Cancer Research

Men with naturally high levels of the female hormone estrogen have a greater risk of developing breast cancer, according to according to an epidemiology paper published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. This is the first time a link between estrogen levels in the blood and male breast cancer has been identified, despite its connection to breast, womb and ovarian cancers in women, according to study author Professor Tim Key, Cancer Research UK's hormone and nutrition expert at the University of Oxford. Men with the highest levels of estrogen were two and a half times more likely to…

A research team writes in Cell Metabolism that they have uncovered a clue to how bacteria may promote some colon cancers. The work used metabolomic technologies to find molecular evidence suggesting a vicious circle in which cancerous changes in colon cells promote the growth of bacterial conglomerations called biofilms, and biofilms in turn promote cancer development.  On the whole, the findings suggest that removing bacterial biofilms could be a key strategy for preventing and treating colon cancers, which currently kill about 50,000 Americans per year. The study also revealed an…

A group of researchers analyzed a marine sponge called Halichondrin okadai  because they were curious why it inhibited the replication of organisms around it. They found that a mesylate eribulin substance had been applied to patients with breast cancer patients in the stage of metastasis, when the disease spreads to other parts of the body, and that it inhibited tumor growth. "Researchers in Japan analyzed the sponge in order to obtain the active substance that forces the decline of living beings nearby the marine organism. After several years of research it was revealed that eribulin…

Researchers are reporting that pancreatic cancer rates are highest in countries with the least amount of sunlight, due to a combination of heavy cloud cover and high latitude.  More papers showing Vitamin D is both cause and cure for numerous things is taking mainstream media by storm. Vitamin D is important, of course, and sunlight is an important source of it, though some foods also have it. Fatty fish, such as salmon and tuna, are good sources, while beef liver, cheese and egg yolks provide small amounts. Because it is not common in food it is often added as a fortifying nutrient to…

The first large international study to investigate the late side-effects of a combination of two forms of brachytherapy to treat cervical cancer has shown that the technique successfully delivers higher radiation doses to the tumour without an increase in treatment-related problems afterwards. Brachytherapy is a type of internal radiotherapy that involves putting a radioactive source close to, or in the tumour. It is often performed after a CT or MRI scan has pinpointed the exact position of the cancer, so that the radiation treatment can be targeted precisely; this is called image-guided…

More than two decades have passed, but Erika Archer Lewis clearly recalls the fear, uncertainty and struggle required to bring her 42-year-old mother back from the edge of stage 4 breast cancer. Lewis, a senior studying at the University of Texas when her mother was diagnosed, shuttled between Austin and Houston, supporting her through surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and, later, reconstructive procedures. “It was a four-year ordeal,” Lewis recounts, sitting beside her husband one autumn morning in a sandwich shop north of Houston. Her own breast cancer risk, always a nagging worry, didn’t…

Scientists have mapped the human genes triggered by the phytonutrients in soy, revealing the complex role the legume plays in both preventing and advancing breast cancer. Compounds in minimally processed soy flour stimulate genes that suppress cancer, while purified soy isoflavones stimulate oncogenes that promote tumor growth, according to an upcoming paper in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.  Asian women's risks for breast cancer tend to be three to five times lower than those of women in the U.S., which some researchers have attributed to Asian women's consumption of soy-based…

Researchers have developed a mouse model of brain-metastatic breast cancer and found the potential of stem-cell-based therapy to eliminate metastatic cells from the brain and prolong survival is strong. The research team developed a mouse model that closely mimics what is seen in patients. They found that injecting into the carotid artery breast cancer cells that express markers allowing them to enter the brain - cells labeled with bioluminescent and fluorescent markers to enable tracking by imaging technologies - resulted in the formation of many metastatic tumors throughout the brain,…

A team of researchers have found 38 genes and molecules that most likely cause HER2+ cancer cells to spread. The HER2+ subtype accounts for 20 to 30 percent of early-stage breast cancer diagnoses, which are around 200,000 new diagnoses each year in the United States, leading to approximately 40,000 deaths annually. Several cancer chemotherapy drugs do work well at early stages of the disease, destroying 95 to 98 percent of the cancer cells in HER2+ tumors, but patients can develop resistance and the tumors begin to grow again.  In a new study, Ahmad M. Khalil, PhD, assistant professor in…

Turmeric, the familiar yellow spice common in Indian and Asian cooking, may play a therapeutic role in oral cancers associated with human papillomavirus, according to new research published in ecancermedicalscience. One of the herb's key active ingredients - an antioxidant called curcumin - appears to have a quelling effect on the activity of human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a virus that promotes the development of cervical and oral cancer. There is no cure, but curcumin may offer a means of future control. "Turmeric has established antiviral and anti-cancer properties," says corresponding…