Bald men `more prone to developing prostrate cancer`

Bald men may be more at risk of developing prostate cancer, a new research has revealed.

Researchers found that men who underwent prostate biopsies were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer if they had lost significant amounts of hair.



The reasons why are not clear, but researchers think it may be connected to higher levels of testosterone, the hormone which can trigger the development of cancerous cells but also inhibit hair growth.

Dr Neil Fleshner, who led the study at the University of Toronto, said that although the findings need to be replicated in further research, they could sound an alarm bell for men with receding hair lines.

“The more bald men were, the more likely they were to have prostate cancer,” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

“Bald men should be aware that they may benefit from being screened earlier and perhaps, if necessary, from being biopsied sooner,” he said.

However, since the results come from a relatively small study, involving just 214 men, it does not prove that baldness actually triggers cancer.

Nearly 32,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK and 10,000 men die from it - the equivalent of more than one an hour.

The researchers recruited 214 men aged between 59 and 70 who had been referred for a biopsy as they had raised levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), a marker in the blood that hints at an increased risk of cancer.

They judged baldness on a four-point scale, beginning with slight hair loss at the front of the scalp, up to severe loss on the top and sides.

The findings, presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Atlanta, Georgia, exemplified that the more severe a man’s balding pattern, the more likely he was to have a tumour.

The results corroborates a 2010 study which showed that bald men are also more at risk of another prostate condition, called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH.

This is where the prostate becomes enlarged, usually as a result of the ageing process, until it presses on the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body.

The initial sign of the condition, which affects around 2.5million men in the UK, is usually trouble in passing urine, or difficulty starting even when the bladder is full.

Untreated BPH can cause kidney damage if it becomes impossible to urinate. It can also lead to bladder stones, depression and daytime tiredness due to constant broken sleep.

High levels of testosterone are thought to be a major factor by stimulating the growth of abnormally high numbers of prostate cells.

But in baldness, high testosterone levels have an adverse affect on the hair follicles, acting on a hormone receptor on the hair follicle to slow down hair production.

Spanish scientists found that men who went bald in their twenties and thirties had larger prostate volume and reduced urinary flow - two key signs that BPH is developing - compared to men who had not suffered hair loss.

Moderate weight loss cuts breast cancer risk

Even a moderate amount of weight loss can considerably reduce levels of circulating estrogens, which are linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, according to a new study.

Research showed that overweight women who shed 5 per cent of their body weight are up to 50 per cent less likely to have the disease.

Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre conducted the first randomized, controlled clinical trial to test the effects of weight loss on sex hormones in overweight and obese postmenopausal women, a group at elevated risk for breast cancer.

"Based on previous research, our results suggest that losing just 5 percent or more of one`s weight could cut by a quarter to a half the risk for the most common, estrogen-sensitive breast cancers," said McTiernan, director of the Hutchinson Centre’s Prevention Centre and a member of its Public Health Sciences Division.

However, McTiernan insists that these findings only apply to overweight or obese women who are not taking hormone-replacement therapy.

Epidemiologists have long noted an association between obesity and increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

A relationship between body fat and estrogen formation is thought to contribute to this risk.

The study was based on data from 439 overweight-to-obese, sedentary, Seattle-area women, aging between 50 to 75, who were randomly assigned to one of four groups.

These groups were, exercise only (mainly brisk walking), diet only, exercise plus diet and no intervention.

By the end of the study, participants on the diet-only and diet-plus-exercise regimen lost an average of 10 percent of their starting weight, which was the goal of the intervention.

The study measured the effects of diet- and exercise-related weight loss on blood levels of several types of sex hormones, including three forms of estrogen (estrone, estradiol and free estradiol); two types of testosterone (total testosterone and free testosterone); a steroid necessary for the production of sex hormones (androstenedione) and sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG, a protein that binds to sex hormones and therefore makes them biologically less active.

High levels of SHBG are associated with reduced breast cancer risk. Free estradiol and free testosterone are forms of the hormones that are not bound to SHBG and therefore are more biologically active.

At the end of the study, the researchers discovered significant reductions in hormone levels among the women who received the dietary weight loss intervention, with the most striking results among those who both dieted and exercised.

The study found that Estrone levels decreased 9.6 percent with diet and 11.1 percent with diet plus exercise.

Estradiol levels reduced 16.2 percent with diet and 20.3 percent with diet plus exercise.

Besides this, free-estradiol levels decreased 21.4 percent with diet and 26 percent with diet plus exercise.

SHBG levels increased 22.4 percent with diet and 25.8 percent with diet plus exercise.

While free-testosterone levels decreased 10 percent with diet and 15.6 percent with diet plus exercise.

