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Tumor-Specific Antigens Could Positively Impact Diagnosis, Imaging, and TherapyThe medical literature abounds with examples of the benefits of early cancer detection. Cure rates are always dramatically higher before the tumor has spread and while surgery is still an option. For example in cervical cancer, detection at the earliest stages of the disease is associated with a 99% five-year survival rate. Similarly encouraging statistics may be found for cancers of the breast, ovaries, colon, skin, and other sites. Cancer detected through physical examination or medical imaging is usually too advanced for hope of a cure, which has led to an explosion...

THREE thousand Britons a year die because of a lack of lung cancer treatment, it emerged yesterday. Vital areas of care are "woefully inadequate" and there are shortages of key surgical staff, according to new research. A review has revealed a shambolic postcode lottery where treatment varies from one part of Britain to another. In some areas, fewer than one in TEN patients get any kind of treatment at all and there are "huge variations and vast inequalities" in others, the UK Lung Cancer Coalition reported after a review of services. There are only 44 thoracic surgeons - specialists in...

LOS ANGELES – Dennis Hopper has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is canceling all travel plans to focus on treatment. Manager Sam Maydew says the 73-year-old actor and artist is being treated through a "special program" at the University of Southern California. Asked about Hopper's prognosis, Maydew said, "We're hoping for the best."

DAYTON — After her best childhood friend died from breast cancer, Ruth Deddens began researching the causes of the dreaded disease. The Oakwood woman’s investigation eventually led her to Angela Lanfranchi, a clinical assistant professor of surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey and president of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute. Deddens, active in the “40 Days for Life” movement, decided to bring Lanfranchi to town as part of this year’s local pro-life campaign. Lanfranchi — who insists there are proven links between breast cancer, abortion and birth control pills — was the featured speaker at...

Call it the arrow of cancer. Like the arrow of time, it was supposed to point in one direction. Cancers grew and worsened. But as a paper in The Journal of the American Medical Association noted last week, data from more than two decades of screening for breast and prostate cancer call that view into question. Besides finding tumors that would be lethal if left untreated, screening appears to be finding many small tumors that would not be a problem if they were left alone, undiscovered by screening. They were destined to stop growing on their own or shrink, or...

WYCKOFF, N.J. — Twelve Jersey girls have shed their clothes to pose for a calendar to raise awareness about prostate cancer. Proceeds from “Stand By Your Man: 12 Women in Support of a Cure for Prostate Cancer” will go to the Prostate Cancer Coalition of New Jersey.

Enlarge ImageCancer fighter. The naked mole rat isn't much to look at, but it has an effective way of combating cancer. Credit: Trisha M. Shears With its wrinkled skin and bucked teeth, the naked mole rat isn't going to win any beauty contests. But the burrowing, desert rodent is exceptional in another way: It doesn't get cancer. The naked mole rat's cells hate to be crowded, it turns out, so they stop growing before they can form tumors. The details could someday lead to a new strategy for treating cancer in people. In search of clues to aging, cell...

Harper: Controversal Drug Will Do Little To Reduce Cervical Cancer Rates Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they’re being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15. Dr. Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, made these remarks during an address at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia...

As reported by United Kingdom New Sources such as the London Telegraph and UK Daily Express, Extended use of cellular phones could lead to elevated risks of developing cancer according to a 10 year long study. A report overseen by the World Health Organization which surveyed 12,800 people in 13 countries and will be published later this year, has allegedly found that heavy use of cellular phones can contribute to the development of brain cancer. According to the study, those who regularly used mobiles for longer than 10 years were almost 40 percent more likely to develop nervous system tumors...

The First Lady cited a new study from the Department of Health and Human Services -- which just happened to come out today -- citing breast cancer patients with insurance who had to pay an average of $6,200 in out-of-pocket costs each year. "This is with insurance," Mrs. Obama said. "These are the people who are blessed." The situation is, of course, far worse for those without insurance, Mrs. Obama said. But the insurance companies make life miserable even for those with coverage. "And then there are those annual lifetime caps that insurance companies set," Mrs. Obama said, with "one...

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 22, 2009 – A California Army National Guard supply noncommissioned officer diagnosed with breast cancer is cancer-free today, and she credits early detection with her new lease on life. California Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Cowie credits early detection with remaining cancer-free two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. With a yearlong deployment right around the corner when she got her diagnosis, Army Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Cowie opted for an aggressive treatment plan that would get her back to her unit quickly. “As soon as people...

