Cancer Breakthrough? Novel Insight into Metastasis Could Offer New Treatments

Researchers from the United Kingdom may have made a breakthrough in cancer treatment, after discovering an unusual mechanism by which cancer cells spread and survive in the body.

In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers reveal how two molecules join forces to help cancer cells survive as they metastasize.

Metastasis is the process by which cancer cells break away from the primary tumor and spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream or lymph system.

Once cancer has spread, the disease becomes much more challenging to treat Chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiotherapy, and other treatments can yield success for some metastatic cancers, but for most, the prognosis is poor.

Read more: Cancer Breakthrough? Novel Insight into Metastasis Could Offer New Treatments

Source: medicalnewstoday

How Red Meat Can Affect Cancer Risk

You may have heard the news recently that researchers have found links between eating red meat and increased risk of certain cancers. But what does this mean for you? Should you say good-bye forever to burgers, steaks and bacon?

These latest concerns are based on an October 2015 report from the World Health Organization (WHO), which had 22 experts in 10 countries review about 800 epidemiological studies to look for a connection between red meat and processed meats and cancer. It found heightened risk between these meats—especially processed meats—and some cancers, particularly colorectal cancer.

WHO didn’t say you should ban red meat or processed meats from your diet completely, but it did advise limiting the amount you eat. Here are some of the key findings from the WHO study.

Read more: How Red Meat Can Affect Cancer Risk

Source: healthgrades

Breast Cancer Treatment Breakthrough After 'Milestone' Genetic Discovery

The latest breast cancer research could lead to more personalized care for patients and help further understanding of the causes of the disease, scientists said.

A study involving people from around the world has been hailed as giving a more complete picture of the changes in DNA in breast cancer, providing potential opportunities for new treatments.

A study of 560 breast cancer genomes, or complete genetic codes, turned up five new genes associated with the disease.

Read more: Breast Cancer Treatment Breakthrough After 'Milestone' Genetic Discovery

Source: IndependentPrintLimited

Breast Cancer: Existing Drug Shows Promise for Prevention in High-Risk Women

Researchers have identified an existing drug that they say has the potential to prevent or delay breast cancer for women at high risk of developing the disease.

In a study published the journal Nature Medicine, researchers reveal how the drug denosumab halted the growth of pre-cancerous cells in breast tissue of women with a faulty BRCA1 gene.

Women with a BRCA1 gene mutation are at significantly greater risk for breast and ovarian cancers; around 55-65 percent of women with such a mutation will develop the disease by the age of 70, according to the National Cancer Institute, compared with 12 percent of those in the general population.

Read more:  Breast Cancer: Existing Drug Shows Promise for Prevention in High-Risk Women

Researchers found the drug denosumab stopped the growth of cells that are a precursor to breast cancer
in women with a BRCA1 gene mutation.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Ovarian Cancer: New Imaging Technique Helps Surgeons Remove More of Tumor.

The amount of tumor tissue that is left after surgery is an important factor in ovarian cancer patient survival. Currently, surgeons have to rely on their eyes and hands to find malignant tissue. Now, new research shows how an imaging technique using a new type of fluorescent compound helped surgeons detect and remove nearly 30 percent more ovarian tumor tissue than usual.

The new technique was tested in a small exploratory study led by Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands and published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

One of the study leaders, Dr. Alexander L. Vahrmeijer, who heads an image-guided surgery group at LUMC, says:

"Surgery is the most important treatment for ovarian cancer, and surgeons mainly have to rely on their naked eyes to identify tumor tissue, which is not optimal."

Read more: Ovarian Cancer: New Imaging Technique Helps Surgeons Remove More of Tumor.

The experimental study shows that the new imaging system helped surgeons remove more tumor
issue in patients with ovarian cancer.

Source: medicalnewstoday

The Future of Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

How Innovative Approaches Can Help Reduce Mortality from One of the Deadliest Diseases Worldwide

The management of lung cancer, which in many cases is a deadly disease, is likely to change in the near future as the field adopts new strategies for diagnosis and treatment. A more fine-grained and stepwise approach to screening, and pharmaceutical and surgical innovations could help to fight the disease.

