, which are known to drive the formation of protein complexes involved in signal transduction pathways and have been found to be involved in many of the pathways important to development of aggressive cancer. These two forms have a "push pull" relationship with each other: tyrosine-phosphorylated (PY)-Shc helps drive these dangerous cell pathways, but p66 Shc, after initial stimulation, works to inhibit the very growth pathway the other Shc proteins promote.........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink Source
September 14, 2006, 9:05 PM CT
Early Metastasis Of Breast Cancer
[imgl]/images/blog/metastasis-23160.jpg[/imgl]In the U.S., a novel technology soon may be available to detect the spread, or metastasis, of breast cancer earlier than now possible, as per research presented at the first international meeting on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, organized by the American Association for Cancer Research.
Since secondary tumors, ignited by spreading cancerous cells, and not the primary breast cancer tumor, are the primary cause of cancer death, early detection of metastatic spread is crucial to a woman's prognosis.
It should enable the patient's doctor to adjust the woman's therapy so that it will target the spreading cancer early, said Winfried H. Albert, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of AdnaGen, the German biotech company that developed the technology.
Albert said that the company's diagnostic tool, which is being reviewed in clinical studies at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, can spot one cancerous cell in a typical blood sample. A typical sample is 5 milliliters and contains over 2.5 x 1010 cells.
As a biomarker for breast cancer metastasis, cancer cells circulating in the blood system have not been easy to detect and analyze because they are a "needle in the haystack" among the millions of cells in the bloodstream.........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink Source
September 9, 2006, 8:55 AM CT
Breaking Down The Barriers
Dione Farria, M.D. (left), studies patient radiological images with resident Jennifer Demertzis, M.D
Eventhough breast cancer is more common among white women, African-American women are far more likely to die of the disease.
What accounts for this fundamental racial imbalance? Dione Farria, M.D., knows all too well: African-American women are less likely to get mammograms that can detect breast cancer early when it is more easily treated.
Socioeconomic influences such as limited access to health care, mistrust of the health-care system and the lack of health insurance, both for screening and therapy, play a major role in this disparity.
For Farria, the inequity in breast cancer deaths has been a personal call to action. A radiologist who specializes in breast imaging, she is one of the rare few in the field who also holds a master's degree in public health. Her work to improve the quality of health care for people in less privileged segments of society helps Farria understand the barriers to cancer screening in a way that most radiologists don't.
"Mammography screening for breast cancer is a huge public health issue," says Farria, assistant professor of radiology. "In parts of St. Louis City and North St. Louis County, we see twice as much advanced breast cancer than would be expected.
"A number of of these women are not aware of their breast cancer risk or are fearful of getting a mammogram. Those are precisely the women we are trying to reach."........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink Source
August 28, 2006, 4:40 AM CT
Bisphenol A And Breast Cancer
Bisphenol A, a common industrial chemical claimed to speed the growth of human breast and ovary cancers, retains its carcinogenic properties even after being modified by body processes, report Indiana University and University of California at Berkeley researchers in the Aug. 28th issue of Chemistry and Biology, a Cell Press journal.
Defenders of bisphenol A's use have argued that its natural modification inside the human body renders the estrogen-like chemical harmless.
"We tested whether this chemical modification -- the addition of sulfate to BPA -- keeps the chemical from being absorbed by breast tumor cells," said IU Bloomington biochemist Theodore Widlanski, who led the project. "We've shown that modified versions of bisphenol A likely to be formed in the body do stimulate breast tumor cell growth in vitro. Enzymes present on the surface of breast tumor cells appear to convert the modified BPA back into BPA".
BPA is a plasticizer present at low levels in mineral water bottles, CDs and DVDs, car parts and other household products. A recent U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention study found trace amounts of BPA in 95 percent of urine samples collected from American adults.
The scientists present a model for the selective uptake of BPA into breast cancer cells by implicating human enzymes that sulfate and de-sulfate BPA.........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink Source
August 27, 2006, 7:02 PM CT
Tricking Cancer Cell To Self-destruction
Scientists have found a way to trick cancer cells into committing suicide. The novel technique potentially offers an effective method of providing personalized anti-cancer therapy.
Most living cells contain a protein called procaspase-3, which, when activated, changes into the executioner enzyme caspase-3 and initiates programmed cell death, called apoptosis. In cancer cells, however, the signaling pathway to procaspase-3 is broken. As a result, cancer cells escape destruction and grow into tumors.
"We have identified a small, synthetic compound that directly activates procaspase-3 and induces apoptosis," said Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and corresponding author of a paper to be posted online this week ahead of regular publication by the journal Nature Chemical Biology. "By bypassing the broken pathway, we can use the cells' own machinery to destroy themselves".
To find the compound, called procaspase activating compound one (PAC-1), Hergenrother, with colleagues at the U. of I., Seoul National University, and the National Center for Toxicological Research, screened more than 20,000 structurally diverse compounds for the ability to change procaspase-3 into caspase-3.
The researchers tested the compound's efficacy in cell cultures and in three mouse models of cancer. The testing was performed in collaboration with William Helferich, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the U. of I., and Myung-Haing Cho at Seoul National University. The researchers also showed that PAC-1 killed cancer cells in 23 tumors obtained from a local hospital.........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink Source
August 22, 2006, 7:15 PM CT
Push For Breast Cancer Cure
Four men are testing their physical and mental as they skate board 8000 kilometers across Canada to raise awareness and raise funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Read the story of these brave men.
We're still out here! And we're really covering some ground. Shattering records left right and centre! We actually covered 125k each day three days running. WILD. Never imagined we'd be doing these distances. Really, we're skating so much - the Prairies have been crazy that way. Yesterday we did over 120k again with 15+ hours of skating. Unbelieveable. We're also starting to see some rolling terrain - saw the first hill in ages last night - pretty measley but still a welcome site. The Prairies have really been a treat - their tremendous sunsets are undescribable and they seem to last forever. I forgot how beautiful they could be.
Regina was our home on the weekend and the city really treated us well. We spent two nights there, did some fundraising and had great media coverage - print, radio and TV. So much so that we were recognized everywhere as we continued on our journey West. We were also fortunate to have CBC stop us on the highway yesterday to do a quick story.
Currently, we're on the road to Swift Current and spent last night in the town of Mortlach. Lovely place - a one stop sign kind of town. The Cooks family took us in last night and were gracious enough to let us park in their drive way and plug in for the night. They also treated us to a great breakfast this morning and stocked us with some steaks and produce from their garden - were looking forward to a delicious dinner tonight! Really a sweet family, cool folks, we're ever grateful!........
Posted by: Betsy Permalink Source
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