The researchers found that losing as little as 5 percent of one`s total body weight had a advantageous impact on hormone levels, and the effect increased with the amount of weight lost.

"The amount of weight lost was key to changes in hormone levels," McTiernan said.

"The biggest effect was through diet plus exercise; exercise by itself didn`t produce much of a change in weight or estrogen,” she said.

She also revealed that exercise has many important profits for those on a weight-loss program. Exercise prevents loss of muscle and bone, and it helps keep off the weight long term.

"I recommend women both diet and exercise, because in the long run that should help keep weight down and therefore keep estrogens down," she said.

McTiernan claimed that this is the first study to show that losing weight through a healthy diet that included reducing calories, reducing fat and increasing vegetables, fruits and fiber significantly lowers blood estrogen levels in postemenopausal women.

"This shows that it`s never too late to make lifestyle changes to reduce your risk for breast cancer," she added.

The results of the research could also be relevant to overweight women, who take breast cancer prevention drugs such as tamoxifen, raloxifene and exemestane, which either block the action of estrogen or stop its production.

This study has been published in the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Secret to breast milk’s anti-cancer activity revealed

The role of breast milk in protection against various forms of cancer has been known, but what makes it do so has remained a mystery.

Now, a new study has found high levels of cancer-fighting TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) in human milk, which might be one source of breast milk’s anticancer activity.

Researchers took samples of colostrum, the first milk available to newborns, and of mature breast milk from new mothers. Researchers then obtained samples of blood from healthy women, and various ready-to-feed infant formulas.

The colostrum, mature breast milk, blood and formula were then all tested to measure their level of TRAIL.

The researchers found that colostrum and breast milk contained 400- and 100-fold, respectively, higher levels of TRAIL than blood. No TRAIL was detected in the formula.
“The important role of breastfeeding in the prevention of certain childhood cancers, such as lymphoblastic leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, and neuroblastoma, has been previously demonstrated,” the researchers wrote.

“However, endogenous soluble TRAIL represents a strong candidate to explain the overall biological effect of breastfeeding against cancer,” they stated.

Mothers chosen to participate in the study were eligible because they exhibited no signs of eclampsia, infection, or fever, and delivered healthy newborns at term.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time that TRAIL has been measured in colostrum and human breast milk. This study has revealed much higher TRAIL concentrations in colostrum and breast milk compared to the levels of circulating serum TRAIL,” the researchers concluded.

The study appeared in the Journal of Human Lactation published by SAGE.

Faulty gene spikes prostate cancer risk in men

A faulty gene that increases breast cancer risk in women also quadruples the chances of prostate cancer among men, says a recent study.

"Until now, there has been some doubt as to whether mutations in the BRCA1 gene increase the risk of prostate cancer," said Ros Eeles, professor at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, who conducted the research.

"Our study has shown that men with prostate cancer have a one in 200 chance of having an alteration of this gene and men with this alteration have a 3.8 fold increased risk of developing the disease," said Eeles, the British Journal of Cancer reports.

Men carrying a faulty BRCA1 gene have a one in 11 chance of developing prostate cancer by 65 years, the study said. The faulty gene seemed to be tied to a particularly aggressive form of cancer making early detection and treatment vital, according to the Telegraph.
In breast cancer, BRCA1 increases the chances of developing the disease five-fold, giving them a six in 10 chance of breast cancer compared with a one in eight chance for healthy women. It has led some women with the faulty gene to have pre-emptive mastectomy rather than live with high risk of breast cancer.

Emma Malcolm, chief executive of the charity Prostate Action, which co-funded the study, said: "Early detection of prostate cancer can vastly improve the chances of successful treatment but at the moment there is no effective way of screening the disease."

New imaging technique to detect cancer?

A new imaging technique developed at the University of Oxford may be able to detect cancers that have spread to the brain even when tumours are small.

The study, carried out on mice, investigated a new `dye` that shows up in MRI scans, a university release said.

The scientists showed that the dye, or contrast agent, recognises and sticks to a molecule called VCAM-1.

This molecule is present in large amounts on blood vessels associated with cancer that has spread to the brain from other parts of the body.

MRI scans show the distribution of the dye in the brain, enabling much smaller tumours to be detected than can be done using current techniques.

Small tumours can be treated with whole brain radiotherapy or surgery, and there are new chemotherapy treatments in development.

But currently, it is only possible to detect larger secondary brain tumours, and these are more difficult to treat, the release added.

Lead researcher Dr Nicola Sibson of the Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology at the University of Oxford said: "We urgently need to find ways to diagnose these cancers at an earlier stage to improve survival rates. Our research suggests a new possible approach to do just this."

