HPV vaccine effectiveness found highest in girls vaccinated before age 14

A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute included studying over 2 million girls age 10-14 in Sweden.  The study found that the vaccine was 76% effective in those girls that took the vaccine before they turned 20 years old.  The effectiveness increased as their initial dose was administered earlier in life.  The study found that girls who had the cbefore they were 14 years old had a 93% effectiveness rate. 

Amy Leval of Karolinska Institute found that girls with at least one parent who was university-educated received the vaccine earlier than those of parents who did not complete high school. 

Researchers realize there is still more work to be done but future studies comparing coverage rates to understand the impact of vaccination in a population.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/24/hpv-vaccine-effectiveness-found-highest-in-girls-vaccinated-before-age-14/.

Kidney Stone Emergency Department Visits On the Rise

Dr. Khurshid R. Ghani, urology fellow at Vattikuti Urology Institute at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, presented findings on kidney stone visits in the emergency room at the European Urology Association meeting held in Milan, Italy.

Finding show that while kidney stone visits in the ED have increased, especially for women, admissions have not.  This is promising because in the past few years medical expulsive therapy has been on the rise to treat kidney stones.  So while more people need treatment, they are not admitted for these issues.

Over 3.5 million patient records were reviewed, spanning 2006-2009, from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample.

Interestingly, findings also show that the most visits were highest in July and August and lowest in February.

The Vattikuti Urology Institute is one of the Vattikuti Network of Institutes of the Vattikuti Foundation.

For the full article, visit http://www.renalandurologynews.com/kidney-stone-emergency-department-visits-on-the-rise/article/284804/#. 

Tiny implants signal new way to treat cancer tumors

What if doctors could get feedback from a tumor to more effectively treat cancer patients?  This is the goal for researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University in London. 

They are making a sensory device about the size of an eyelash to be implanted into a tumor.  The idea is to focus treatment there and give patients a more targeted, more effective treatment course.

The sensors in the device would allow doctors to also monitor how well the tumor is responding to treatment.  This would allow very personalized care and the ability to know if a change in treatment course would be necessary.

This is a 5 year project called the Implantable Microsystems for Personalized Anti-Cancer Therapy (IMPACT), which will cost 5.2 million BPS funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/15/tiny-implants-signal-new-way-to-treat-cancer-tumours/.

FDA approves Lymphoseek to help locate lymph nodes in patients with certain cancers

A new drug has been approved by the FDA to map lymph nodes.  This is the first drug since 1981 that has come out for this purpose.  The objective of the drug is to locate lymph nodes, not cancerous cells.

“Removal and pathological examination of lymph nodes draining a primary tumor is an important diagnostic evaluation for some patients with breast cancer or melanoma,” said Dr Shaw Chen, deputy director of the Office of Drug Evaluation IV in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “To use Lymphoseek, doctors inject the drug into the tumor area and later, using a handheld radiation detector, find lymph nodes that have taken up Lymphoseek’s radioactivity.”

A clinical trial was conducted on over 300 patients with breast cancer or melanoma to find lymph nodes using Lymphoseek or blue dye.  The results showed both were able to locate most lymph nodes, but Lymphoseek was able to find many more than the blue dye.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/15/fda-approves-lymphoseek-to-help-locate-lymph-nodes-in-patients-with-certain-cancers/. 

Dikshit launches cancer institute at Janakpuri Hospital in Delhi

A new cancer institute has opened in the capital city of India.  On Wednesday, 13 March, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit opened the new cancer institute named, "Delhi State Cancer Institute Centre at Janakipuri Super-Speciality Hospital."

This new center is designed to be a, "comprehensive care centre with latest equipment for radiotherapy, radiodiagnosis and labs."

This center was a government funded endevor.  There are two more government-commissioned centers on the way, one in Chhatarpur and one in Alipur.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/13/dikshit-launches-cancer-institute-at-janakpuri-hospital-in-delhi/. 

New cancer diagnostic technique debuts

Researchers at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECs) in Chile and Carnegie's Wolf Frommer have used the fact that cancer cells produce metobolic acid lactate  to develop a way to detect the cancerous cells.

