Colon Cancer News and Research

Latest Colon Cancer News and Research

FOLFOX now treatment standard for colorectal cancer in the United States

One of the newest and most potent chemotherapies for colon cancer is as safe and effective for the elderly as it is for younger patients, based on a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-led data review.

16 Feb 2006

Study identifies compounds that overcome a specific type of resistance to chemotherapeutic-induced apoptosis

Treatment of human cancer is often impeded when cancer cells develop resistance to drugs that are designed to induce a type of programmed cell death called apoptosis.

16 Feb 2006

First solid data on health effects of a low-fat diet

Adopting a low-fat diet in later life and following such a regimen for nearly a decade does not appear to have a significant impact on reducing the overall risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer or heart disease, according to a Women's Health Initiative study that involved nearly 50,000 postmenopausal women across the United States.

9 Feb 2006

Abdominal chemotherapy boosts survival in ovarian cancer patients

Women with Stage III ovarian cancer given a combination of intravenous and intraperitoneal chemotherapy following surgical debulking of tumor had a median survival nearly 16 months longer than women who received IV chemotherapy alone

10 Jan 2006

Delivering chemotherapy directly into the abdomen boosts survival in ovarian cancer patients

A 50-year-old method for delivering chemotherapy directly into the abdomen is making a comeback as investigators have found that it increases survival - by more than a year - in some women with advanced ovarian cancer. Results from a seven-year study of more than 400 patients nationwide are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

6 Jan 2006

Caspase 8 gene halts spread of aggressive childhood cancer

A team of cancer researchers has shown that a gene commonly lost during neuroblastoma tumor formation, one of the most aggressive cancers in babies and children, is in fact a "metastasis suppressor" gene.

6 Jan 2006

Daily dose of Vitamin D cuts cancer risk

According to cancer prevention specialists, taking vitamin D3 daily appears to lower the risk of cancer by up to as much 50 percent.

28 Dec 2005

Eating chicken may reduce colon cancer risk

A recent study in The American Journal of Gastroenterology revealed that patterns in diet may effect the development of colorectal adenomas, or precancerous polyps of the colon.

19 Dec 2005

High fibre diet gives little protection against bowel cancer

The once accepted doctrine that a high fibre diet prevents cancer has been challenged by new dietary research.

14 Dec 2005

Chemotherapy is a beneficial treatment women and elderly

Although all eligible patients with stage III colon cancer should be offered adjuvant chemotherapy treatment because it improves survival, up to one-third are not, and many of these excluded patients are women and the elderly, say researchers who looked at data from more than 85,000 patients.

7 Dec 2005

Liver plays crucial role in iron metabolism

A new study in the December Cell Metabolism reveals an unexpected connection between a tumor suppressor gene in the liver and the normally careful control over the amount of iron absorbed from the diet.

7 Dec 2005

Cancer cell resistance to chemotherapy drugs - mechanism discovered

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers have discovered new mechanisms developed by cancer cells to become resistant to various chemotherapy drugs.

6 Dec 2005

Introgen's INGN 241 combined with Celebrex kills breast cancer cells

Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. today reported the publication of preclinical data demonstrating that INGN 241 works synergistically with celecoxib (Celebrex) marketed by Pfizer to inhibit the growth and increase apoptosis (cell death) of breast cancer cells.

8 Nov 2005

Colon cancer and fruit and vegetable products

The amounts of health promoting compounds in fruit and vegetable products vary so much that the possible beneficial health effects from these products is far from optimal.

3 Nov 2005

Diabetics are significantly more likely to have colon cancer

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina reported results from a large cross-sectional analysis assessing the risk of colon cancer among patients with diabetes at the 70th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.

1 Nov 2005

Expanded use sought for colon cancer drug

Approval is being sought for a drug designed to treat colon cancer to be used also for the treatment of head and neck cancers.

1 Nov 2005

Colon cancer hits blacks at a younger age

In a review of medical records researchers say that African-Americans are more susceptible to colon cancer at an earlier age than whites.

31 Oct 2005

Computer-assisted instruction offers the potential to overcome knowledge barriers and improve screening rates

Even patients with minimal education and no computer skills can be successfully educated about health topics using computers, according to new research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

16 Oct 2005

Long-term use of NSAIDs cuts the risk for oral cancer in smokers by half but increases risk of cardiovascular problems

An analysis of 20 years of data on the health of over 900 adults has found that long-term use of traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen and naproxen, cuts the risk for oral cancer in smokers by half.

9 Oct 2005

Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to decline

The nation's leading cancer organizations report that Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to decline and that the rate of new cancers is holding steady. The "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2002," published in the Oct. 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, shows observed cancer death rates from all cancers combined dropped 1.1 percent per year from 1993 to 2002.

4 Oct 2005