"The next stage is to build on these results and carry out clinical trials. If successful, we hope that early detection using this technique could increase the number of available treatment options for these patients," Sibson added.

Dr Julie Sharp, Cancer Research UK`s senior science information manager, said: "This exciting discovery reveals that a single protein could enable doctors to literally paint a picture with a medical dye to detect cancer that has spread to the brain, at a very early stage, when treatment has a greater chance of being successful."

Coke, Pepsi alter drink recipe to avoid cancer warning

Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc are changing the way they make the caramel coloring used in their sodas as a result of a California law that mandates drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label.


The companies said the changes will be expanded nationally to streamline their manufacturing processes. The changes have already been made for drinks sold in California.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for almost 90 percent of the soda market, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest. A representative for Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc said all its caramel coloring now meet the new California standard.

The American Beverage Association, which represents the broader industry, said its member companies will continue to use caramel coloring in certain products but that adjustments were made to meet California`s new standard.

"Consumers will notice no difference in our products and have no reason at all for any health concerns," the association said in a statement.

A representative for Coca-Cola, Diana Garza-Ciarlante, said the company directed its caramel suppliers to modify their manufacturing processes to reduce the levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, which can be formed during the cooking process and as a result may be found in trace amounts in many foods.

"While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning," Garza-Ciarlante said in an email.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, in February filed a petition with the US Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of ammonia-sulfite caramel coloring.

A spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration said the petition is being reviewed.

But he noted that a consumer would have to drink more than 1,000 cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered that have shown links to cancer in rodents.

The American Beverage Association noted that California added the coloring to its list of carcinogens with no studies showing that it causes cancer in humans. It noted that the listing was based on a single study in lab mice and rats.

Estrogen lowers breast cancer risk in some women

Women who take estrogen after menopause appear to have a lower risk of breast cancer even years after they quit taking the hormone, according to a new analysis of a landmark study.

The results are reassuring news for women who have had hysterectomies and use the pills to relieve hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause, the researchers and other doctors say. Previous observational studies have suggested a possible connection between estrogen and breast cancer.

The new research found women who had a hysterectomy who took estrogen-only pills for about six years were about 20 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who didn`t take the hormone, and the benefit lasted for at least five years. The study was published online Wednesday in the journal, Lancet Oncology.

"If women are suffering from serious menopause symptoms and have had a hysterectomy, then estrogen alone is a reasonable approach," said Garnet Anderson, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and the study`s lead author.

Doctors have long prescribed hormones for women after menopause to relieve symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats. The pills were also believed to be good for bones, the heart and have other health benefits.

In the 1990s, researchers began a large, U.S. funded study, known as the Women`s Health Initiative, looking at the effects of estrogen-progestin combination pills and estrogen-only therapies. The estrogen-progestin part of the study was stopped in 2002 when the combo pill was linked to higher risks for heart attacks and breast cancer. In 2004, the estrogen study was halted after researchers detected stroke and blood clot risks in that group.

Those results shook up conventional wisdom about hormone replacement therapies and led women to stop taking them in droves. Now the advice is to take the hormones to relieve symptoms at the lowest dose possible for the shortest amount of time because of the potential risks.

Estrogen-only pills are recommended for the approximately 25 percent of women in menopause who have had hysterectomies. Other women are prescribed the combo pill: estrogen alone can raise their risk of cancer of the uterus.

In the new analysis, Anderson and colleagues tracked more than 7,600 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 who had a hysterectomy. Roughly half took estrogen while the other half took placebo pills for about six years. Most women in both groups had yearly mammograms. The women were followed for about 12 years.

In the group that took estrogen, there were 151 cases of breast cancer versus 199 in those on fake pills. That amounted to a 23 percent lower risk of cancer, researchers said.

In women who developed breast cancer, there were six deaths among those who had taken estrogen compared to 16 in those who took placebos. The lower risk of breast cancer didn`t apply to women with a family history of the disease or those who previously had benign breast lumps.

Doctors said women should not take estrogen to lower their breast cancer risk since the hormone comes with slightly higher chances of stroke and blood clots. Research published last year found those problems appeared to fade after women stopped taking the pills.

"Estrogen on its own appears to be safe," said Dr. Anthony Howell, professor of medical oncology at the University of Manchester, who co-authored a commentary in journal.

Scientists aren`t sure why estrogen appeared to lower the risk of breast cancer, but Howell said altering the amount of estrogen in the body might help stop tumor growth, since fluctuating levels could interfere with tumor development.