Until now, there has been no way to detect lactate in a non-invasive way, in real time at the single cell level.

“Over the last decade, the Frommer lab at Carnegie has pioneered the use of Forster Resonance Energy Transfer, or FRET, sensors to measure the concentration and flow of sugars in individual cells with a simple fluorescent color change. This has started to revolutionize the field of cell metabolism,” explains CECs researcher Alejandro San Martin, lead author of the article. “Using the same underlying physical principle and inspired by the sugar sensors, we have now invented a new type of sensor based on a transcriptional factor. A molecule that normally helps bacteria to adapt to its environment has now been tricked into measuring lactate for us.”

Leader of the project Felipe Barros explains, "standard methods to measure lactate are based on reactions among enzymes, which require a large number of cells in complex cell mixtures. This makes it difficult or even impossible to see how different types of cells are acting when cancerous. Our new technique lets us measure the metabolism of individual cells, giving us a new window for understanding how different cancers operate. An important advantage of this technique is that it may be used in high-throughput format, as required for drug development.”

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/15/new-cancer-diagnostic-technique-debuts/. 

Researchers use stem cells from patients own fat to fight brain cancer

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found that stem cells from patient's fat can possibly help their bring tumors.

Led by Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, they have found the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have a great ability to find cells that are damaged.  Until now researchers have used stem cells from bone marrow which is much more expensive and invasive.

“The biggest challenge in brain cancer is the migration of cancer cells. Even when we remove the tumor, some of the cells have already slipped away and are causing damage somewhere else,” says Quinones-Hinojosa, a professor of neurosurgery, oncology and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Building off our findings, we may be able to find a way to arm a patient’s own healthy cells with the treatment needed to chase down those cancer cells and destroy them. It’s truly personalized medicine.”

To test this, MSCs, bone marrow stem cells, and those grown by the researchers were all tested. The amazing results were that all stem cells seemed to work "equally well."

Quinones-Hinojosa states this is important because the MSCs could deliver medicine to the brain tumor cells that have been left behind once a brain tumor has been removed.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/14/researchers-use-stem-cells-from-patient’s-own-fat-to-fight-brain-cancer/. 

Nod for 800-bed branch of Delhi cancer institute

Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI) has passed approval from the Delhi government to open another branch with 800 beds.

The property will include 14 acres of land in Chhatarpurk, located in South Delhi.  Health Minister Dr. A.K. Walia chaired the meeting and approved an out-patient department and day care center to improve cancer care.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/05/nod-for-800-bed-branch-of-delhi-cancer-institute/. 

Study shows key enzyme missing from aggressive form of breast cancer

Dr. Peter Zhou of University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center has determined that a key enzyme is missing from triple-negative breast cancer.  This may lead to insight on a treatment option.

Researchers found that in triple-negative breast cancer cells, transcription factor complex Snail-G9a-Ddmt1 is over-expressed, and the enzyme 1,6bisphosphate (FBP1) is inhibited.  This results in glucose coming in and "feeding" the tumor.

Identifying this reaction in triple-negative breast cancer is important because it is the most deadly of breast cancers. It occurs mostly in younger women.

“These findings present significant insights regarding the development and progression of triple-negative breast cancer,” says Dr Zhou, associate professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry at UK. “They indicate that targeting the metabolic alteration will lead to an effective approach for treating this deadly disease.”

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/06/study-shows-key-enzyme-missing-from-aggressive-form-of-breast-cancer/. 

Trackable drug-filled nanoparticles a potential weapon against cancer

A research team from Karolinska Institute (KI) and Royal Insitute of Technology (KTH) have developed a drug involving thernostic nanoparticles.  These particles carry drugs to a cancer site.  They have been altered to be visible during an MR scan.

This is exciting news considering medical professionals will be able to track the drug as it moves through the body.