The Human Methylome: What Do These Patterns Mean? by Brian Thomas, M.S.* For decades, researchers have noticed that tiny chemicals called “methyl groups� piggyback on DNA molecules, and that they occur in certain patterns. Intrigued by the meaning and function of methylation patterns, especially as they relate to medicine, a five-year, $ 190-million-dollar research effort funded by the National Institutes of Health began in 2008. In one of its studies, researchers have stumbled upon a new intricacy of cell function.Joseph Ecker of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies led a collaboration to generate the world’s first complete map of human...

The American Cancer Society, which has long been a staunch defender of most cancer screening, is now saying that the benefits of detecting many cancers, especially breast and prostate, have been overstated. It is quietly working on a message, to put on its Web site early next year, to emphasize that screening for breast and prostate cancer and certain other cancers can come with a real risk of overtreating many small cancers while missing cancers that are deadly... --snip-- The new analysis — by Dr. Laura Esserman, a professor of surgery and radiology at the University of California, San Francisco,...

Introduction: Surgery is the established treatment for early stage primary lung cancers (cancer that started in lung) or limited secondary cancers (cancer that started outside and spread to lung, also known as metastases or metastatic cancer). External beam radiation is an alternative local therapy to surgery, particularly for patients who are not candidates for surgery due to other medical conditions. Thermal ablation, using either heat or cold, is a newer treatment to destroy cells in lung tumors. Heat is most commonly used, and is referred to as Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA). RFA of tumors has gained significant interest and acceptance in...

(IsraelNN.com) A United States-based organization's conference on breast cancer awareness, to be hosted in Egypt, has been touted by international news networks as an example of “unprecedented cooperation” in the region. However, according to Channel 2 news, the celebration of unity may be premature, as Israeli doctors were told at the last minute that their invitations to participate had been rescinded.

A doctor who failed to spot the symptoms of cervical cancer in a young woman eight times in four years faces being struck off. Dr Navin Shankar told Nikki Sams her health problems were 'nothing serious', never performed an internal examination and ignored her pleas for a hospital check-up. The blunders only emerged when she was transferred to another surgery after Dr Shankar was suspended in a separate case of serious misconduct. Her new doctor immediately ordered a smear test which showed the advertising saleswoman had abnormal cells and more tests found she had a tumour. Miss Sams had a...

Role of a crucial protein helps answer why the cell’s transportation hub looks like a stack of pancakes Researchers have pinpointed a protein that keeps the trains running through the cell’s Grand Central station. The protein works in tandem with other molecules to pull membrane packets off the surface of a cell’s Golgi apparatus, giving the crucial organelle its distinctive flattened shape. “It’s a nice simple mechanism for how the shape of something is a consequence of its function,” says Seth Field of the University of California, San Diego and a coauthor of the study, which appears in the Oct....

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 691-700 (October 2009) | doi:10.1038/nrc2715 Abstract Although metabolic alterations have been observed in cancer for almost a century, only recently have the mechanisms underlying these changes been identified and the importance of metabolic transformation realized. p53 has been shown to respond to metabolic changes and to influence metabolic pathways through several mechanisms. The contributions of these activities to tumour suppression are complex and potentially rather surprising: some reflect the function of basal p53 levels that do not require overt activation and others might even promote, rather than inhibit, tumour progression...

A startling case in Japan has confirmed that pregnant women with cancer can pass the disease to their fetuses. These transmissions, normally blocked by the placenta, are rare, so the work likely won't change how doctors screen or care for pregnant women. But scientists say the case could help illuminate how cancer foils the body's immune system. In early 2007, a 28-year-old Japanese woman gave birth to a girl. Thirty-six days later, the mother was hospitalized with vaginal bleeding, which became uncontrollable. Doctors diagnosed leukemia, and she soon died. The baby developed normally until age 11 months, when a huge...