Other experts weren`t convinced. "It`s inconsistent with the totality of evidence that finds estrogen increases breast cancer risk," said Valerie Beral, director of the cancer epidemiology unit at Oxford University. She said the analysis was a subset of a larger trial that wasn`t designed to specifically look at breast cancer.

"If you want to take hormone replacement therapy, estrogen-only has a much lesser effect on breast cancer than with progestin," she said. "But to say it protects against breast cancer is wrong."

Dr. Peter Bowen-Simpkins, medical director of the London Women`s Clinic and a spokesman for Britain`s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said the study was still reassuring news for women who had hysterectomies seeking relief from menopausal symptoms.

"A lot of their suffering could be spared," he said.

Breast cancer kills older women more often

Breast cancer is often considered more deadly among younger women, but a new study shows older women are actually more likely to die of the disease.


Researchers found that among women who had been diagnosed with a certain type of breast cancer, those over 75 years old were 63 percent more likely to die of the cancer than women younger than 65.

"I suspect it`s undertreatment," said Dr. Stephen Jones, one of the authors of the study and the medical director at US Oncology Research in Texas. "We did show the rates of chemotherapy and radiation therapy are less in the older group."

Jones and his colleagues tracked nearly 10,000 women who had already gone through menopause and who had been diagnosed with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

That is the most common type of the disease, and it is considered less dangerous than the hormone receptor-negative types because it is often slower growing and might respond to hormone treatments.

Younger women are more likely than older women to have the receptor-negative cancer and they also tend to get diagnosed at a later stage, leading to the idea that breast cancer is more deadly for them.

In this study, the researchers found that five out of every 100 women who were diagnosed under age 65 and six out of every 100 women diagnosed between 65 and 74 years old died from breast cancer within five years.

Among women over age 75 at the time of their diagnosis, eight out of every 100 died from the cancer.

The team isn`t sure how to account for the gap, but Dr. Hyman Muss of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, agreed with Jones.

"What`s different in older women is they tend to get lesser and poorer treatment," said Muss, who was not involved in the new study.

About one in eight American women will get breast cancer at some point in their life, but less than a fourth of them will die from it.

Breast cancer can be treated with a combination of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal medications.

Nearly all the women in the study went through surgery, but just half of the women over age 75 had radiation, and just five percent had chemotherapy.

In comparison, 75 percent of women under age 65 received radiation and 51 percent had chemotherapy.

"There are beliefs that older women do not benefit from chemotherapy as much as younger women, and that the side effects are worse," said Dr. Gerrit-Jan Liefers, a researcher at Leiden University Medical Centre in The Netherlands who also worked on the study.

He added that the patients themselves may also be more hesitant to treat their cancer aggressively.

A recent study found that, while the rates of breast cancer deaths have been slowing, older women have had smaller gains than younger women (see Reuters Health report of November 11, 2011).

Those authors also attribute the differences in part to less aggressive treatment in older women.

"You don`t want to treat older women so aggressively that you actually cause more problems from the treatment than from the disease," Dr. Benjamin Smith from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who worked on that study, told Reuters Health in November.

Muss said it`s possible to overtreat elderly patients, but otherwise healthy women in their 70s would likely benefit from chemotherapy.

"We need to teach doctors not to think of a person`s chronologic age, but think of their functional age," Muss said.

Liefers said clinicians badly need a tool that can help them better calculate the optimal treatment for older women.

His findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also showed that as women got older, the chances of dying from something other than their breast cancer increased dramatically.

The encouraging finding for women of all age groups is that the vast majority will survive their cancer, Jones pointed out.

"The overall death rates are pretty low," he told Reuters Health. "I think that`s a good message."

Now, a vaccine to treat breast cancer!

In what`s being claimed a medical breakthrough, scientists say they have developed a vaccine to treat breast cancer, using a patient`s own cells.

An international team says that tests on women revealed "promising" results, with 85 per cent of the patients with a ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the most common non-invasive form of the disease, showing protection after four years.

In fact, in their tests, the scientists, led by the University of Pennsylvania, enrolled 27 women patients and isolated specialised white cells using standard techniques similar to blood donation.

The cells were manipulated in the laboratory to allow the immune system to recognise the cancerous cells as foreign and attack them. Each patient received four weekly injections of their personalised vaccine and had surgery two weeks later to remove any remaining disease.
The scientists compared pre-vaccination samples with post-vaccination samples and found five patients, almost 20 per cent, had no disease visible, indicating their immune
system had wiped out the tumour.

Of the remaining 22, damaging proteins had been eliminated in 11 and reduced by 20 per cent or more in another two, `The Daily Telegraph` reported.

"We are continuing to see this pattern in our second, ongoing trial," team leader Dr Brian Czerniecki said.

