"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views"
 Abraham Lincoln

 

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'Supermouse' bred to beat cancer

 

Mice carrying a gene which appears to make them invulnerable to cancer may hold the key to safer and more effective treatments for humans.     Mouse

The new breed, created with a more active "Par-4" gene, did not develop tumours, and even lived longer, said the journal Cancer Research.

University of Kentucky researchers said a human cancer treatment was possible. Cancer Research UK said that more research would be needed to prove it didn't just work in mice.

Par-4 was originally discovered in the early 1990s working inside human prostate cancers, and is believed to have a role in "programmed cell death", the body's own system for rooting out and destroying damaged or faulty cells...more

                                                                                                                                                                                         

Test May Predict Colon Cancer Survival

Blood Test May Help Determine Treatment Decisions for Advanced Colon Cancer

By Charlene Laino.  WebMD Medical News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

 

Jan. 28, 2008 (Orlando, Fla.) -- A simple blood test can pinpoint people who have a good chance of surviving despite a diagnosis of advanced colon cancer, researchers report.

The test uses magnets to separate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) -- which come from solid tumors and roam through the blood, spreading cancer -- from other cells.

"The number of CTCs before treatment can identify those patients destined to live longer vs. those who will die sooner," says researcher Neil J. Meropol, MD, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. The test also tells the doctor whether a person is responding to treatment sooner than currently used measures, he says. "The idea is to spare patients the side effects of ineffective therapies by finding out who won't do well much sooner," Meropol tells WebMD.

CTC Levels in Colon Cancer Patients:   The researchers tried out the test on 430 people with metastatic colon cancer -- that is, cancer that had spread to other parts of the body such as the liver or lungs. Results showed that people with low CTC blood levels before treatment lived more than twice as long as those with high levels: 19 months vs. nine months. People with high levels relapsed much sooner: five months vs. eight months.

The results held up regardless of a person's age, type of treatment, extent of disease, or overall health, Meropol says.  He adds that a high CTC level doesn't mean that a person won't respond to therapy, just that the person "might not do as well as someone else."

The researchers also looked at what happened to people with high CTC levels after they started treatment. They found that if CTC levels dropped substantially within three to five weeks, the risk of relapse or dying did as well. On the flip side, Meropol says, "If CTCs didn't clear from the blood after a few weeks of treatment, the patient was destined to do poorly."

The findings were presented at the annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Robert Mayer, MD, director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston, says other researchers have shown that high CTC levels are associated with a poor prognosis in women with metastatic breast cancer. The new findings offer "provocative, important pilot data [on their use] in colorectal cancer," he tells WebMD.

Mayer says that before CTC screening is ready for prime time, however, it needs to be tested in larger numbers of people.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                         

Holistic treatments for breast cancer are helping patients more than ever before:   Total Cancer Care  (Originally published on October 1, 2007 WEBMD

When Molly Mitchell, a 30-year-old San Francisco advertising manager, was embarking on treatment for breast cancer a year and a half ago, she felt like she had somehow just lost the reins on her life.

But Mitchell was lucky. Her primary oncologist recommended that she consult with a colleague, integrative oncologist Donald Abrams, M.D., at the University of California, San Francisco’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, to help her weather chemotherapy and radiation, improve her well-being, and prevent recurrence. Abrams recommended a personalized program of diet, supplements, acupuncture, massage, and other therapies—all administered by practitioners skilled in cancer care. The result? A plan designed to support her body, mind, and spirit while she underwent conventional treatment. “Modern Western medicine is all about expelling evil without concentrating on supporting good,” says Abrams. “I tell patients that I am supporting good.”

Holistic cancer care has come a long way from the times when patients had to visit rogue alternative clinics on the sly, only to risk taking unproven remedies that could interfere with treatment. These days, a growing body of evidence shows the value of complementary approaches to cancer, from dietary changes and herbs to acupuncture and yoga. And Abrams and other renowned integrative oncologists now staff the country’s best university hospitals and cancer centers, from New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering to Houston’s M.D. Anderson. That’s good news for the estimated 41 percent of breast-cancer patients who try complementary approaches. “So much about breast cancer makes you feel like less of a person,” notes Mitchell. “These complementary therapies have helped me begin to feel whole again.”

Granted, not everyone lives near an integrative-treatment center. But for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer, certain complementary therapies are worth exploring in partnership with their physicians. Here are some of the best-researched options.

Food and Drink

Besides being conscious of nutrition—essential for those undergoing cancer treatment—many integrative-cancer specialists have two goals when advising breast-cancer patients about what to eat: reducing inflammation in the body, which can fuel tumor growth, and limiting exposure to estrogen, which contributes to an estimated 70 percent of breast cancer cases. With that in mind, Abrams advises patients to eat a plant-based diet high in fruits and vegetables—particularly cruciferous veggies like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, which contain indole-3-carbinol, a compound known to affect estrogen metabolism. Seasoning meals with generous amounts of garlic, ginger, onion, and turmeric, which boast anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, may be helpful. As for beverages, cancer experts cite green tea as a favorite; drinking five or more cups a day may help reduce breast-cancer risk by 22 percent.

What you don’t eat and drink can prove just as important. Abrams recommends eliminating foods that increase inflammation and tumor growth, such as refined carbohydrates, and avoiding red meat and dairy, which can contain hormones, as much as possible. (Oily fish like wild salmon, rich in anti-inflammatory and cancer-preventive omega-3s and vitamin D, are a great meat substitute.) Abrams recommends avoiding char-grilling and other high-heat methods, as they boost meat’s carcinogenic compounds. As for soy, it’s often touted for anti-cancer properties, but some research suggests that “these effects may occur only if you ate soy foods as a young girl,” says Abrams. Because of soy’s phytoestrogens, “women who have estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer should avoid it,” he cautions. If you do eat soy, choose whole forms like soybeans, tofu, and tempeh. And since alcohol consumption can increase estrogen and is a risk factor for breast cancer, Abrams recommends limiting intake to a glass a week...more

                                                                                                                                                                                         

Avocados may prevent oral cancer

Creamy rich Avocados could help in preventing mouth cancer, and may reduce the growth of pre-cancerous cells, reveals new research.

avocado fruitThe scientists at Ohio State University stated that the high levels of phytochemicals in the fruit contain health-protecting qualities, which either stop the growth of pre-cancerous cells or kill the pre-cancerous cells leaving the normal cells unaffected.

The lead author of the study, Steven D Ambrosio, says that Avocados are so full of beneficial antioxidants, including folate, vitamin C, unsaturated fats and vitamin E, and are naturally sodium free, trans-fat free, and free of unsaturated fat, that they form a healthy addition to the diet.

However, Ambrosio agrees that more research was required into benefits of Avocado and other fruits on cancer cells. Although, the study focuses on oral cancer, the findings could have implications on other types of cancer too, as these are only preliminary findings.

However, further research would be carried out in identifying vegetables and fruits and individual phyto-nutrients with cancer-preventing activity, the results of which, would be published in ‘Seminars in Cancer Biology’ journal.