Tasmanian Devil Cancer Originated from a Single Female?

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have discovered the root cause of Tasmanian devil's cancer.

The Tasmanian devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial, a mammal that has its babies in its pouch like the kangaroo. They are usually found in Australia.

The researchers took genomes from the Tasmanian devils that were suffering from cancer. They discovered that cancer was spreading among animals by bites.

They found the cancer cells had aroused from the cells of a single female Tasmanian devil that had died more than 15 years ago. Her DNA is living on in the contagious cancer cell line that she spawned.

The cancer causes the appearance of tumours on the face of the affected Tasmanian devils which grow rapidly and cause death within months.

According to the researchers, the spread of cancer between individuals is normally prevented by the immune system but the devil cancer may outwit the immune system. However, future studies will be required to explain how cancer escapes the immune destruction.

Read more of this article here

Prostate Cancer Found in 2,000-Year-Old Mummy

A 2150-year-old Egyptian mummy has just revealed small, round lesions—the oldest case of metastatic prostate cancer in ancient Egyptians.

Prostate cancer,‭ ‬one of the most common types of modern malignancies,‭ ‬did affect the ancient Egyptians,‭ ‬according to a radiological investigation of a‭ 2,250‭ ‬year old-mummy.

Kept at the National Archaeology Museum of Lisbon,‭ ‬and catalogued as M1,‭ ‬the unnamed wrapped Ptolemaic mummy‭ (‬c.‭ ‬285‭–‬30‭ ‬BCE‭) ‬was adorned with a cartonnage mask and bib,‭ ‬and boasted an elaborately painted shroud.

The mummy is that of an adult male‭ "a view further justified by the preserved male perineal anatomy and an obvious mummified penis,‭" ‬Carlos Prates,‭ ‬a radiologist at Imagens Médicas Integradas in Lisbon,‭ ‬and colleagues write in a study now in press in the International Journal of Paleopathology.‭

The man,‭ ‬about‭ ‬5ft‭ ‬5in tall,‭ ‬was between‭ ‬51‭ ‬and‭ ‬60‭ ‬years old when he died a slow,‭ ‬painful death.

The researchers subjected the mummy to powerful Multi Detector Computerised Tomography‭ (‬MDCT‭) ‬scans.‭ ‬The specially designed protocol produced‭ "really unusual high quality images,‭" ‬Prates reports.

Digital X-rays showed that M1‭ ‬had been buried with crossed arms‭ (‬a common pose in Ptolemaic mummies,‭ ‬although in the New Kingdom it was often associated with royals‭) ‬and suffered from lumbosacral osteoarthritis,‭ ‬which was probably related to a lower lumbar scoliosis.

Several‭ ‬post-mortem fractures,‭ ‬possibly produced by mishandling when the mummy was transported to Europe,‭ ‬afflicted the body.

But that wasn't all they found.‭ ‬A pattern of round and dense tumors,‭ ‬measuring between‭ ‬0.03‭ ‬and‭ ‬0.59‭ ‬inches,‭ ‬interspersed‭ ‬M1‭’‬s pelvis and lumbar spine.‭

"The bone lesions were considered very suggestive of metastatic prostate cancer,‭" ‬wrote the researchers.

Indeed,‭ ‬prostatic carcinoma typically spreads to the pelvic region,‭ ‬the lumbar spine,‭ ‬the upper arm and leg bones,‭ ‬the ribs,‭ ‬ultimately reaching most of the skeleton.‭

Prates and colleagues‭ ‬considered other diseases as alternatives.‭ ‬But‭ ‬M1‭'‬s sex,‭ ‬age,‭ ‬the‭ ‬distribution pattern of the lesions,‭ ‬their shape and density,‭ ‬strongly argued for prostate cancer.

"It is the oldest known case of prostate cancer in ancient Egypt and the‭ ‬second‭ ‬oldest case in history,‭" ‬Prates said.

The earliest diagnosis of‭ ‬metastasising prostate carcinoma came in‭ ‬2007,‭ ‬when researchers investigated the skeleton of a‭ ‬2,700-year-old Scythian king who died,‭ ‬aged‭ ‬40-50,‭ ‬in the steppe of Southern Siberia,‭ ‬Russia.
‭
"This study shows that cancer did exist in antiquity,‭ ‬for sure in ancient Egypt.‭ ‬The main reason for the scarcity of examples found today might be the lower prevalence of carcinogens and the shorter life expectancy,‭" ‬Paula Veiga,‭ ‬a researcher in Egyptology,‭ ‬said.

Moreover,‭ ‬high-resolution CT scanners,‭ ‬able to detect tiny‭ ‬tumors‭ (‬measuring‭ ‬0.03-0.07‭ ‬inches in diameter‭)‬,‭ ‬became available only in‭ ‬2005.‭ ‬This suggests that earlier researchers might have missed several cases.
‭
"This technology improved significantly the interpretation of data.‭ ‬Radiology,‭ ‬and its latest developments,‭ ‬like high resolution CT scan,‭ ‬is a phenomenal non-destructive tool in many fields of art and archeology,‭"‬ Prates said.