The scientists say the results provide new evidence therapeutic breast cancer vaccines may be most effective for early, localised disease, and when the treatment goes after a
protein critical to cancer cell survival.

Dr Czerniecki said: "I think these data more than prove that vaccination works in situations where the target is right. Previous vaccines targeted tissue antigens that were
expressed on the cancer cells, but were not necessary for tumour survival.

"So a vaccine response would cause the tumour to just stop expressing the antigen and the tumour would be fine. Here we are going after HER2/neu, which is critical for survival of early breast cancers. If we knock it out with the immune response, we cripple the tumour cells."

The findings have been published in the `Journal of Immunotherapy`.

Negative friends may cause cancer: Study

Choose your friends wisely, they may make or break you, says an old adage. Now, scientists have backed it after finding link between toxic relationship and a host of illnesses such as cancer, depression and heart attack.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles found that negative social interactions can lead to increased inflammation, which may in turn cause a host of illnesses from cancer to heart disease and high blood pressure.

"We wanted to see how mental states such as optimism, or social relationships such as competition, get under the skin," study co-author Shelley Taylor, a social neuroscientist at the UCLA School of Medicine, was quoted as saying by ScienceNews.

For their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, Taylor and colleagues looked at the relationship between day-to-day stress and two proteins that trigger inflammation in the body, called pro-inflammatory cytokines.
The researchers asked 122 young, healthy adults to keep a diary of all positive and negative social interactions for eight days, as well as descriptions of any incidents that involved competition.

"We picked young adults with no history of heart disease or inflammation disorders or depression because we wanted to look at the biological processes in a population that was
healthy," Taylor said.

Several days later, they swabbed the volunteers` inner cheeks for fluid samples.

Analyses revealed that the people with the most negative social interactions recorded in their diaries, and those who reported stressful competition in work or academic pursuits,
had substantially higher levels of one of the inflammatory proteins, TNF receptor 2, than did those who recorded fewer such incidents.

People reporting stressful competition for another`s attention had high concentrations of the other inflammatory protein, interleukin-6.

The volunteers then underwent a stressful 25-minute test in which they did arithmetic calculations in their heads and gave a brief speech in front of strangers.

After this test, people who had had the most negative interactions earlier in the week again showed high levels of the inflammatory proteins.

The link between short-term stress and revved-up inflammation could have an evolutionary basis, said Nicolas Rohleder, a psychologist at Brandeis University in the US who wasn`t part of the study team.

"As early humans, we had to fight for our lives – fight or flight," he said.

Inflammation has a useful short-term role in fending off pathogens, so triggering inflammation as a response to stress may have been a way the body fended off infections caused by those encounters, which often resulted in some form of injury, he said. "Humans are not really running away now."

So reduced stress -- and therefore less inflammation -- may be one of the mechanisms that links social support with health outcomes, Taylor said. "Relationships are vital to health, like your diet," she added.

Natural formula’ offers hope to treat prostate cancer

An all-natural, doctor-designed formula that combines botanical extracts, phytonutrients, botanically enhanced medicinal mushrooms, and antioxidants shows promise to fight aggressive prostate cancer tumours, researchers say.

A xenograft model is when tissue or organs from an individual of one species are transplanted or grafted onto an organism of another species, genus, or family. So human prostate cancer cells (tissue) are grafted onto a laboratory animal, which in this case were mice.

Lead investigator, Dr. Daniel Sliva presented the results of this in vivo (live animal) study, demonstrating the significant effects of the formula in suppressing the proliferation and metastasis of human hormone refractory (androgen independent) prostate cancer cells.

In addition, the toxicology analysis proved that this formula is non-toxic and poses no risk of side effects.

“Dietary supplements are used as an alternative or adjuvant therapies. However, rigorous scientific verification of their biological activity in vitro and in vivo is necessary for the acceptance of dietary supplements in conventional cancer treatment and prevention,” said Dr. Sliva.

This in vivo study is significant because hormone refractory prostate cancer (androgen independent) is especially hard to treat.

It’s the more aggressive, advanced form of prostate cancer that often leads to metastasis and progression of the cancer.

The ingredients were selected based on scientific research demonstrating their abilities to fight prostate abnormalities and provide broad-spectrum prostate support.

Results of the study showed that the oral administration of this formula produced a statistically significant suppression of tumour growth, compared to controls.

In addition to a significant reduction in tumour volume, results of this study showed the formula also worked to inhibit a number of genes involved in cancer proliferation and metastasis.

“In summary, this dietary supplement is a natural compound for the possible therapy of human hormone refractory (independent) prostate cancer,” added Dr. Sliva.