Read more: Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs)

Source: HealthcareSiemens

Precision Medicine in Oncology

The White House Proposes Increased Funding For a National Precision Medicine Initiative

In his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama stated his intention to fund a national Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), defined by the NIH as an emerging approach for disease prevention and treatment that takes into account individual variations in genes, environment, and lifestyle.

The White House said that it will ask Congress for $215 million to fund the assembly of databases. Through the data, from over one million patients, scientists and researchers will be able to individualize care and generate the requisite scientific evidence to move the concept of precision medicine into clinical practice.

The initiative, in the near-term, focuses on cancer, with other disease areas included over the longer term. Of the $215 million, the White House proposed $70 million in increased funding for the NCI to advance the field of precision oncology.

Basically the initiative funds efforts to integrate and apply the explosion of molecular data on humans, particularly data associated with individual patients, and taps into opportunities to use it to improve health outcomes. The “time is right” for the initiative, NIH says, because of the sequencing of the human genome, improved technologies for biomedical analysis, and new tools for using large datasets.

Read more: Precision Medicine in Oncology

MATCH clinical trials analyze tumors for abnormalities using a targeted sequencing

assay that includes 143 genes selected using the Oncomine Knowledgebase.

Source: Deposit Photos/alexraths

Esophageal Cancer

Overview

Esophageal cancer starts at the inside lining of the esophagus and spreads outward through the other layers as it grows. The two most common forms of esophageal cancer are named for the type of cells that become malignant:

• Squamous cell carcinoma: Cancer that forms in squamous cells, the thin, flat cells lining the esophagus. This cancer is most often found in the upper and middle part of the esophagus, but can occur anywhere along the esophagus. This is also called epidermoid carcinoma.
• Adenocarcinoma: Cancer that begins in glandular (secretory) cells. Glandular cells in the lining of the esophagus produce and release fluids such as mucus. Adenocarcinomas usually form in the lower part of the esophagus, near the stomach.

The National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program estimates that some 16,980 people in the United States will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer and 15,590 will die of the disease in 2015. The average five year survival rate is just 17.9 percent.

Smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, and Barrett esophagus can increase the risk of developing esophageal cancer. Other risk factors include older age, being male, and being African-American.

Read more: Esophageal Cancer

The esophagus and stomach are part of the upper gastrointestinal (digestive) system.

Video link: Esophageal Cancer

Source: aacrfoundation

Latest progress in diagnosis and treatment of Sarcomas

What are sarcomas?

Sarcomas are rare tumours of connective tissue, and as a result they can affect any part of the body. These are tumours of fat, nerves, bone, tendons, muscle and skin. They account for about 1% of all adult cancers and approximately 15% of pediatric tumours. In addition to the wide distribution of potential primary sites and the rarity, these are also very heterogeneous tumours with over 80 different histological subtypes.

These 3 factors make sarcomas extremely challenging to treat. Consequently, it is very important that sarcoma patients are managed by an experienced multi-disciplinary team, including surgeons, pathologists, radiologists, oncologists, specialist nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists.

Diagnosis

In order to make the diagnosis a biopsy is required to confirm the presence of a sarcoma and the specific subtype. Because these tumours are so rare and heterogeneous it is essential that an experienced pathologist reviews the biopsy sample. Initial diagnostic radiology tests can include a CT and MRI scan depending on the location and type of sarcoma.

Treatment

The mainstay of treatment of localized sarcomas includes complete surgical removal with or without radiation. It is important that an experienced surgeon performs surgery as improperly performed surgery can have an impact on outcome.

Read more: Latest progress in diagnosis and treatment of Sarcomas

A sarcoma is a cancer. Sarcoma - malignant tumors made of cancellous bone, cartilage,

fat, muscle, vascular, and tissues.

Source: Designua/Shutterstock

Scissor protein responsible for cancer spread

Aggressive cancer cells have been found to express higher amounts of a certain protein by scientists at the University of Bergen.

PITPNC1 controls a process where cancer cells secrete molecules which cut through proteins outside cell walls like scissors. This allows the cancerous cells to then enter the tissue and begin dividing and multiplying at a new site.

