Breast Cancer News and Research

Latest Breast Cancer News and Research

Researchers find deadly protein that acts as a cancer master switch

Two critical properties of cancer cells are their ability to divide without restraint and to spread away from the primary tumor to establish new tumor sites.

17 Nov 2008

Study suggests Siemens non-invasive blood test may have a role in monitoring breast cancer patients' response to Herceptin

Siemens Healthcare announced that data from a new study published in the American Cancer Society journal Cancer, supports using the Siemens Serum HER-2/neu test to monitor patients with an aggressive type of metastatic breast cancer.

17 Nov 2008

Scientists identify dangerous 'two-faced' protein crucial to breast cancer spread and growth

Two critical properties of cancer cells are their ability to divide without restraint and to spread away from the primary tumor to establish new tumor sites.

17 Nov 2008

Breakthrough reveals first ever complete structure of a nuclear hormone receptor on human DNA

For decades, scientists have been studying nuclear hormone receptors to gain a better understanding of how they turn genes on and off throughout the body and how they function as key drug targets for a number of diseases, such as diabetes, breast cancer, osteoporosis and high cholesterol. A new UVA Health System study, led by Fraydoon Rastinejad, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and director of the UVA Center for Molecular Design and published in the October 29 issue of Nature, reveals the first ever complete structure of a nuclear hormone receptor on human DNA – a discovery that now clears a new path for scientists to design more effective drugs with fewer associated health risks. “Dr. Rastinejad’s findings fundamentally change the way people all over the world will study how nuclear hormone receptors work and introduces a new platform for designing better drugs,” says Jim Garrison, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at UVA Health System. Nuclear hormone receptors, including the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), are proteins that sit on the surface of cells and bind to specific hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and thyroid hormone. Once the receptor binds to its hormone and its DNA regulatory element, it can cause a number of alterations in the cell, switching genes on and off. These switches control the continual regulation of the metabolic system and reproductive tissues, as well as the development and differentiation of skin, bone and behavioral centers in the brain. “PPARs are widely studied because they regulate the genes that produce fat cells, glucose, insulin, lipids and metabolism,” says Dr. Rastinejad. “That’s what makes them such good drug targets for diseases like diabetes. We can design drugs more rationally to bind to the PPAR nuclear receptor complex to help regulate these functions in the body.” A number of diabetes drugs, called insulin sensitizers, have been developed based on that knowledge, but now that scientists have a clear view into how these receptors bind and what shape they take the door is wide open for the development of better drugs. "After 40 years of nuclear receptor research, we finally can view the first full and complete structure of a nuclear receptor, thanks to Dr. Rastinejad’s break-though achievement,” says Bert W. O’Malley, Ph.D., professor and chairman, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine who is widely considered a top expert in the field.

17 Nov 2008

Intervention program boosts survival in breast cancer patients

A new study provides the best evidence to date that a psychological intervention program designed for breast cancer patients not only improves their health - it actually increases their chance of survival.

17 Nov 2008

Early detection program for men with a high prostate cancer risk

Men with a family history of prostate cancer and African-American men are particularly susceptible to the disease, with a twofold to sevenfold increased risk. Assessing risk in these populations has been difficult.

17 Nov 2008

Expert calls on government to increase recommended daily vitamin D intake

Today, the Indoor Tanning Association (ITA) asked Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, why he is suing a local tanning salon owner for claiming that tanning provides vitamin D, when Vitamin D experts at the University of California Riverside are saying the same thing?

17 Nov 2008

Exercise can lower a woman's overall risk of cancer

Exercise is good for more than just your waistline. A recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research suggests that regular physical activity can lower a woman's overall risk of cancer - but only if she gets a good night's sleep. Otherwise, lack of sleep can undermine exercise's cancer prevention benefits.

17 Nov 2008

Breast cancer common among women with family history but without BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation

New data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting outlines new data, which assesses breast cancer risk among women with a strong family history of breast cancer, but without a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.

17 Nov 2008

Behavioral risk factors influence cancer risk among the elderly

Behavioral risk factors have a significant effect on cancer risk in the U.S. elderly population, according to research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

17 Nov 2008

Canadian women unaware of their vitamin D levels

A new survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid, reveals Canadian women are unaware of their vitamin D levels. According to the survey sponsored by Marc Sorenson, Ed.D, 97 per cent of the 516 Canadian women surveyed didn't know their vitamin D levels.

17 Nov 2008

'Intelligent' cancer drug development boosts success rates

A new era of intelligent cancer drug development has spurred a leap in the proportion of drugs reaching patients, according to a study by Cancer Research UK scientists published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.

17 Nov 2008

Scientists establish completely new route to cancer development

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have linked cancer clues in faulty cells to provide a new route to cancer development, reveals a study published in Developmental Cell.

17 Nov 2008

Scientists find intra cellular pathway driving a deadly sub-type of breast cancer

An intra cellular pathway not previously linked to breast cancer is driving a sub-type of the disease that is highly lethal and disproportionately over-represented in African American women.

16 Nov 2008

PEA-15 protein points to potential targeted approach for ovarian cancer

A protein known to inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer works in part by forcing cancer cells to eat themselves until they die, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Nov. 15 issue of Cancer Research .

16 Nov 2008

Community-based physical activity interventions found to be cost-effective

Community-based physical activity interventions designed to promote more active lifestyles among adults are cost-effective in reducing heart disease, stroke, colorectal and breast cancers, and type 2 diabetes, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

16 Nov 2008

Breast and prostate cancer treatment may result in bone loss

A new cross-Canada study has found that breast and prostate cancer treatment can foster bone loss.

16 Nov 2008

Fear, misconceptions about screenings keep many African-Americans from getting mammograms

Training physicians and caregivers to improve cultural sensitivity and communication with economically disadvantaged African-American patients could influence these women to get mammograms that could save their lives, according to a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

12 Nov 2008

New method of viewing cancer cells shows how breast cancer spreads

In a breakthrough study appearing in advance online publication of Nature Methods, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University describe for the first time a method of viewing individual breast cancer cells for several days at a time.

12 Nov 2008

Scientists crack the code to tamoxifen resistance

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have discovered the molecular basis for tamoxifen response in breast cancer cells - and the reason why some women can develop resistance to the treatment, according to a study published in Nature today (Wednesday).

12 Nov 2008