Gene causing lung cancer identified

A gene responsible for lung cancer has been identified by scientists here.

Cancer stem cells or tumor-initiating cells (TIC) are responsible for tumor growth, Xinhua reported quoting the researchers. The scientists found a marker, known as CD166, to identify these cells.

The research team, led by Bing Lim, associate director of cancer stem cell biology at the Genome Institute of Singapore, and Elaine Lim, medical oncologist affiliated with Tan Tock Seng Hospital and National Cancer Centre Singapore, discovered several genes that were important for the growth of cancer cells.

They discovered that in abnormal instances when the level of a metabolic enzyme known as glycine decarboxylase rises significantly, it causes changes in the behaviour of the cell, making it cancerous.
The glycine decarboxylase is a normal occurring enzyme in cells, present in small quantities.

The finding, reported in the online issue of Cell Jan 5, is believed to be a huge step towards finding a cure for the disease.

Cure cancer in just two hours

A radioactive "paste" could cure skin cancer in just two hours, say researchers.

It can destroy tumours caused by skin cancers without surgery or conventional radiotherapy.

The treatment, however, is not suitable for malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Experts say there are minimal side effects and the treatment does not even leave a scar, the Daily Mail reported Friday.

The breakthrough therapy, which has been used on 700 patients in Italy with a success rate of up to 95 percent, could be available in Britain within two years.

The new technique can treat basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. These cancers affect 100,000 people in Britain every year, the newspaper said.

The vast majority of those who suffer the less dangerous forms have surgery to remove the affected tissue.

Other treatments include radiotherapy and "freezing" of the tumours if they are small and superficial.

But an estimated three percent of patients have deep tumours that are difficult to remove surgically because they are on sensitive areas such as the eyes, nose or ears. Others cannot have surgery due to age or medical conditions.
These patients are given radiotherapy that often results in serious side-effects.

For the new technique, Italian researchers harnessed rhenium-188, a radioactive isotope that was previously rare and expensive.

But now it is being supplied in quantities large enough to treat thousands of patients a week by nuclear physicists at the British-funded Institut Laue-Langevin in France.

The treatment, which is said to be painless, involves putting a piece of surgical foil on the tumour area, painting on the radioactive paste and removing it one or two hours later.

Researchers believe that the radiation causes healthy skin to re-grow, so there is no scarring.

In the Italian trial, 85 percent of patients were cured after one treatment and up to 95 percent after three treatments.

Oliver Buck, chief executive of the German technology firm ITM which developed the therapy, said: "This means that patients with large and difficult-to-treat tumours not only have hope but keep their quality of life under what would otherwise be dire conditions."

Trials are now being held in Germany and Australia, and Buck believes the treatment could be licensed in Britain within two years.

Soy may not protect against stomach cancer

Estrogen-like compounds that come with a soy-rich diet are sometimes linked to a reduced risk of cancer, but new research from Japan suggests that protection doesn`t extend to stomach cancer.

In a study that tried to tease apart the effects of isoflavones -- also known as phytoestrogens -- found in soy, and other nutrients, like salt, Japanese researchers found no difference in gastric cancer risk between people who consumed a lot of isoflavones and those who consumed the least.

Azusa Hara and her colleagues from the National Cancer Center in Tokyo examined data on about 85,000 people in an existing Japanese study.

The researchers estimated how much isoflavone the study`s participants ate from a list of questions they had answered in the 1990s, then followed the subjects until the end of 2006 to see how many developed stomach cancer.

During the follow-up period, approximately 1,250 of the study`s participants got stomach cancer, but the researchers saw no difference in risk between those who ate the most isoflavone and those who ate the least.

According to Dr. Richard Peek, director of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, estrogen is thought to protect against stomach cancer because the disease is much more common in men, at least until women are post-menopausal -- hinting that younger women`s higher estrogen levels might be protecting them.

Peek said there are also studies on mice that suggest estrogen protects against stomach cancer.

The Japanese team, however, found an increase in stomach cancer risk among women taking hormone therapy who ate the most isoflavone-laden food, compared to those who ate the least.

The women in the study on hormone therapy were more likely to smoke, drink and have a family history of stomach cancer, the researchers note, which could explain the link.

Hara and her colleagues wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that their results are limited by the use of their questionnaire and the fact that they could not account for whether the subjects were also infected with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which is also linked to increased stomach cancer risk.

Still another well-known risk factor for gastric cancers is high salt intake.

According to the American Cancer Society, a person in the United States has a one in 114 chance of developing stomach cancer. An estimated 21,500 Americans were diagnosed with it in 2011 and an estimated 10,500 died from it.

