lung cancer
Men and women with mental disorders have higher odds of being diagnosed with brain tumors and lung cancer and they develop these cancers at younger ages than individuals without mental illness according to a study published in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. ''This work is a piece in the larger puzzle of understanding the relationships between mental and physical health,'' said Caroline Carney, M.D., M.Sc., associate professor of psychiatry and medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. Dr. Carney is the first author of the study which looked at insurance claims data from over seven hundred thousand adults between the ages of 18 and 64 living in Iowa and South Dakota.
Chinese who are exposed to smoky coal emissions from cooking and heating their homes may carry genetic mutations that greatly increase their risk of developing lung cancer. "Lung cancer mortality rates in Xuan Wei are among the highest in China in both nonsmoking women and men who smoke, and are associated with exposure to indoor emissions from the burning of smoky coal," said the study's lead researcher. "To account for the high rates of disease within this region, we tested for mutations generally associated with lung cancer in people who had no evidence of disease. We found that a good number of these individuals had mutations that indicated they were at higher risk for developing lung cancer in the future."
The risk of cancer mortality from a single full-body computed tomography scan is modest, but not negligible, and the risks resulting from elective annual scans are much higher, according to a new study. The increasing popularity of elective, or self-referred, full-body CT screening has raised concerns regarding the radiation-related cancer mortality risk associated with full-body CT radiation exposure. Based on anecdotal evidence, these scans are performed on asymptomatic people to identify a variety of diseases, including colon and lung cancer and coronary artery disease.
Hotspots in two areas of a gene that encodes a specific signaling enzyme, or kinase, are vulnerable to a variety of mutations found in five types of brain cancers, according to a report published in the August 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research. Mutations in the gene PIK3CA occur spontaneously as part of the brain tumor development rather than being passed genetically between generations, said Hai Yan, M.D., Ph.D., the senior scientist of the studies. ''PIK3CA mutations are known to occur in as much as 30 percent of colorectal and gastric cancers and glioblastomas and they are also present, to a lesser extent, in breast and lung cancer,'' Yan noted. ''Our studies defined the association of mutant PIK3CA gene in a wider spectrum of adult and pediatric brain tumors as well.''
A hormone that is important in the control of blood pressure may also inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells, say scientists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, writing in the new issue of the journal Carcinogenesis. Patricia E. Gallagher, Ph.D., and E. Ann Tallant, Ph.D., said the hormone, called angiotensin-(1-7), ''may represent a novel chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive treatment for lung cancer.''
Researchers have discovered a possible inherited component for lung cancer, a disease normally associated with external causes, such as cigarette smoking. An interdisciplinary consortium consisting of 12 research institutions and universities, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), identified a major lung cancer susceptibility region on a segment of chromosome 6.
The nation's leading cancer organizations report that Americans' risk of getting and dying from cancer continues to decline and survival rates for many cancers continue to improve. The ''Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2001*'' finds overall observed cancer incidence rates dropped 0.5 percent per year from 1991 to 2001, while death rates from all cancers combined dropped 1.1 percent per year from 1993 to 2001. According to the report's authors, the new data reflect progress in prevention, early detection, and treatment; however, not all segments of the U.S. population have benefited equally from the advances.
A genetically engineered virus can selectively kill cancerous cells in the lung and colon while leaving healthy cells intact, according to new research published today. The research could lead to a new class of cancer therapies that selectively kill cancer cells. ''These engineered viruses kill cancer cells through a mechanism that is completely different from chemotherapy or radiation,'' said Dr. William Wold, chair of the department of molecular microbiology and immunology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. ''These viruses have the potential to treat many cancers that are resistant to currently available therapeutics. It also may be possible to use these viruses in combination with other therapies to create novel treatment regimens.''
The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker may be more famous, but the pharmacist, the engineer, and the doctor may be onto something big. The latter group has combined resources and knowledge to create a novel way to deliver a new lung cancer treatment. The new system, which uses "nanoparticle cluster bombs," has proven effective in treating cancerous lung cells in vitro (in a petri dish), it was reported today in the International Journal of Pharmaceuticals. The research team from the University of Alberta will conduct in vivo tests (in live specimens) early this year, with plans for clinical trials to follow.
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) ? a treatment that has increased survival in many breast cancer patients ? has failed to live up to hopes that it might also help lung cancer patients. In a Phase II trial of over 100 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) reported in Annals of Oncology, those treated with trastuzumab in combination with two chemotherapy agents gemcitabine and cisplatin, did no better than patients treated with gemcitabine and cisplatin alone.
In a follow-up analysis of the most extensive study of its kind on the long-term effects of air pollution on human health, researchers have found that people living in U.S. cities face an increased risk of dying from a heart attack as a result of long-term exposure to air pollution. This increased risk was found to be as large as that associated with being a former smoker. The new analysis is published as a study in the rapid access issue of the journal Circulation, published by the American Heart Association.
Patients with the earliest form of the most common type of lung cancer are more than twice as likely to die of the disease within four years if they have a mutation in a well known cancer-causing gene, scientists have found. The study in the July 2 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute also shows that lung cancer patients who both smoke and consume alcohol frequently are more likely to have the mutation.
Radiofrequency ablation can ease pain, slow tumor growth, and even destroy tumors in patients with advanced lung cancer, a new study shows. ?We treated 12 patients with thoracic tumors using radiofreqency ablation, which is the use of extreme heat to treat tumors,? says Eric vanSonnenberg, MD, chief of radiology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and visiting professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and lead author of the study. The patients either had maximal applications of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy or were unfit for these therapies anymore, Dr. vanSonnenberg says.
Cancer rates could further increase by 50% to 15 million new cases in the year 2020, according to the World Cancer Report, the most comprehensive global examination of the disease to date. However, the report also provides clear evidence that healthy lifestyles and public health action by governments and health practitioners could stem this trend, and prevent as many as one third of cancers worldwide. In the year 2000, malignant tumours were responsible for 12 per cent of the nearly 56 million deaths worldwide from all causes. In many countries, more than a quarter of deaths are attributable to cancer. In 2000, 5.3 million men and 4.7 million women developed a malignant tumour and altogether 6.2 million died from the disease. The report also reveals that cancer has emerged as a major public health problem in developing countries, matching its effect in industrialized nations.
Scientists at Tularik Inc. and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have discovered a new gene that is expressed at abnormally high levels in nearly 50% of the breast cancer specimens they examined, and is similarly overexpressed in a large proportion of lung cancers (35%).
