Breast Cancer News and Research

Latest Breast Cancer News and Research

The next era of cancer treatment

Teaching a body's own immune system to seek out and destroy cancerous tumours represents a promising way to fight a disease that kills more than 70,000 Canadians a year.

4 Jul 2007

Discovery of method to identify how cancer evades the immune system

One of the fundamental traits of a tumor - how it avoids the immune system - might become its greatest vulnerability, according to researchers from the University of Southern California. Their findings, demonstrated in human breast and colorectal cancers, indicate that a technique for determining a tumor's "immune signature," could be useful for diagnosing and treating specific cancers.

3 Jul 2007

Dangers of permitting smoking in the workplace

Offering alarming new evidence on the dangers of permitting smoking in the workplace, scientists have found that nonsmoking restaurant and bar employees absorb a potent carcinogennot considered safe at any levelwhile working in places where they had to breathe tobacco smoke from customers and co-workers.

29 Jun 2007

Breast cancer survival runs in the family

The chances of developing breast cancer are to some extent inherited, but important new findings suggest survival also runs in the family.

29 Jun 2007

Support for chromosomal theory of cancer found in cancers' development of drug resistance

Thirty-six years into the war on cancer, scientists have not only failed to come up with a cure, but most of the newer drugs suffer from the same problems as those available in the pre-war days: serious toxicity, limited effectiveness and eventual resistance.

28 Jun 2007

Trial shows CERVARIX cervical cancer candidate vaccine effective

Results from an interim analysis of a Phase III study show that CERVARIX, the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) cervical cancer candidate vaccine, provides up to 100 percent protection against advanced precancerous lesions caused by the most common types of human papillomavirus, types 16 and 18.

28 Jun 2007

Bayer and Onyx submit supplemental NDA for Nexavar

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Onyx Pharmaceuticals have announced that a Supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Nexavar (sorafenib) tablets has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer. Nexavar is currently approved in more than 50 countries for the treatment of advanced kidney cancer.

28 Jun 2007

Ultrasound follow-up can spare women from unnecessary, invasive biopsies

Researchers have reported that breast masses shown on ultrasound that are diagnosed as probably benign can be safely managed with imaging follow-up rather than biopsy, according to a study appearing in the July issue of Radiology.

27 Jun 2007

Sentinel lymph node biopsy is associated with breast cancer rates

The incidence of some early stage metastatic breast cancers is increasing, but this finding is likely explained by changes in clinical practice, according to a study published online June 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

27 Jun 2007

Software enhances breast MRI scans - helps radiologists reduce false positives

Using commercially available software to enhance breast scans done by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reduces the number of false positive identifications of malignant tumors and the subsequent need for biopsies, according to a new study.

23 Jun 2007

Morning sickness may indicate lower risk of breast cancer

It may not seem so at the time, but women who suffer through morning sickness during their pregnancies actually may be fortunate.

23 Jun 2007

Scientists show protein accelerates breast cancer progression in animal models

The study is being published in an advanced online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

23 Jun 2007

Estrogen use lowered one risk factor for heart disease among some younger postmenopausal women

A follow-up study to the federally funded Women's Health Initiative should help allay one concern in a subset of women in their 50s who are considering taking estrogen to relieve hot flashes.

23 Jun 2007

HRT not such a bad idea after all!

Older women struggling to cope with the symptoms of the menopause will be reassured by the latest research into hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

21 Jun 2007

Size of family appears to affect breast cancer risk

Researchers have found that the probability of the breast cancer gene mutation BRCA among women with a history of breast cancer is greater when the number of older, female relatives in the family is smaller, according to a study in the June 20 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

20 Jun 2007