Expert Commentary: Dr. Tauseef Ahmed, M.D., April 30, 2009
I think a better term for the therapies recently reported in Cancer Research would be targeted small molecules. Nanoparticles are formulations of various chemotherapeutic drugs that improve the delivery of chemotherapy. The most commonly used nanoparticle medication is nanoparticle bound paclitaxel, sold as Abraxane. This allows this particular chemotherapy to be dissolved in water. This could not be achieved without having tiny particles attached to the molecule.
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Donna Karan to Fund Alternative Cancer Research
The foundation run by fashion designer Donna Karan, founder of the DKNY clothing line, is partnering with Beth Israel Medical Center, in New York City, to test yoga, meditation and aromatherapy treatments against cancer over the course of a year. The alternative approaches will be used to supplement conventional chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Medical staff at Beth Israel will keep close tabs on the results of the Eastern-oriented treatments in order to provide the world with some much-needed empirical evidence of their efficacy or lack thereof.
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Blocking a Protein Halts Tumor Growth
Ovarian tumors seem to thrive in the presence of high levels of a protein known as TG2, short for tissue type transglutaminase. And the more advanced they are, the more TG2 there is. But blocking production of the protein in mice reverses the tumors' growth. In fact, researchers at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center found that ovarian tumors, even in their advanced stages, could be shrunk by an average of 86 percent if a biochemical known as siRNA (a tiny strand of ribonucleic acid incorporated in small fat particles injected intravenously) was used together with the chemotherapy drug docetaxel.
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Radiation Increases Breast Cancer Risk in Some
A study on breast cancer patients has found that those below age 45 who get radiation treatments are far more likely to contract cancer in the other, or contralateral, breast. The risk was discovered to be especially higher in women with breast cancer in their family history. The researchers studied some 7,000 women who had been less than 71 years of age when they were diagnosed. All were one-year survivors of breast cancer, and were treated from 1970-86 in the Netherlands.
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Two Markers Found for Prostate-Cancer Deadliness
Investigators have found that men who are or have been overweight or who have high insulin levels are more likely to die from prostate cancer. The discovery of these two predictors is important, because doctors now have two crucial clues as to which patients will develop the most life-threatening tumors and therefore which to treat most aggressively.
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New Boon for Pancreatic Cancer Patients
A new drug therapy that annihilates the blood vessels that grow to feed malignant tumors is showing considerable promise in increasing the longevity of patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer. Recent research, led by Matthias Löhr of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, shows that a drug called EndoTAG-1 (chemical name: cationic lipid complexed paclitaxel), when infused with gemcitabine, can substantially extend life. In his study involving 200 subjects with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, Löhr treated half of them, the control group, with gemcitabine alone.
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Vitamin C Has Potential to Slow Cancer
An injection of a high dose of vitamin C may be able to impede the growth of cancer, according to US scientists. The journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found vitamin C to halve the size of brain, ovarian, and pancreatic tumors in mice. However, Cancer Research UK says that large vitamin C doses may interfere with other cancer treatment.
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10 Ways to Lower Your Risk of Breast Cancer
Most of the news we hear about breast cancer deals with addressing the disease after it's already been diagnosed. The best treatment for any disease, is through prevention. Here are 10 ways to lower your breast cancer risk. 1. Exercise and be consistant about it. Moderate physical activity, like brisk walking, 3 times a week can reduce a young woman's risk of developing breast cancer by 33%, and the risk of breast cancer after menopause by 26%. 2. If you smoke, quit now. The sooner, the better.
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The Cancer Death Rate Decline Has Doubled
Recent findings in a report published in the latest issue of Cancer shows cancer death rates dropped steadily on average 2.1 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, nearly twice the annual decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 2002. Despite overall higher death rates for men, the declines from 2002 through 2004 were 2.6 percent per year among men and 1.8 percent per year among women. Additionally, death rates decreased for the majority of the top 15 cancers in men and women. The leading causes of cancer in men: lung, prostate, and colorectal cancers experienced noticeable declines. And in women, the death rates from colorectal cancer and breast cancer decreased, with the rate of increase for lung cancer deaths slowing significantly.
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African American Women and Breast Cancer
“I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to see my children grow up and my grandchild grow, you get this really scary feeling inside,” says Rosamond Stallings. When 45 year old Rosamond Stallings was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago, doctors urged her to immediately have a mastectomy. “They found like six malignant tumors,” says Rosamond. Recent studies have shown that 30 percent or more of breast cancer patients fail to receive complete treatment, and that African American women are as much as 10 percent less likely than white women to receive optimal therapy. But now, supported by a $10 million grant from the Department of Defense, a study, led by a team of doctors at Columbia University Medical Center, will look at possible reasons for the disparity.
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