“For this study, we produced theranostic nanoparticles able to make pinpoint deliveries of drug payloads to breast cancer cells,” says Eva Malmstrom of the School of Chemical Science and Engineering at KTH. “They are also detectable in an MR scanner and can therefore be used diagnostically. The building blocks that we use are biodegradable and show no signs of toxicity.”

So far, the drug used treats cancer of the bladder, lung, breast and ovaries.  The next step will be to tailor the drug to target brain tumors.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/02/trackable-drug-filled-nanoparticles-a-potential-weapon-against-cancer/. 

Rise in cancer deaths in India

There has been a steady rise in cancer deaths in India, according to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. 

"Information received from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) suggests that estimated number of cancer cases are increasing,” Azad said in a statement in the house this week.

Azad noted that the National Cancer Registry report for 2006-2008 had an increase of cancer deaths than reported in the 2004-2005 report.

"While health is a state subject, Azad said, the central government has supplemented the efforts of state governments in prevention, early detection and management of cancer cases. It has launched a comprehensive National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) in 2010 in 100 districts across 21 states."

In each district, up to Rs. 1 lakh per patient is provided for up to 100 patients for chemotherapy drugs.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/01/rise-in-cancer-deaths-in-india-minister/. 

Aspirin may lower melanoma risk

A study being conducted by Dr. Jean Tang of Stanford University School of Medicine, and published in the peer-reviewed journal Cancer, shows that women who take aspirin may reduce the risk of melanoma.  Furthermore, the study shows the longer women take aspirin, the lower the risk is for developing melanoma.

Researchers reviewed almost 60,000 Caucasian women and found that those women taking asprin had a 21% lower chance of melanoma, and the longer they took it, the risk dropped by 11% if they took aspirin for 1-4 years, and the risk dropped another 11% if they took it for 5 or more years.

Since aspirin reduces inflammation researchers think this may be the reason why the melanoma risk decreases.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/03/12/aspirin-may-lower-melanoma-risk/. 

Ovarian cancer still a mystery, especially for black women

Ovarian cancer is aggressive in black women, and not much is known about the disease.  Even less is known how it affects black women.  Dr. Therese Dolecek of University of Illinois at Chicago is looking to change that.  Less than 300 black women have ever been part of an ovarian cancer study.

There will be 21,000 cases of ovarian cancer in the US this year with 15,000 deaths.  Dolecek is conducting a  5 year study to study risk factors which will end in 2015.

“We want to see if the risk factors for African American women are equivalent to those observed in white women,” Dolecek said. “We know there are differences in survival even if you control for predictors, such as tumor stage and patient age.”

Since symptoms of ovarian can be easily mistaken for other things.  Screening test do not exist for ovarian cancer.

For the full article, visit http://thegrio.com/2011/09/28/ovarian-cancer-still-a-mystery-especially-for-black-women/.

Fewer African-American deaths from cancer

Carol DeSantis is an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society and lead author of a report regarding African American deaths and cancer. “We see the disparity between black and white men narrowing,” he says, which is due to less lung cancer.  This is a direct result from less cigarette smoking.

Unfortunately, African American men are still diagnosed with cancer 15% more than their white counterparts.  African American women are less likely to develop breast cancer, but more likely to die from it.  Access to screenings is mainly the reason for people not getting care early enough to treat the cancers.

“You’ve got screening for breast cancer, where catching it early improves your outcomes, and screening for colorectal cancer which is preventable,” says DeSantis. “African-Americans are just not getting access to these high-quality screenings that we’ve had over the past few decades.”

For the full article, visit http://thegrio.com/2013/02/05/new-report-fewer-african-american-deaths-from-cancer/. 

New breast cancer drug helps advanced cases

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new drug that will help women with hard to treat breast cancer.  The type of breast cancer it targets, HER2, is an aggressive form and spreads even with treatment.

This new drug, called Kadcyla, may not cure women of the breast cancer, but it can add many more months onto their lives.

“Kadcyla delivers the drug to the cancer site to shrink the tumor, slow disease progression and prolong survival," Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA's office of hematology and oncology products.In a trial conducted with results published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 991 patients with HER2 were treated and lived an average of 5.8 months longer, about half a year longer than others.