Stomach cancers were once the leading cause of cancer deaths in the US until 1930.

"One of the reasons for decline is that people have fridges now, and they use less salt preservatives," said Khaldoun Almhanna, a medical oncologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.

Meditation improves breast cancer survivors’ emotional well-being

Mindfulness-based meditation plays a vital role in improving breast cancer survivors’ health challenges, which they face after treatments, a new study has revealed.

Yaowarat Matchim, a former nursing doctoral student; Jane Armer, professor of nursing and Bob Stewart, professor emeritus of education and adjunct faculty in nursing, found that breast cancer survivors’ health improved after they learned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a type of mindfulness training that incorporates meditation, yoga and physical awareness.

“MBSR is another tool to enhance the lives of breast cancer survivors,” Armer said.

“Patients often are given a variety of options to reduce stress, but they should choose what works for them according to their lifestyles and belief systems.”

The MBSR program consists of group sessions throughout a period of eight to ten weeks. During the sessions, participants practice meditation skills, discuss how bodies respond to stress and learn coping techniques.

The researchers found that survivors who learned MBSR lowered their blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate. In addition, participants’ mood improved, and their level of mindfulness increased after taking the class. Armer says, for best results, participants should continue MBSR after the class ends to maintain the positive effects.

“Mindfulness-based meditation, ideally, should be practiced every day or at least on a routine schedule,” Armer said. “MBSR teaches patients new ways of thinking that will give them short- and long-term benefits.”

Armer says the non-pharmaceutical approach works best as a complement to other treatment options such as chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

“Post diagnosis, breast cancer patients often feel like they have no control over their lives,” Armer said.

“Knowing that they can control something—such as meditation—and that it will improve their health, gives them hope that life will be normal again.”

The study has been published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research.

Avastin disappoints against ovarian cancer

Avastin, the blockbuster drug that just lost approval for treating breast cancer, now looks disappointing against ovarian cancer, too. Two studies found it did not improve survival for most of these patients and kept their disease from worsening for only a few months, with more side effects.

The Genentech drug won approval in Europe last week for advanced ovarian cancer. But its maker has no immediate plans to seek the same approval in the United States. After talking with the Food and Drug Administration, "we do not believe the data will support approval" although no final decision has been made, said Charlotte Arnold, a spokeswoman for Genentech, part of the Swiss company Roche.


Results of the studies are in Thursday`s New England Journal of Medicine.

In November, the FDA revoked Avastin`s approval for breast cancer because it did not meaningfully extend life and can have serious side effects. Without approval, doctors can prescribe the drug but insurers may not pay. Treatment with it can cost $100,000 a year.

Avastin can still be sold for some colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. The new research was aimed at adding ovarian cancer to the list.

One study, led by Dr. Robert Burger of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, involved nearly 1,900 women with advanced ovarian cancer given one of three treatment combinations. The time until the disease got worse was a median of 10 months in those given just chemotherapy; adding Avastin improved that by just one to four months for the other two groups.

Survival was similar among the groups, and side effects were higher among those on Avastin — mostly high blood pressure but also some stomach and gut problems that needed treatment.

In the other study, led by researchers from England, more than 1,500 ovarian cancer patients were given chemo with or without Avastin. The drug kept cancer at bay just one to two months longer than chemo alone did, with more cases of high blood pressure. There was a trend toward improved survival for those on Avastin, but the difference was too small to say the drug was responsible.

Genentech helped pay for the studies and some of the researchers consult for the company.

Dr. Gary Lyman, a Duke University researcher who was on the FDA advisory panel that recommended revoking Avastin`s approval for breast cancer, wrote in an email that he agreed with the company`s decision not to seek approval for ovarian cancer.

"The situation is very similar" to the results in breast cancer, and approval is unlikely unless a biological marker or test can show which patients might benefit, he wrote.

About 220,000 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed each year around the world, and it causes 140,000 deaths. In the United States, the National Cancer Institute estimates 22,000 new cases and 15,000 deaths each year.

Genes that increase risk of thyroid cancer identified

Scientists have discovered the genetic cause of thyroid cancer, which can lead to the formulation of more targeted treatment for the disease.

Cleveland Clinic researchers have discovered three genes that increase the risk of thyroid cancer, which is has the largest incidence increase in cancers among both men and women.


Research led by Charis Eng, M.D., Ph.D., Chair and founding Director of the Genomic Medicine Institute of Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, included nearly 3,000 patients with Cowden syndrome (CS) or CS-like disease, which is related to an increased risk of breast and thyroid cancer.