Dr Nils Halberg, a researcher at the University of Bergen said: “We discovered that the aggressive cancer cells that are spreading in colon, breast, and skin cancer contained a much higher portion of the protein PITPNC1, than the non-aggressive cancer cells.”

Using this knowledge, scientists can predict which cancer cells are becoming more aggressive and are likely to metastasize.

Read more: Scissor protein responsible for cancer spread

Source: labnews

Alcohol and processed meat linked to stomach cancer

Drinking alcohol, eating processed meat and being overweight increase the risk of developing stomach cancers, according to a major new scientific report released by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund.

The Continuous Update Project (CUP) report was led by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF).

Scientists systematically gathered and analyzed data relating to stomach cancer, after which a panel of leading international experts evaluated the results independently.

Worldwide, there were 952,000 cases of stomach cancer in 2012, or 7% of all new cancer cases.

Stomach cancer is the third most common cause of cancer death. It affects men twice as much as women, and it is more common among older people, with the average age of diagnosis in the US being 72 years.

In Europe and the US, the survival rate is 25-28%, rising to 63% if it is diagnosed early. But symptoms may not appear until the later stages, and some 70% of cases worldwide are diagnosed late, leading to a lower survival rate. Eastern Asia and China are particularly affected.

Read more: Alcohol and processed meat linked to stomach cancer

Lifestyle factors are linked to stomach cancer.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer had a low incidence several decades ago. However, it has become a predominant cancer and now accounts for approximately 10% of cancer-related mortality in western countries. The ‘rise’ of colorectal cancer in developed countries can be attributed to the increasingly ageing population, unfavourable modern dietary habits and an increase in risk factors, such as smoking, low physical exercise and obesity. New treatments for primary and metastatic colorectal cancer have emerged, providing additional options for patients; these treatments include laparoscopic surgery for primary disease, more-aggressive resection of metastatic disease (such as liver and pulmonary metastases), radiotherapy for rectal cancer, and neoadjuvant and palliative chemotherapies. However, these new treatment options have had limited impact on cure rates and long-term survival. For these reasons, and the recognition that colorectal cancer is long preceded by a polypoid precursor, screening programmes have gained momentum. This Primer provides an overview of the current state of the art of knowledge on the epidemiology and mechanisms of colorectal cancer, as well as on diagnosis and treatment.

Introduction

We live in an era with improved worldwide average living standards and increased access to adequate health care that has considerably improved the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. These measures have had an effect on the average life expectancy in most regions of the world. However, although death rates from communicable diseases have improved globally as a result of these medical improvements, cancer-related mortality has increased by almost 40% over the past 40 years. A further 60% increase is expected in the next 15 years, with 13 million people estimated to die of cancer in 2030. The main causes of cancer-related mortality have also changed, attributable to alterations in disease incidence, the introduction of screening programmes and therapeutic improvements. Colorectal cancer was rather rare in 1950, but has become a predominant cancer in western countries, now accounting for approximately 10% of cancer-related mortality. Reasons explaining this increased incidence include an ageing population and the preponderance of poor dietary habits, smoking, low physical activity and obesity in western countries. The change in incidence is not only apparent in the rates of sporadic disease but also in some familial cancer syndromes. Indeed, given that the rates of Helicobacter pyloriinfection (a causative factor of gastric cancer) have fallen dramatically, colorectal cancer is now the predominant presentation of Lynch syndrome (a hereditary non-polyposis type of colorectal cancer), whereas carriers of this syndrome used to be predominantly affected by gastric cancer.

Read more: Colorectal cancer

Source: krmc

Autistic people have higher gene mutations but lesser risk to cancer

While people with autism have more cancer-related gene mutations, they are at lower risk for developing the disease. This is the conclusion of a new study by researchers from the University of Iowa.

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by problems with social interaction, communication and repetitive behaviors.

In the US, it is estimated that 1 in 68 children have autism, most of whom are boys.

Study leader Dr. Benjamin Darbro, of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, notes that the finding of a genetic link between autism and cancer is not a new discovery; previous research has established that the conditions share risk genes.

