Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Underage and abusive drinkers very profitable for the alcohol industry

According to new research in the U.S. the underage drinking market is making the alcohol industry a neat $23 billion a year and that figure represents 17.5 percent of all money spent on alcohol in the U.S. annually.

3 May 2006

Therapeutic gene suspected to cause cancer

One of the few gene therapy studies that had ever been successful was terminated in 2003, because several of the treated children had developed leukemia.

3 May 2006

Differential effects of HOXB4 on nonhuman primate short and long-term repopulating cells

Transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs, the cells that can give rise to all blood and most immune cell types) can save patients whose own hematopoietic system is defective or has been destroyed (often through radiation or chemotherapy of cancer).

3 May 2006

MDCT urography shows potential for detecting bladder cancer without surgery

MDCT urography is a promising technique for detecting bladder tumors both with and without contrast material, helping patients avoid an invasive test, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, MI.

3 May 2006

Importance of relative measures in policy on health inequalities

The British public supports the use of personal medical data, without consent, for public health research, finds a study published on bmj.com. Most people also think that cancer registration should be required by law.

3 May 2006

Researchers test secret herb to stop hot flushes associated with breast cancer

Researchers at the University of Manchester are testing a secret herb in a bid to stop the severe hot flushes that besiege breast cancer patients on hormone treatment.

From The University of Manchester 3 May 2006

Inflammation markers identify fatigue in breast cancer survivors

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have defined conditions associated with disabling fatigue that persists for years in almost a third of breast cancer survivors, according to a study in the May 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

3 May 2006

New technique reduces radiation exposure by 60 percent in abdominal CT of children

By lowering the tube current to account for both the weight and body symmetry of a child, an abdominal CT radiation dose can be reduced by 60% without compromising the image quality, says a new study by researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.

3 May 2006

Compensation by tumor suppressor genes during retinal development in mice and humans

Humans are more susceptible to developing the eye cancer retinoblastoma than mice because, unlike humans, mice can compensate for the loss of activity of a gene critical to normal retinal development, according to results of a study by investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

3 May 2006

An engineered virus that tracks down and compels cancer cells to eat themselves

An engineered virus tracks down and infects the most common and deadly form of brain cancer and then kills tumor cells by forcing them to devour themselves, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report.

3 May 2006

Percutaneous image-guided biopsy of renal masses is safe and accurate

For the study, the researchers reviewed 153 kidney biopsies in 126 patients. The researchers found that more than 60% of patients had a change in their treatment--whether surgery, tumor ablation, chemotherapy or radiation--due to biopsy results, and that as many as 75 unnecessary kidney removals were potentially avoided.

3 May 2006

Etanercept and chemo might reduce fatigue in cancer patients

Researchers here have found evidence that combining a drug typically used to treat rheumatoid arthritis with chemotherapy might help reduce fatigue and muscle wasting that often afflicts cancer patients.

3 May 2006

Study looks at the cellular basis for immune activation in fatigued breast cancer survivors

Breast cancer survivors who suffer from persistent, debilitating fatigue years after their diagnosis have something in common: their immune systems don't shut down following treatment, according to researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center.

3 May 2006

Accuracy of PET-CT for detecting recurrent ovarian cancer is high

The accuracy of PET-CT for detecting recurrent ovarian cancer is high, more accurate even than either CT or PET alone, says a new study by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

3 May 2006

Completion of therapy by Medicare patients with stage III colon cance

Physical frailty, treatment complications, and lack of social and psychological support may explain why elderly stage III colon cancer patients do not complete a course of chemotherapy after surgery

3 May 2006

Chemotherapy regimen predicts steatohepatitis and an increase in 90-day mortality after surgery for hepatic colorectal metastases

Patients and their physicians should be careful when selecting a chemotherapy drug to treat colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

3 May 2006

Polymer-based therapy for breast cancer

Women who undergo surgery for breast cancer followed by radiation therapy often experience breast deformities that can only be corrected through reconstructive surgery.

3 May 2006

Three-dimensional breast cell cultures reveal clues to breast cancer hidden inside stem cells

Stem cells and how to boost them is hot on the research agenda. But stopping them could be critical too, as evidence implicating stem cells in cancer is mounting.

3 May 2006

Initial experience of FDG-PET/CT guided IMRT of head and neck carcinoma

Doctors have discovered that combining images derived from positron emission tomography and computed tomography in the planning and delivery of radiation treatment for patients with head and neck cancer leads to more accurate delivery of the radiation dose and an increased chance for survival.

3 May 2006

Risk of secondary malignancies in testicular cancer

While in the United States the preferred treatment for stage I mixed germ cell tumors has been retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy, adjuvant chemotherapy has been more commonly used in Europe.

2 May 2006