Illuminating the 'Dark Matter' of the Genome: Vast hidden network regulates gene expression in cancer

Researchers have uncovered a vast new gene regulatory network in mammalian cells that could explain genetic variability in cancer and other diseases.

(Credit: Image courtesy of Columbia University Medical Center)

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and two other institutions have uncovered a vast new gene regulatory network in mammalian cells that could explain genetic variability in cancer and other diseases.

The studies appear in the online edition of Cell.

"The discovery of this regulatory network fills in a missing piece in the puzzle of cell regulation and allows us to identify genes never before associated with a particular type of tumour or disease," said Andrea Califano, PhD, professor of systems biology, director of the Columbia Initiative in Systems Biology, and senior author of the CUMC research team.

For decades, scientists have thought that the primary role of messenger RNA (mRNA) is to shuttle information from the DNA to the ribosomes, the sites of protein synthesis.

However, these new studies suggest that the mRNA of one gene can control, and be controlled by, the mRNA of other genes via a large pool of microRNA molecules, with dozens to hundreds of genes working together in complex self-regulating sub-networks.

The findings have the potential to broaden investigations into how tumors develop and grow, who is at risk for cancer, and how to identify and inactivate key molecules that encourage the growth and spread of cancer.

For example, in the case of the phosphatase and tensin homolog gene (PTEN), a major tumour suppressor, deletions of its mRNA network regulators in patients appear to be as damaging as mutations of the gene itself in several types of cancer, the studies show.

The newly identified regulatory network (called the mPR network by the CUMC investigators) allows mRNAs to communicate through small bits of RNA called microRNAs.

Researchers first realized about a decade ago that microRNAs, by binding to complementary genetic sequences on mRNAs, can prevent those mRNAs from making proteins.

Turning this concept on end, the new studies reveal that mRNAs actually use microRNAs to influence the expression of other genes.

When two genes share a set of microRNA regulators, changes in expression of one gene affects the other. If, for instance, one of those genes is highly expressed, the increase in its mRNA molecules will "sponge up" more of the available microRNAs.

As a result, fewer microRNA molecules will be available to bind and repress the other gene's mRNAs, leading to a corresponding increase in expression. Although such an effect had been previously elucidated, the range and relevance of this kind of interaction had not been characterised.

"It turns out that this type of microRNA-mediated regulation is commonplace in the cell, and thousands of genes are regulating one another through hundreds of thousands of microRNA-mediated interactions," says Pavel Sumazin, PhD, research scientist in systems biology and a first author of the CUMC paper.

"This is similar in size and effect to other regulatory networks, such as transcriptional regulatory networks, where target genes are regulated by transcription factors."

In the CUMC study, Dr. Sumazin and his colleagues analyzed glioblastoma mRNA and microRNA expression data from the Cancer Genome Atlas, a public database, uncovering a regulatory layer comprising more than 248,000 microRNA-mediated interactions.

Looking specifically at the tumour suppressor gene PTEN, the researchers found that it is part of a sub-network of more than 500 genes.

Of these genes, 13 are frequently deleted in glioblastoma and seem to work together through microRNAs to stop PTEN activity -- achieving the same result as if the tumors had inactivating mutations or deletions of PTEN itself.

Read More on this article at Science Daily

Hot dog! Ready-to-eat meat contains few cancerous compounds

If given the choice between eating a hot dog or enjoying some rotisserie chicken, consider the hot dog.

That’s because hot dogs, as well as pepperoni and deli meats, are relatively free of carcinogenic compounds, according to Kansas State University research. But it’s a not-so-happy ending for bacon and rotisserie chicken — especially chicken skin — because both have higher levels of cancerous material.

J. Scott Smith, professor of food chemistry, and a K-State research team have been looking at such ready-to-eat meat products to determine their levels of heterocyclic amines, or HCAs.

These are carcinogenic compounds found in meat that is fried, grilled or cooked at high temperatures. Studies have shown that humans who consume large amounts of HCAs in meat products have increased risk of stomach, colon and breast cancers.

Ready-to-eat meat products are meat or poultry products that come in edible forms and don’t need additional preparation or cooking. Smith has already researched HCA levels in cooked meat and found that adding certain spices and marinades before cooking can reduce HCA content in the meat.

The ready-to-eat product project was a collaboration with several other K-State researchers, including Terry Houser, assistant professor of meat science; Melvin Hunt, professor of animal sciences and industry; Kanithaporn Puangsombat, December 2010 doctoral graduate in food science, Bangkok, Thailand; and Priyadarshini Gadgil, a K-State graduate who now works as a research scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Center for Grain and Animal Health Research in Manhattan. Their research appears in a recent issue of Meat Science, the journal of the American Meat Science Association.

The study focuses on eight types of ready-to-eat meat products: beef hot dogs, beef-pork-turkey hot dogs, deli roast beef, deli ham, deli turkey, fully cooked bacon, pepperoni and rotisserie chicken.

“These are the most common types of ready-to-eat products, and their use has increased in recent years because of convenience,” Smith said. “For this research, we took each of these products and prepared them as a consumer would.”