Read more: Autistic people have higher gene mutations but lesser risk to cancer

Autism patients have more mutations in cancer-related genes, but they are at lower risk of developing
cancer than those without autism.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Lymphoma

Overview

Lymphoma is cancer that begins in cells of the lymph system. The lymph system is part of the immune system, which helps the body fight infection and disease. Because lymph tissue is found all through the body, lymphoma can begin almost anywhere.

The two main types of lymphoma are Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). These can occur in both children and adults.

Most people with Hodgkin lymphoma have the classic type. With this type, there are large, abnormal lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) in the lymph nodes called Reed-Sternberg cells. Hodgkin lymphoma can usually be cured.

There are many different types of NHL that form from different types of white blood cells (B-cells, T-cells, NK cells). Most types of NHL form from B-cells. NHL may be indolent (slow-growing) or aggressive (fast-growing). The most common types of NHL in adults are diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which is usually aggressive, and follicular lymphoma, which is usually indolent.

Read more: Lymphoma

Source: cancer.gov

Microbes and Cancer.

Understanding cancer’s relationship with the human microbiome could transform immune-modulating therapies.

In 2013, two independent teams of scientists, one in Maryland and one in France, made a surprising observation: both germ-free mice and mice treated with a heavy dose of antibiotics responded poorly to a variety of cancer therapies typically effective in rodents. The Maryland team, led by Romina Goldszmid and Giorgio Trinchieri of the National Cancer Institute, showed that both an investigational immunotherapy and an approved platinum chemotherapy shrank a variety of implanted tumor types and improved survival to a far greater extent in mice with intact microbiomes. The French group, led by INSERM’s Laurence Zitvogel, got similar results when testing the long-standing chemotherapeutic agent cyclophosphamide in cancer-implanted mice, as well as in mice genetically engineered to develop tumors of the lung.

The findings incited a flurry of research and speculation about how gut microbes contribute to cancer cell death, even in tumors far from the gastrointestinal tract. The most logical link between the microbiome and cancer is the immune system. Resident microbes can either dial up inflammation or tamp it down, and can modulate immune cells’ vigilance for invaders. Not only does the immune system appear to be at the root of how the microbiome interacts with cancer therapies, it also appears to mediate how our bacteria, fungi, and viruses influence cancer development in the first place.

Read more: Microbes and Cancer.

Source: © Istock/Kateja_FN/Frank Ramspott

Scientists develop supersensitive biosensor for cancer

A team of physicists and engineers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, has created an optical biosensor for cancer detection using nanostructured metamaterials that are 1 million times more sensitive than previous versions, pointing the way toward an effective early detection system for cancer and other illnesses.

The device, which is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, has been developed to provide oncologists with a way to detect a single molecule of an enzyme produced by circulatingcancer cells.

Such detection could allow doctors to diagnose patients with certain cancers far earlier than possible today, monitor treatment and resistance, and more.

The research, published online in the journalNature Materials, describes how the nanosensor acts like a biological sieve, isolating a small protein molecule weighing less than 800 quadrillionths of a nanogram from an extremely dilute solution.

The researchers believe the sensing technology will also be useful in diagnosing and monitoring other diseases.

"The prognosis of many cancers depends on the stage of the cancer at diagnosis," says Giuseppe "Pino" Strangi, professor of physics at Case Western Reserve and leader of the research.

Read more: Scientists develop supersensitive biosensor for cancer

The researchers used nanostructured metamaterials 1 million times more sensitive
than previous versions, enabling an early detection system for cancer.

Source: medicalnewstoday

What is Cancer?

A Collection of Related Diseases

Cancer is the name given to a collection of related diseases. In all types of cancer, some of the body’s cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues.

Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells. Normally, human cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old or become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place.

When cancer develops, however, this orderly process breaks down. As cells become more and more abnormal, old or damaged cells survive when they should die, and new cells form when they are not needed. These extra cells can divide without stopping and may form growths called tumors.

Many cancers form solid tumors, which are masses of tissue. Cancers of the blood, such as leukemias, generally do not form solid tumors.