Mutations in the PTEN gene are the foundation of Cowden syndrome. PTEN is a tumour suppressor gene, helping to direct the growth and division of cells. Inherited mutations in the PTEN gene have been found in approximately 80 percent of Cowden syndrome patients.

These mutations prevent the PTEN protein from effectively regulating cell survival and division, which can lead to the formation of tumours.

“Our investigation into the genetics behind thyroid disease raises important details relevant to diagnosis and treatment,” said Dr. Eng.

“We hope to promote the earliest diagnosis and most targeted treatment possible.”

The study found that all six patients under age 18 had pathogenic PTEN mutations. The researchers recommend that the thyroids of children with PTEN mutation-causing CS-related disease receive increased surveillance.

Children with thyroid cancer are recommended to have testing for PTEN mutations, which could warrant surveillance for additional cancers or maladies. In contrast, alterations in the SDH and KLLN genes did not associate with thyroid cancer in children.

PTEN gene testing in the setting of genetic counselling is already routinely practiced, and has been a powerful gene-enabled diagnostic test, which then personalizes clinical screening and treatment.

Once SDH and KLLN findings are independently validated, the tests could be implemented as a clinical routine test as well. Importantly, these three genes belong to different cell pathways so that specific molecular-targeted treatments can be utilized depending on which gene is involved.

The study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Indian herbs can fight oral cancer

A new research has investigated the potency of Indian wild plants against bacterial and fungal infections in the mouths of oral cancer patients.

Researchers from Rohtak, India, tested extracts from several plants used in traditional or folk medicine against microbials found in the mouths of oral cancer patients.

Of the 40 patients involved in the study, 35 had compromised immune systems with severely reduced neutrophil counts. Eight of the plants tested were able to significantly affect the growth of organisms collected by oral swab, and pure cultures of bacteria and fungi grown in the lab. This included wild asparagus, desert date, false daisy, curry tree, caster oil plant and fenugreek.

"Natural medicines are increasingly important in treating disease and traditional knowledge provides a starting point in the search for plant-based medicines. Importantly we found that the extraction process had a huge effect on both the specificity and efficacy of the plant extracts against microbes," said Dr Jaya Parkash Yadav.

"Nevertheless several of the plants tested were broad spectrum antibiotics able to combat bacteria including E. coli, S. aureus and the fungi Candida and Aspergillus. Both desert date and caster oil plant were especially able to target bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are known to be difficult to treat with conventional antibiotics," Yadav added.

"Although the plants tested had a lower potency than conventional antibiotics they offer hope against resistant species. These results are a starting point for further testing in the lab and clinic," added Yadav.

The study has been published by BioMed Central`s open access journal Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials.

Indian herbs can fight oral cancer

A new research has investigated the potency of Indian wild plants against bacterial and fungal infections in the mouths of oral cancer patients.

Researchers from Rohtak, India, tested extracts from several plants used in traditional or folk medicine against microbials found in the mouths of oral cancer patients.

Of the 40 patients involved in the study, 35 had compromised immune systems with severely reduced neutrophil counts. Eight of the plants tested were able to significantly affect the growth of organisms collected by oral swab, and pure cultures of bacteria and fungi grown in the lab. This included wild asparagus, desert date, false daisy, curry tree, caster oil plant and fenugreek.

"Natural medicines are increasingly important in treating disease and traditional knowledge provides a starting point in the search for plant-based medicines. Importantly we found that the extraction process had a huge effect on both the specificity and efficacy of the plant extracts against microbes," said Dr Jaya Parkash Yadav.

"Nevertheless several of the plants tested were broad spectrum antibiotics able to combat bacteria including E. coli, S. aureus and the fungi Candida and Aspergillus. Both desert date and caster oil plant were especially able to target bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are known to be difficult to treat with conventional antibiotics," Yadav added.

"Although the plants tested had a lower potency than conventional antibiotics they offer hope against resistant species. These results are a starting point for further testing in the lab and clinic," added Yadav.

The study has been published by BioMed Central`s open access journal Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials.

Simple test to help diagnose deadly cancers

Researchers have developed a simple online calculator that could offer family GPs a powerful new tool to tackle two of the most deadly forms of cancer.

Academics from The University of Nottingham and ClinRisk Ltd have created two new QCancer algorithms, which cross-reference symptoms and risk factors of patients to red flag those most likely to have pancreatic and bowel cancer.
This could help doctors to diagnose these illnesses more quickly and potentially save thousands of lives every year.

“We hope these new tools will help GPs with the difficult task of identifying patients with suspected cancer earlier and that this in turn could help improve treatment options and outcomes for patients,” said lead researcher, Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox in the University’s Division of Primary Care.