Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Physicians validate reclassification of breast cancer stages

Breast cancer is diagnosed as having progressed to any of four stages, Stage IV being the most advanced. The stages are classified by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) on the basis of how much the cancer has spread.

7 Jun 2006

Treatment options for brain metastases

Adding whole-brain radiation therapy to highly-focused radiation therapy does not improve survival for patients with cancer and brain metastases, but it may reduce the likelihood of the recurrence of brain metastases.

7 Jun 2006

Black women twice as likely to get aggressive breast cancer

New research has found that African-American women who contract breast cancer before reaching menopause are more than twice as likely as white women to have an aggressive, deadlier form of the disease.

7 Jun 2006

House of Lords says scientific evidence does not support public smoking ban

MPs voted in February by a huge margin to ban smoking from all pubs and private members' clubs in England.

7 Jun 2006

Asbestos linked to cancer of the voice box

According to research carried out by the Institute of Medicine in the U.S. another cancer has been linked to asbestos.

7 Jun 2006

Glivec the best news yet for cancer victims

In what is great news for those suffering from chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), the drug Glivec looks like being one of the biggest breakthroughs in cancer therapy for a years.

7 Jun 2006

How cancer cells stay young and aggressive

Some of the cancer cells' closest allies have been unveiled. Fortunately, the researchers from BRIC (Biotech Research & Innovation Centre) at University of Copenhagen have also discovered how to beat them.

7 Jun 2006

Exposing cancer more quickly

Previous methods for uncovering cancer are old and inaccurate. Now, data analysts at Norut IT Research in Norway are moving cancer treatment forward.

7 Jun 2006

Health education helps African American smokers quit

The first clinical trial to focus on light smokers shows that African Americans are motivated to quit more by completing health education than by using nicotine gum.

7 Jun 2006

Calcium and vitamin D supplements do not reduce breast cancer

A large multicenter randomized clinical trial reported that supplementation with calcium and vitamin D did not reduce breast cancer risk in the overall population.

7 Jun 2006

Black women have fewer breast cancers than white women, but their mortality is worse

For decades, researchers have tried to understand why breast cancer in younger black women is such a significant public health problem.

7 Jun 2006

First analysis of the genes of a community of human microbes

Researchers have completed the first analysis of the genes of a community of human microbes, an accomplishment that has far-reaching implications for clinical diagnosis and treatment of many human diseases.

7 Jun 2006

Gleevec strangles drug-resistant, metastatic prostate cancer

A medication used to treat other types of cancer strangles drug-resistant, metastatic prostate cancer by cutting off its blood supply, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the June 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

7 Jun 2006

Scientists describe elaborate system of gene control triggered by chemical damage to DNA

Scientists describe for the first time a web of inter-related responses that cells use to avoid becoming diseased or cancerous after being exposed to a powerful mutagen.

7 Jun 2006

Trastuzumab results promising for HER-2 positive breast cancer patients

Researchers have shown that patients who receive trastuzumab at the same time as post-chemotherapy radiation treatments for HER-2 positive breast cancer have no more risk for major side effects or complications than those who do not receive the drug.

7 Jun 2006

Prophylactic surgery reduces the incidence of ovarian and related cancers

A new multicenter study is the first to suggest that the prophylactic removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes may provide a different benefit for women who carry a genetic mutation in the BRCA2 gene than for those who have a BRCA1 genetic mutation.

7 Jun 2006

Human Papillomavirus testing and liquid-based cytology

Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing was more sensitive than traditional Pap smears at detecting precancerous lesions of the cervix, a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports.

7 Jun 2006

Centrosomes may contain ribonucleic acid

Despite more than a century of study, scientists know relatively little about the inner workings of centrosomes - organelles essential to cell division in humans and animals.

7 Jun 2006

Exercise is emerging as a new therapeutic weapon to tackle cancer

When individuals with breast or prostate cancer followed a moderate, home-based exercise program using resistance bands and walking, the patients had less fatigue during radiation treatments, greater strength and could walk farther and faster in only four weeks, researchers discovered in a pilot study.

7 Jun 2006

Gene mutation potentially involved in breast cancer initiation

Researchers have found evidence suggesting that a mutation in a gene that normally helps block the formation of breast tumors could play a role in the initiation of a major form of breast cancer.

6 Jun 2006