Cancerous tumors are malignant, which means they can spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. In addition, as these tumors grow, some cancer cells can break off and travel to distant places in the body through the blood or the lymph system and form new tumors far from the original tumor.

Read more: What is Cancer?

Normal cells may become cancer cells.

Source: cancer.gov

Serine, glycine and one-carbon units: cancer metabolism in full circle

One-carbon metabolism involving the folate and methionine cycles integrates nutritional status from amino acids, glucose and vitamins, and generates diverse outputs, such as the biosynthesis of lipids, nucleotides and proteins, the maintenance of redox status and the substrates for methylation reactions. Long considered a 'housekeeping' process, this pathway has recently been shown to have additional complexity. Genetic and functional evidence suggests that hyperactivation of this pathway is a driver of oncogenesis and establishes a link to cellular epigenetic status. Given the wealth of clinically available agents that target one-carbon metabolism, these new findings could present opportunities for translation into precision cancer medicine.

Cell growth and proliferation require the construction of building blocks for new cellular components, including proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, as well the maintenance of cellular redox status, and genetic and epigenetic status. Amino acid metabolism involving serine and glycine, and the carbon units that they provide, satisfies many of these requirements. One-carbon metabolism encompasses a complex metabolic network that is based on the chemical reactions of folate compounds. These reactions proceed in a cyclical nature during which a carbon unit is transferred to other metabolic pathways and is eventually replenished by several sources. Modern cancer therapy partly arose from the hypothesis that antagonists of folates could reduce the proliferation of malignant blood cells. The antagonism of folate metabolism and its downstream effectors, such as nucleotide metabolism, has been used in chemotherapy for more than 60 years.

Read more: Serine, glycine and one-carbon units: cancer metabolism in full circle

Source: NatureReviewsCancer

Targeting Tumor Metastasis

Tumour metastasis, the movement of tumour cells from a primary site to progressively colonize distant organs, is a major contributor to the deaths of cancer patients. Therapeutic goals are the prevention of an initial metastasis in high-risk patients, shrinkage of established lesions and prevention of additional metastases in patients with limited disease. Instead of being autonomous, tumour cells engage in bidirectional interactions with metastatic microenvironments to alter antitumour immunity, the extracellular milieu, genomic stability, survival signalling, chemotherapeutic resistance and proliferative cycles. Can targeting of these interactions significantly improve patient outcomes? In this Review preclinical research, combination therapies and clinical trial designs are re-examined.

Metastases, or the consequences of their treatment, are the greatest contributors to deaths from cancer. Clinical metastatic disease results from several selective forces. Pathways that fuel initial tumorigenesis, described as the 'trunk' of a cancer evolutionary tree, can also endow tumour cells with metastatic properties and de novo drug resistance. Two types of 'limb' pathway emerge from the tree trunk: events that induce acquired resistance to therapy and pathways that induce or accelerate metastasis to distant organs1. Cancer therapy has largely concentrated on druggable targets in the trunk tumorigenesis pathways, such as receptor tyrosine kinases, and uses sequential and combination therapies to minimize drug resistance.

Read more: Targeting Tumor Metastasis

Source: NatureReviewsCancer

How to Reduce Your Risk for Cervical Cancer?

The Latest Information on Vaccines, Tests and Treatments

Find out what you can do to reduce your risk for cervical cancer and whether a diagnosis affects fertility as a top expert discusses advances in treatment…

Cervical cancer, once the leading cause of cancer deaths among U.S. women, is no longer so common. The number of cases has plunged 74% in the past four decades. And the rate of new diagnoses is still dropping 4% each year.

The dramatic turnaround is thanks to Pap smears, which can detect precancerous cells so that they can be treated and cured, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Yet doctors still can’t agree on when you should get your first Pap test, how often you should have it and whether that screening should now be replaced by a human papillomavirus (HPV) screening test. Some experts claim that the new test, recently approved by the FDA, can catch more women at risk for cervical cancer, and earlier, than the Pap smear.

Read more: How to Reduce Your Risk for Cervical Cancer?

Source: lifescript