So-called “triple-negative” breast cancer represents between 12 and 17 percent of all breast cancers. It derives its name from the lack of receptors for estrogen, progesterone and Her2…
The research, by an international team led by scientists from the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre in Montreal, underscores the importance of investigating possible sources of exposure to aristolochic acid. The compound, found in plants of the Aristolochia genus, also has been suspected of causing a kidney disease known as Balkan endemic nephropathy, affecting people along the tributaries of the Danube River in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Aristolochia clematitis, or European birthwort, is a common plant throughout the Balkans. Results of the study, which focused on the most common form of kidney cancer — clear-cell renal cell carcinoma — are reported in Nature Communications…
In the presentation “Impact of Radioactive Iodine on Survival in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma,” Paritosh Suman, M.D. and colleagues from North Shore University Health System (Evanston, IL), explore the benefit of (RAI) treatment following surgery to remove the thyroid in patients with PTC, and whether survival benefit relates to tumor size. In a retrospective study of nearly 285,000 patients treated over 13 years, with a mean follow-up of 7 years, the authors found that 47% of patients had RAI therapy and it showed a small but statistically significant survival benefit regardless of the tumor size. Carrie Lubitz, M.D., M.P.H., Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston), and coauthors previously described a novel blood-based assay for detecting the V600E mutation in the BRAF gene in patients with melanoma…
Renata Jaskula-Sztul, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin Medical School (Madison), and colleagues will deliver an oral presentation entitled “Targeted Delivery of a Novel Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor, AB3, Using Unimolecular Micelles to Improve Antitumor Effect in Medullary Thyroid Cancer.” MTC is a neuroendocrine tumor that accounts for 3-5% of thyroid cancers. …
So-called “triple-negative” breast cancer represents between 12 and 17 percent of all breast cancers. It derives its name from the lack of receptors for estrogen, progesterone and Her2. The absence of these receptors rules out proven hormone therapies such as tamoxifen. …
Enzymes like PRC1 turn on or turn off the activity of genes in a cell by manipulating individual chromosome units called nucleosomes. “The nucleosome is a key target of the enzymes that conduct genetic processes critical for life,” said Song Tan, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University and the leader of the study’s research team…
A connection between inflammation and cancer has been recognized for over a hundred years. This connection is particularly evident in colon carcinogenesis, because patients with IBD have a higher incidence of colon cancer than the general population. …
“In our study, repeat FIT screening detected all colorectal cancers in asymptomatic first-degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer,” said lead study authors Enrique Quintero, MD, PhD, and Marta Carrillo, MD, from Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain. “These findings suggest that FIT screening should potentially be considered for familial screening, especially in populations where colonoscopy capacity is limited and/or compliance with colonoscopy is a concern.” Researchers conducted a prospective randomized trial to compare the efficacy of repeated FITs and colonoscopy in detecting advanced tumors in family members of patients with colorectal cancer. The study included 1,918 first-degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer, who were randomly split into two groups to receive either a single colonoscopy examination or three FITs — one a year for three years…
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), which reduces levels of male hormones in the body to prevent them from stimulating cancer cells, is a mainstay of treatment for prostate cancer. Despite its anticancer effects, ADT has been associated with heart problems, including increased risk of diabetes, coronary heart disease, heart attacks, and sudden cardiac death. To investigate this potential link thoroughly, Paul Nguyen, MD, of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center in Boston, along with David Ziehr of Harvard Medical School and their colleagues, analyzed information on 5,077 men with prostate cancer who were treated between 1997 and 2006…
In an Internet search for the phrase “prostate cancer screening” on three main U.S. search engines, study researchers found that most sites appearing on the first results page recommended a patient-individualized approach to screening…