“Only a few studies in metastatic breast cancer have shown an improvement in overall survival. It’s tough to do,” Dr. Sunil Verma of the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre in Toronto, who led the study, said in a statement on the National Cancer Institute’s website.

The drug comes with a price - $94,000 for a 10 month supply.  The company will give discounts, or in some cases get it free of charge. Those who have hit their health coverage limit or do not have insurance can get it for free through Genetech, the company who makes the drug.

For more information, visit http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17057745-new-breast-cancer-drug-helps-advanced-cases?lite.

Bengal to hire more doctors for rural areas

Chief Minister Mamata Banergee commits to hiring more doctors, as an "acute shortage" exists. Rural Bengal has a lack of doctors, nurses and pathologists.  The situation has become such that Banergee is looking to hire medical professionals from outside of the state.

If they are willing to work in rural Bengal, those medical professionals would be employed under the West Bengal Medical Services.  Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) are also included in this commitment.

“From April, you will get a fixed monthly salary of Rs 1,300. The health department will give it. For this initiative, our government will have to spend about Rs 100 crore,”  says Banergee.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/02/27/bengal-to-hire-more-doctors-for-rural-areas/. 

African-Asian cancer meet calls for more research in India

According to the National Cancer Registry, the incidence for cancer in every 100,000 males and females in the country include:

Bangalore: 113 in males and 139 in females

New Delhi: 124 in males and 121 in females

Mumbai:99 in males and 110 in females

Because of the large numbers, India has the ability to position itself as a "leader in oncology research" according to Association for Transitional Research in Oncology president Dr B S Ajaikumar. 

Cancer care is being demanded to improve quality of life.  Doctors are brainstorming different areas of care, including personalized medicine, organ and functional preservation in breast cancer, hematology and stem cell transplant and cardiothoracic oncology.

The conference will also focus on predictive oncology, colorectal and liver cancer, radiation oncology, neuro-oncology, psycho-oncology, gynecology-oncology, head and neck cancer, evolving comprehensive cancer, global perspectives in oncology, lung cancer, musculoskeletal oncology and uro-oncology.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/02/22/african-asian-cancer-meet-calls-for-more-research-in-india/.

Study shows how pseudogenes can regulate activity of cancer genes

Pseudogenes used to be considered "junk" since they were parts of DNA strands, not whole strands.  Now, researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered that these pseudogenes can regulate cancer gene phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and control its activity.

PTEN is known as a "tumor suppressor" but in many cancers, PTEN is disabled.  Researchers at TSRI are looking for ways to recharge PTEN.  They are looking at how pseudogenes work and affect other genes in the body.  This hopefully will lead to how to regulate PTEN in order to work in cancerous situations, which up until now has not been the case.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/02/27/study-shows-how-pseudogenes-can-regulate-activity-of-cancer-genes/.

Cancer researchers and astronomers team up to beat cancer

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and the Department of Oncology and the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge published an article in the British Journal of Cancer regarding a technique to find biomarkers for cancer cells in breast tumors.  The technique was originally used by astronomers to find distant galaxies.

The technique used was to find objects in the sky; researchers applied this to immunohistochemistry (IHC).  IHC depends on pathologists to find subtle differences between tumor cells.

Testing to see if this worked, researchers looked at over 2,000 tumors.  The computer's results were just as accurate as the manual (current) procedure, but much, much faster.

Study lead author Raza Ali, a pathology fellow from Cancer Research UK’s Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge, says: “We’ve exploited the natural overlap between the techniques astronomers use to analyze deep sky images from the largest telescopes and the need to pinpoint subtle differences in the staining of tumor samples down the microscope. The results have been even better than we’d hoped, with our new automated approach performing with accuracy comparable to the time-consuming task of scoring images manually, after only relatively minor adjustments to the formula. We’re now planning a larger international study involving samples from more than 20,000 breast cancer patients to further refine our strategy.”For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/02/25/cancer-researchers-and-astronomers-team-up-to-beat-cancer/.