Breast Cancer News and Research

Latest Breast Cancer News and Research

Contraceptive pill with no side-effects in the pipeline

Scientists in the United States are developing a new contraceptive pill with no side-effects.

17 Oct 2007

Inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare and little-known form of breast cancer that produces no lumps and can not usually be detected with a mammogram. Experts say thousands of women develop it each year, but unfortunately, many of them miss the early symptoms.

16 Oct 2007

Blood levels of progesterone may impact blood vessel function

Blood levels of progesterone, a major female sex hormone, may play an important role in modifying vascular function in postmenopausal women, according to a new study accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

16 Oct 2007

New insight into Herceptin resistance in breast cancer

A new study provides important insight into the mechanisms involved in resistance to treatment of breast cancer patients with trastuzumab (Herceptin). The research, published by Cell Press in the October issue of the journal Cancer Cell , identifies markers that may help to identify patients who are unlikely to respond to trastuzumab treatment and provides a potential strategy for treating these patients.

16 Oct 2007

Enhanced DNA-repair mechanism can cause breast cancer

Although defects in the "breast cancer gene," BRCA1, have been known for years to increase the risk for breast cancer, exactly how it can lead to tumor growth has remained a mystery.

16 Oct 2007

Cancer death rate decline doubling

A new report from the nation's leading cancer organizations shows cancer death rates decreased on average 2.1 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, nearly twice the annual decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 2002.

16 Oct 2007

New near-infrared contrast agent reveals bone and breast-cancer-related microcalcifications

Mammography continues to be the method of choice for the early detection of breast cancer. However, because this technique is not as selective or specific as one would wish, and does not deliver reliable results for every level of tissue density, alternatives are being sought.

15 Oct 2007

Couples attending cancer counseling together better prepared to ease children's concerns

When women with children attend a counseling session before undergoing genetic testing for breast cancer, they are far more likely than their partners to be up front with their kids about the tests and the potential for cancers being inherited, according to a study released today here at the annual meeting of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.

15 Oct 2007

Breast cancer radiation does not affect women's immune system

A new study shows that neither of two commonly used radiation treatments for early-stage, node-negative breast cancer has any effect on a woman's immune system, even though women who receive five-day partial-breast radiation therapy (MammoSite brachytherapy) (PBRT) have improved energy and quality of life compared to women who undergo six weeks of whole-breast radiation therapy (WBRT).

15 Oct 2007

New molecules discovered that block cancer cells from modifying cell DNA

Researchers have discovered new small molecules that may prevent prostate cancer cells from turning off normal genes in a process that transforms normal cells into cancer cells. This significant discovery in the field of epigenetics has immediate implications in the development of new diagnostic tests and cancer medications.

12 Oct 2007

A tumor-blocking protein may be key in developing deadly form of pancreatic cancer

A tumor-blocking protein previously implicated in prostate and breast cancer development may also be behind the most aggressive type of pancreatic cancer. Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia have discovered that the protein pp32 – which normally applies the brakes on a cancer-causing gene – is missing in an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.

12 Oct 2007

Genome update defines landscape of breast and colon cancers

One year after completing the first large-scale report sequencing breast and colon cancer genes, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have studied the vast majority of protein-coding genes which now suggest a landscape dominated by genes that each are mutated in relatively few cancers.

12 Oct 2007

Breast cancer awareness calls for cardiovascular awareness

Women who overcome breast cancer have every reason to celebrate. But a heart filled with joy may also be a heart damaged by life-saving cancer therapies, a growing body of research shows.

12 Oct 2007

Immune system protein shows potential as early warning system for lung cancer

An immune system protein could act as an early warning system for lung cancer, reveals research published ahead of print in the journal Thorax.

10 Oct 2007

Mouse mammary tumor virus might be involved in causing human breast cancer

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) - which causes mammary cancer in mice - can replicate and spread in human cells, research published this week shows.

10 Oct 2007

HER-2 status predicts success of chemotherapy in breast cancer treatment

Researchers have found they can potentially target chemotherapy for breast cancer to only those women most likely to benefit, sparing the majority of patients from unnecessary side effects.

10 Oct 2007

Cancer conflict with adjuvant chemotherapy

Women under the age of forty with breast cancer who are given drugs in addition to lumpectomies or radiotherapy, known as adjuvant chemotherapy, may not be benefiting from these drugs.

10 Oct 2007

Women on low-fat diets reduce their risk of ovarian cancer

The American Cancer Society, estimates that as many as 22,400 women in the United States will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year and of that number around 15,200 will die from the disease.

10 Oct 2007

Network approach finds potential breast cancer susceptibility gene

Like a crossword-puzzle solver who uses the letters in some answers to figure out others, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an international group of collaborators have used data on genes involved in inherited forms of breast cancer to identify a gene linked to non-hereditary cases of the disease.

10 Oct 2007

Medicaid managed care enrollees appear to receive lower-quality

The proportion of Medicaid beneficiaries in managed care increased from 23 percent to more than 60 percent during the same time period,” the authors write. There is limited information in peer-reviewed literature on the quality of care delivered within health plans to Medicaid enrollees.

10 Oct 2007