<p>An Everett nursing home is facing a lawsuit after an elderly resident's genitals disintegrated while staff allegedly failed to act.</p> <p>Charles Bradley, then 93, arrived at Everett Care & Rehabilitation in the winter of 2004, suffering from the usual maladies of old age, according to court documents. He continued to live at the nursing home until two weeks before his death, which came on March 31, 2008, when he was rushed to the emergency room with a life-threatening -- but previously undetected -- malady.</p>

The most important rule in health care is "first do no harm". Unfortunately Congressional Democrats seem totally oblivious to this rule. Many Democrats are so egotistical that they think anything they do will be an improvement. They seem incapable of understanding that changes can make a situation worse instead of better just like giving a patient the wrong medical treatment can worsen the patient's condition. The wrong medical treatment can kill. Making the wrong changes in the health care system can reduce access to health care and reduce the quality of health care. In one of my favorite episodes of...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Springfield Mass Transit District bus driver has received a one-day unpaid suspension for wearing a pink necktie to help raise awareness for breast cancer. The driver, 46-year-old William Jones, had to serve the suspension, but his action led the transit district to agree that employees could wear pink on Fridays October in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Jones, who said he planned to file a formal grievance, said he has had a number of relatives who have battled cancer, including a grandmother, a sister, several cousins and a niece.

Could a virus be the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome? A study published last week in the journal Science... --snip-- Further testing after the paper was written found the virus in nearly 98 percent of about 300 patients with the syndrome, Dr. Mikovits said. --snip-- The study received a mixed review from Dr. William C. Reeves, who directs public health research on the syndrome at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He called the research exciting but preliminary, and said he was surprised that a prestigious journal like Science had published it, because the researchers did not state the...

A firefighter and two cops who worked at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after Sept. 11 have died of cancer in the past five days, the Daily News has learned. Family members and advocates are blaming their deaths on toxins released into the air after the twin towers collapsed - and they're urging Congress to act on a bill that would help pay for their medical care. "Everybody is denying that this stuff is connected to 9/11, but it is," said Stephen Grossman, whose son Robert died of cancer on Friday at the age of 44. Robert Grossman...

An Iraq war veteran died after receiving cancerous lungs from a heavy smoker in a transplant. Matthew Millington, 31, a corporal in the Queen’s Royal Lancers, had the operation to save him from an incurable respiratory condition. But the organs were from a donor who was believed to have smoked 30 to 50 roll-up cigarettes a day. A tumour was found after the transplant, and its growth was accelerated by the drugs that Mr Millington took to prevent his body rejecting the organs. Because he was a cancer patient, he was not allowed to receive a further pair of lungs,...

Breast cancer awareness month makes many Alaskans think about woman in their lives who have battled the disease. One percent of breast cancer patients, however, are in fact men. UAA's College of Business and Public Policy Interim Dean Bear Baker seems to live up to his Alaska themed name. "Does it bother me," Baker says. "No. I'm a pretty vocal SOB." Baker is not talking about his name though, but being an Alaskan man whom, like his wife, proudly survived breast cancer. "I felt a lump under my left nipple in the shower in late May of 2005," Baker says....

Despite the perception of many oncologists that tamoxifen is an inferior drug, and should be substituted by an aromatase inhibitor in post-menopausal women, the current evidence strongly supports the view that AIs should be used 2–3 years after tamoxifen to achieve the maximal overall survival (OS) advantage. The last year has been an interesting time for oncologists interested in the adjuvant hormonal treatment of post-menopausal women with receptor-positive early breast cancer. Three important new pieces of clinical research were presented at the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: a meta-analysis of the Aromatase Inhibitor (AI) trials (Ingle et al, 2008b)...

I would like to thank each of your for your prayers and kind expressions to my (10-08-09) previous post. I need your prayers more than ever now. The MRI results were not very good. Multiple tumors. A slight chance they are non-malignant, if they are malignant the prognosis is not too bright. But with God all things are possible. If not for the Grace of God and the blessings of Jesus I would not be alive today to ask your help. Please keep me in your prayers. Again, thank you for all you do. Thank you Mr. Jim for this...

