Category Archives: Cancer

Majority of women with early-stage breast cancer in U.S. receive unnecessarily long courses of radiation — ScienceDaily

“Hypofractionated radiation is infrequently used for women with early-stage breast cancer, even though it’s high-quality, patient-centric cancer care at lower cost,” said lead author Bekelman, an assistant professor of Radiation Oncology, Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center. “It is clinically equivalent to longer duration radiation in curing breast cancer, has similar side effects, is more convenient for patients, and allows patients to return to work or home sooner.” Shown to reduce local recurrence and improve overall survival after breast conserving surgery, conventional whole breast radiation, given daily over five to seven weeks, has been the mainstay of treatment in the U.S. for women for decades…

Majority of women with early-stage breast cancer in U.S. receive unnecessarily long courses of radiation

Tamoxifen reduces breast cancer rates by nearly a third for 20 years — ScienceDaily

The IBIS-I trial (International Breast Cancer Intervention Study), led by Queen Mary University of London and funded by Cancer Research UK, examined the long-term risks and benefits of taking tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer in women at high risk of the disease (aged 35-70 years old, primarily with a family history of breast cancer). During the study 7,154 pre and post-menopausal women were randomized to receive either tamoxifen (20mg daily) or a matching placebo for five years. After completing treatment, the health of all participants was monitored with an average follow-up time of 16 years and maximum of 22 years. The new and extended analysis, presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, revealed 251 women from the tamoxifen group versus 350 from the placebo group developed breast cancer — a reduction of 29 per cent. …

Studies target androgen in breast cancer — ScienceDaily

“We’re on the cusp of a major revolution in the way we treat breast cancer. We’ve known for years that prostate cancer is driven by androgens and now it’s increasingly clear that androgens and androgen receptors can influence many breast cancers as well. AR is actually even more prevalent in breast cancer than estrogen or progesterone receptors. Targeting androgen receptors in breast cancer gives us an new way to attack the disease,” says Jennifer Richer, PhD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and head of the Richer Laboratory that produced the results…

Women with dense breasts will have to look beyond ultrasound for useful supplemental breast cancer screening — ScienceDaily

In a study released Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Tosteson and colleagues, including lead author Brian Sprague, MD, provide evidence on the benefits and harms of adding ultrasound to breast cancer screening for women who have had a negative mammogram and also have dense breasts. The study will help inform the national legislative discussion about potential regulations requiring health providers to tell women if their mammogram shows that they have dense breasts. …

Genotyping errors plague CYP2D6 testing for tamoxifen therapy — ScienceDaily

For years, controversy has surrounded the CYP2D6 gene test for breast cancer. Women with certain inherited genetic deficiencies in the CYP2D6 gene metabolize tamoxifen less efficiently, and thus have lower levels of tamoxifen’s active cancer-fighting metabolite endoxifen. Numerous studies have shown that these women gain less benefit from tamoxifen therapy and have higher rates of recurrence. However, two large clinical trials found no link between the CYP2D6 genotype and tamoxifen effectiveness, prompting recommendations against testing…

Majority of women with early-stage breast cancer in U.S. eceive unnecessarily long courses of radiation — ScienceDaily

Early trial of new drug shows promise for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer — ScienceDaily

The multi-center, non-randomized trial was designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and antitumor activity of bi-weekly infusions of pembrolizumab (MK-3475, marketed as Keytrudaï¿½). The researchers enrolled 27 patients, aged 29 to 72 years, who had metastatic triple-negative breast cancer that either relapsed after treatment for early stage disease or progressed on therapy for advanced disease…

New breast cancer classification based on epigenetics — ScienceDaily

The identification of patients with high-risk breast cancer is key to knowing whether a patient will require only the removal of the tumor by surgery or whether if she will need additional chemotherapy to make sure the removal of breast cancer cells. Currently, known genetic mutations and expression patterns are determined, but the puzzle of the genetics of the disease remains a large unfinished part…

Pathway that degrades holiday turkey fuels metastasis of triple negative breast cancer — ScienceDaily

“I’m not saying that people with metastatic breast cancer shouldn’t eat turkey during the holidays, but triple-negative breast cancer appears to have found a way to process tryptophan more quickly, equipping cancer cells to survive while in circulation, which allows them to metastasize,” says Thomas Rogers, the paper’s first author and PhD candidate in the laboratory of CU Cancer Center investigator, Jennifer Richer, PhD. …