Fair-skinned people who tend to burn (rather than tan) from sun exposure have a much higher risk for melanoma than darker-skinned people. On the surface, it appears that the amount of melanin, the natural substance in the skin that determines pigment and acts as the skin’s “natural sunscreen,” would be the only determinant of melanoma risk. However, the truth is more complicated. …
Encouraging sun exposure to get vitamin D to try to live longer is highly irresponsible. It is a well-established fact that UV radiation from sun or indoor tanning can cause cancer and numerous studies have demonstrated that exposure to UV radiation causes DNA damage in skin cells that can lead to skin cancer (melanoma and non-melanoma). 1,2 In fact, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) has concluded that while evidence links a person’s vitamin D level to their bone health, the evidence linking vitamin D with other health benefits is inconsistent, inconclusive, and insufficient.3 Vitamin D can be safely and easily obtained from a healthy diet that includes foods naturally rich in vitamin D, foods/beverages fortified with vitamin D, and/or vitamin D supplemets. …
“We found that the use of low-dose aspirin was associated with cutting the risk of pancreatic cancer in half, with some evidence that the longer low-dose aspirin was used, the lower the risk,” said Harvey A. Risch, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut…
“As soon as somebody hears they have a 65 percent chance of a new breast cancer in the future or an up to 60 percent chance of ovarian cancer, they are likely to do whatever they can to prevent that,” said lead author Dr. …
“Although dinaciclib has shown promising pre-clinical activity against a variety of tumor cells, and is currently undergoing phase I/II clinical trials in several malignancies, the mechanisms responsible for its anti-tumor activity are not fully understood,” says the study’s lead investigator Steven Grant, M.D., associate director for translational research, co-leader of the Developmental Therapeutics research program and Shirley Carter Olsson and Sture Gordon Olsson Chair in Oncology Research at Massey. …
The findings, which appear in the journal Leukemia, are from the first nationwide study to look at the precursor of multiple myeloma in blacks, whites, and Hispanics and could point the way toward tailored screening and preventive strategies for different racial groups. The study also uncovered different rates of the condition in different parts of the country, suggesting an environmental component to the racial disparities. “We have known for a long time that there is a marked racial disparity in multiple myeloma, but the big question has been why that disparity exists,” says the study’s senior author, Vincent Rajkumar, M.D., a hematologist/oncologist at Mayo Clinic…
The study is published the week of June 30, 2014 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Bone is a favorable microenvironment for the growth of cancer cells that migrate from tumors in distant organs of the body, such as breast, prostate and blood, during disease progression,” said Archana Swami, PhD, BWH Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials, co-lead study author. …
The population-based study of 503 people with colon cancer found that 14 percent of Caucasians and 7 percent of African-Americans had a genetic marker called microsatellite instability, or MSI. These types of tumors are known to be resistant to the chemotherapy drug 5FU. Yet, even without chemotherapy, these patients tend to have better outcomes. …
“Because hereditary colorectal cancer is associated with aggressive and rapid tumor development, it is critical to understand how major environmental factors such as microbes and diet interact with genetic factors to potentially affect disease progression,” says senior study author Alberto Martin of the University of Toronto. “Our study provides novel insights into this question by showing that gut bacteria interact with a carbohydrate-rich diet to stimulate a prevalent type of hereditary colon cancer.” Carbohydrates account for about half of the daily caloric intake of adults on a western-style diet, and previous studies have linked carbohydrate-rich diets to colorectal cancer in humans. This type of cancer is also frequently associated with mutations in a tumor suppressor gene called APC as well as the MSH2 gene, which plays a critical role in repairing DNA damage…
The study, published today in Annals of Family Medicine, tracked screening rates for cervical, breast and colorectal cancer in Ontario each year between 2000 and 2010. Researchers found no significant changes in breast and cervical cancer screening rates after bonuses were introduced for doctors in 2006. …