Can the scientist who denied the cause of AIDS be trusted to cure cancer? --snip-- ...In the past three decades, Duesberg has been described as a genius, a martyr, and a genocidal lunatic—often by the same person, usually amid the fierce debates and international headlines that come with major scientific breakthroughs. In 1971, at the age of 33, he became the first scientist to identify a cancer-causing gene—a biological holy grail that secured his place among an elite group of the country's top researchers. Tenure at Berkeley and a coveted spot in the National Academy of Sciences followed. So did...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Your pants size might help gauge your risk of developing certain cancers, regardless of how much you actually weigh, Dutch researchers report. A large waist and wide hips signal accumulation of so-called "intra-abdominal fat" -- the particularly harmful deep "hidden" fat that surrounds the abdominal organs and is linked to type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. "It has been hypothesized that clothing size is related to physique, and it was recently reported that clothing size appears to be a strong surrogate for obesity and intra-abdominal fat," Dr. Laura A. E. Hughes, of...

This is a short but shocking DUFU edition today. William Rivers Pitt apparently opened up his Trust Fund checkbook and purchased his way into giving a speech at an Eleanor Roosevelt Awards Dinner held by Denver area Democrats. I could post his overlong boring speech which was my original intention but I just couldn't get over his voice. You can't hear him by clicking the pic above but if you go to TRUTHOUT, just scroll down to the video and click on it. If you had ever heard Pitt's voice before his throat started getting eaten away by the...

An unusual enzyme called telomerase acts on parts of chromosomes known as telomeres. The enzyme has recently been found in many human tumors and is being eyed as a new target for cancer therapyEditor's note: We are posting the main text of this article from the February 1996 issue of Scientific American for all our readers because the authors have won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Subscribers to the digital archive may obtain a full PDF version, complete with artwork and captions. Often in nature things are not what they seem. A rock on the seafloor may...

Metformin Kills Breast Cancer Stem Cells, May Fight Many Cancers Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD The next breakthrough breast cancer treatment may be a diabetes drug already on the shelves of nearly every pharmacy. The drug is metformin, available generically and under brand names such as Glucophage and Fortamet. A growing body of evidence suggests that diabetes patients taking metformin are less likely to get cancer, and have better outcomes if they do get cancer, than those not taking the drug. Now Harvard researcher Kevin Struhl, PhD, and colleagues find that metformin can kill breast cancer stem cells, thought to...

I’ve often said that cancer is the disease about which Americans are most concerned. It’s not hard to understand why. The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 1.5 million Americans will have been newly diagnosed with cancer by the end of this year. We all have friends, family, and loved ones who have been affected by this terrible disease. We also have some of the world’s best physicians and scientists, who have made great strides in fighting cancer. Prostate Cancer Awareness Month has just ended, so it is timely to bring to mind the innovation and capability of the American...

A 14-year-old schoolgirl died hours after being given the controversial cervical cancer vaccine today. The teenager from Blue Coat Church of England School, in Coventry, died in hospital after receiving the Cervarix jab. The tragedy marks the first reported death since more than 1.5m doses of the injection were given to young girls as part of a national vaccination programme since last September in the UK. A number of her classmates have reported side effects to the vaccine. Critics say the case highlights the risks of mass vaccination, because no testing regime can ever pick up the rarest and potentially...

Toronto researchers have developed a portable device they say will accurately diagnose prostate cancer in 30 minutes. The microchip technology, created by a pair of University of Toronto scientists, will be able to determine the severity of the tumours through a simple urine sample and produce quick diagnosis with no need for painful biopsies.

Did you know that there is actually a cancer vaccine, one that actually works? It is in trial here in Dallas. It was developed 11 years ago, and a local station just reported on it. We have patients who have received the vaccine after being in Stage 4 (that's get the will ready, we can't do anything else stage) and are cancer-free after 10 years. No hype, just facts. Why isn't it out there for the general public? Because there hasn't been FUNDING for a full clinical test. We can spend hundreds of millions for the John Murtha memorial airport...

Excerpt: Ann Novotny studied the signaling used by the cancer in a portion of large intestinal and colon cancer. She found that there are receptors for opioids, such as morphone, on tumor cells. If morphine is supplied to these cells the protein urokinase is released, which the cancer cells can use to enhance their capacity to spread. Source: "Blocking Signal Molecule Can Prevent Growth of Large Intestine and Cancer," Link: http://www.physorg.com/news172915513.html

Actress Suzanne Somers, who is herself a cancer survivor, thinks that chemotherapy has killed Patrick Swayze. "They took a beautiful man" and "put poison in his body," the New York Post quoted her as saying. Somers, who has a book about cancer coming out next month, said: "Why couldn''t they have built him up nutritionally and gotten rid of the toxins? . . . I hate to be this controversial . . . but I have to speak out."

