Breast Cancer News and Research

Latest Breast Cancer News and Research

Genetic factors may play a significant role in the racial differences encountered in the epidemiology of breast cancer

A new review finds similarities between the clinical presentation and course of breast cancer in Africans and African-Americans, suggesting that genetic factors may play a significant role in the racial differences encountered in the epidemiology of breast cancer in America.

14 Mar 2005

Secondhand smoke causes breast cancer

A California agency, the Air Resources Board, which first linked secondhand smoke to heart disease, now says secondhand smoke causes breast cancer too.

10 Mar 2005

Africa faces potential increases in breast cancer rates

9 Mar 2005

Medicaid enrollment at late stages may partly explain poor outcomes for cancer

A new study concludes that the unavailability of health insurance prior to Medicaid enrollment may contribute to poor outcomes in the Medicaid-insured cancer population.

9 Mar 2005

Progress toward development of a breast cancer vaccine

Progress toward development of a breast cancer vaccine has been reported by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis.

8 Mar 2005

1 out of 7 minority women lack important family history of breast cancer

Having your doctor ask you about your family breast health history can greatly increase the chances of identifying your risk for breast cancer.

8 Mar 2005

Women with non–invasive breast cancer carry the same mutations in two inherited breast/ovarian cancer genes as women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer

The inherited breast/ovarian cancer genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are associated with an increased risk of breast and/or ovarian cancer. The results are part of a five–year study of a common form of early stage breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

7 Mar 2005

Medical tests in the privacy of your own home

A San Francisco-based testing company is currently offering genetic testing, for a predisposition to cystic fibrosis, blood clotting, iron overload and a heightened risk for lung and liver diseases; prices ranging from $199 to $380.

7 Mar 2005

MRI useful in assessment of suspected breast cancer patients

If a mammogram or sonogram suggests that a woman has breast cancer, an MRI should be done to help determine whether there actually is a cancer and if so, what are the woman’s best treatment options, a new study shows.

6 Mar 2005

Prostate screenings could be used to encourage colon checks

Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in men, but according to a new University of Michigan Health System study, fewer than half of men surveyed were up-to-date with colon cancer screenings.

3 Mar 2005

Discovery gives clinicians new targets for making existing therapies more effective and developing drugs to inhibit the growth of cancers

A team of researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto have discovered how a key enzyme involved in repairing DNA is put together and how it works--a development that opens up new therapies for making cancer cells more vulnerable to attack.

3 Mar 2005

CAD can effectively detect breast cancers

A computer-aided detection system (CAD) can effectively detect breast cancers a radiologist is more apt to initially miss, a new study shows.

3 Mar 2005

MRI better than current standard of practice in assessing neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients

More breast cancer patients with large palpable tumors are now undergoing chemotherapy before surgery in an effort to reduce the size of their tumor, and MRI is the best way to predict if the chemotherapy is working, preliminary results of a study show. If the chemotherapy is successful, then the woman may be able to undergo breast-conservation surgery rather than a mastectomy.

3 Mar 2005

Older women benefit from chemo to treat breast cancer

Age alone should not prohibit the use of chemotherapy regimens in older women with breast cancer who are otherwise in good general health, according to a study in the March 2 issue of JAMA.

1 Mar 2005

Molecule from South American tree Quillaja, helps battle disease

The first synthesis of QS-21A, a medicinally important molecule that helps the body battle disease, has been achieved by chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

1 Mar 2005

An apple a day keeps breast cancer away

An apple a day can help keep breast cancer away, according to a study in rats by food scientists at Cornell University.

1 Mar 2005

More experienced physicians less likely to falsely characterize a mammogram as abnormal

Physicians who specialize in screening mammography and who have at least 25 years of experience are more accurate at interpreting the images and subject fewer women to the anxiety of false positives for cancer, when compared to physicians with less experience or those who don't have the same focus, according to a new study.

1 Mar 2005

U.S. cancer researchers launch first American-Israeli cancer conference

Leading cancer researchers from Baltimore, Miami and New Jersey have organized the first Joint American-Israeli Conference on Cancer. The meeting, scheduled for March 16 through 18 in Jerusalem, seeks to foster collaboration among physicians and scientists in the two countries.

1 Mar 2005

Some immune cells are smarter than others killing more cancer

In efforts to educate the body to fight off cancer, researchers have found that some immune cells are "smarter" than others. Working with collections of human cells, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists tested kill-rates of two kinds of T-cells "primed" to home in on myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. Those that live in the bone marrow outperformed their counterparts circulating in the blood by more than 90 percent.

1 Mar 2005

$Primary reason to diagnose and treat osteoporosis is to prevent bone fractures$

Primary reason to diagnose and treat osteoporosis is to prevent bone fractures

In an editorial in the February 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, Alan L. Buchman, M.D., M.P.H., of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, Chicago, writes that the primary reason to diagnose and treat osteoporosis is to prevent bone fractures.

28 Feb 2005