DANBURY, Conn. (AP) - Mary Travers, one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died. The band's publicist, Heather Lylis, says Travers died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut on Wednesday. She was 72 and had battled leukemia for several years. Travers joined forces with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey in the early 1960s.

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA says Myles Brand has died after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 67. The university president turned NCAA chief who pushed for tighter academic standards in college sports and took on Bob Knight died Wednesday.

Vascular Designs, a medical device company, today announced that its IsoFlow™ infusion catheter has secured 510(k) marketing clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the direct delivery of medications into highly targeted areas. An important application of IsoFlow may be in the treatment of cancer. The IsoFlow Infusion catheter enables sideways perfusion, which allows physicians to precisely target and isolate areas within the body where the infused drugs are delivered. With IsoFlow’s unique design, medications can be delivered into areas that could not previously be treated directly, for instance, a cancerous tumor. According to numerous studies, this...

Just a headline

Second Birth Soon After First 'Increases Breast Cancer Risk' Having a second child soon after the first may increase the risk of breast cancer for women. By Roger Dobson 13 Sep 2009 Research based on nearly 30,000 women, each of whom had produced five or more children, showed that those who had their second within a year of the first had a significantly higher risk of developing advanced ductal breast cancer. Women with a gap of less than 12 month, were 5.2 times more likely to develop the cancer than women who had a gap of three or more years....

Enlarge ImageDramatic but transient. Within 2 months, a novel drug candidate shriveled a man's metastasized cancer (center). One month later, the cancer, now resistant, resurged. Credit: C. M. Rudin et al., NEJM (2009) © Massachusetts Medical Society In the first clinical proof of its kind, a drug has dramatically shrunk cancerous tumors by disrupting a key genetic pathway. But a study targeting one deadly brain cancer, medulloblastoma, ended in disappointment as the patient's once-tamed tumor quickly developed resistance to the drug and killed him. The drug, GDC-0449, was developed at Genentech in South San Francisco, California. It locks onto...

...I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three....Brain cancer at three? This kid would have been six feet under if one of Obama's healthcare gurus had his way. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, has already been appointed to two key positions: health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of the Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research...So what's Ezekiel's take on three year-olds with brain cancer? Bury them. In the Lancet, Jan. 31, 2009, edition Ezekiel and co-authors presented a...

wrote yesterday about broadcasters, but I wish I didn't have to write this one: the legendary Ernie Harwell, voice of the Tigers for 42 years, has incurable cancer. Harwell is 91. The grace and strength with which he is responding to this news is staggering, but not surprising. I have had the pleasure of knowing Harwell a little bit through the years, and he is one of the finest people I have ever met in baseball. When I wrote a story about broadcasters last year, I was thrilled to receive an e-mail from Harwell telling me he liked the piece....

DETROIT (AP)—Ernie Harwell, the 91-year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers, said Friday that he has inoperable cancer. Harwell told The Associated Press he has a tumor near a bile duct. He said he knows he may go through some painful days, but is in good spirits and appreciates the good wishes he’s received from hundreds of fans. Harwell spent 42 of his 55 years as a broadcaster calling Tigers games, from 1960 to 2002. He said he has been “flattered” to hear so many people tell him about the role his voice played in their lives. “It’s...

(IsraelNN.com) Scientists at the Technion in Haifa have created a device that they hope will be able to detect cancer with a simple breath test. In an initial trial, the “breathalyzer” test was able to detect lung cancer with 86 percent accuracy. The new device was revealed this week in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Researchers hope the test will provide a simple, cost-effective and non-invasive method of detecting cancer. In addition, the test is capable of detecting cancers that are not yet large enough to show up on X-rays or CT scans, allowing for earlier diagnosis that could save lives.

One of the earliest chemotherapy drugs appears to work against a genetic fault that can trigger bowel and other cancers, UK researchers say. In laboratory tests methotrexate, first administered in the 1940s, was found to destroy cells containing the damaged MSH2 gene. This raises the hope of targeted treatments for those whose cancer is driven by the faulty gene. Patient trials have already begun, EMBO Molecular Medicine reports. The genetic condition HNPCC leaves people with a propensity to develop certain forms of cancer: some 90% of men and 70% of women will have developed bowel cancer by the time they...