The researchers heated up the hot dogs and bacon in a microwave, cooked the pepperoni on a pizza either in the oven or a microwave and used the chicken and deli meat as obtained. After doing so, they studied the meat to determine whether it contained five different types of HCAs according to nanograms per gram, ng/g.

Pepperoni had the least HCA content, 0.05 ng/g, followed by hot dogs and deli meat, 0.5 ng/g). Such amounts are low, and the researchers concluded that consuming such ready-to-eat meat products contributes very little to HCA intake.

Fully cooked bacon, with 1.1 ng/g, and rotisserie chicken meat, with 1.9 ng/g, contained all five types of HCAs tested. Rotisserie chicken skin had significantly higher HCA levels, with 16.3 ng/g. This is because chicken skin contains more fat and protein and less moisture, and HCA levels tend to increase as moisture decreases, Smith said.

“Based on this research, HCA consumption can be reduced by not eating chicken skin,” he said.

The reasons for lower HCA content in some of the other ready-to-eat products may be because of the higher water content in the ready-to-eat products. More moisture prevents many HCAs from forming. Ready-to-eat products are often enhanced products, meaning they have a water solution with flavoring added to them.

“Hot dogs and deli meat may have low HCA levels because they are manufactured at low temperatures,” Smith said. “The low HCA levels may also be from ingredients that are added to the meat and prevent HCAs from forming while the meat is cooking.”

NASA Light Technology Successfully Reduces Bone Marrow Cancer Patients Painful Side Effects

A NASA technology originally developed for plant growth experiments on space shuttle missions has successfully reduced the painful side effects resulting from chemotherapy and radiation treatment in bone marrow and stem cell transplant patients.

In a two-year clinical trial, cancer patients undergoing bone marrow or stem cell transplants were given a far red/near infrared Light Emitting Diode treatment called High Emissivity Aluminiferous Luminescent Substrate, or HEALS, to treat oral mucositis -- a common and extremely painful side effect of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

The trial concluded that there is a 96 percent chance that the improvement in pain of those in the high-risk patient group was the result of the HEALS treatment.

"Using this technology as a healing agent was phenomenal," said Dr. Donna Salzman, clinical trial principal investigator and director of clinical services and education at the Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. "The HEALS device was well tolerated with no adverse affects to our bone marrow and stem cell transplant patients."

The HEALS device, known as the WARP 75 light delivery system, can provide a cost-effective therapy since the device itself is less expensive than a day at the hospital and a proactive therapy for symptoms of mucositis that are currently difficult to treat without additional, negative side effects.

The device could offer patients several benefits: better nutrition since eating can be difficult with painful mouth and throat sores; less narcotic use to treat mouth and throat pain; and an increase in patient morale -- all of which can contribute to shorter hospital stays and less potential for infection, added Salzman.

LEDs are light sources releasing energy in the form of photons. They release long wavelengths of light that stimulate cells to aid in healing. HEALS technology allows LED chips to function at their maximum irradiancy without emitting heat. NASA is interested in using HEALS technology for medical uses to improve healing in space and for long-term human spaceflight.

NASA - NASA Light Technology Successfully Reduces Cancer Patients Painful Side Effects from Radiation and Chemotherapy

New Research: Prostrate Cancer Tumour Imaging

More than 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and 28,000 die from it, making it one of the most common cancer in men nationwide and also one of the leading causes of cancer death in men, according to the Centres for Disease Control.

Yet the disease ranges widely in its rate of growth and aggressiveness, according to John Kurhanewicz, PhD, a UCSF expert in prostate cancer imaging. As a result, there is great debate over the ideal strategy for treating the disease, he said, leaving patients with a difficult and potentially life-changing decision over how aggressively to respond to the disease.

“This test could give both physicians and patients the information they need to make that decision,” said Kurhanewicz, whose work with Dan Vigneron, PhD, and their colleagues from the UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging first linked a prostate tumour’s production of lactate to tumour aggressiveness. Other researchers also have linked that lactate production to tumour aggressiveness and response to therapy in other cancers.

The method uses compounds involved in normal tissue function — in this case, pyruvate, which is a naturally occurring by-product of glucose, and lactate, also known as lactic acid — and uses newly developed equipment to increase the visibility of those compounds by a factor of 50,000 in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.

That process requires pyruvate to be prepared in a strong magnetic field at a temperature of minus 272O C, then rapidly warmed to body temperature and transferred to the patient in an MRI scanner before the polarisation decays back to its native state.

The result is a highly defined and clear image of the tumour’s outline, as well as a graph of the amount of pyruvate in the tumour and the rate at which the tumour converts the pyruvate into lactate.

The sterile production process requires a dedicated clinical pharmacist with the knowledge of both quality control and of clinical practice.

The procedure must take place within minutes, which meant integrating a clean room into the scanning facility. QB3 also worked with GE Healthcare in designing Byers Hall, in which the Surbeck Laboratory of Advanced Imaging is housed, to accommodate the extremely strong magnetic field of the MRI scanner and enable time-sensitive experiments.

“All of that insight is why we moved this technology to Northern California,” said Jonathan Murray, general manager, Metabolic Imaging at GE Healthcare. “This is a huge accomplishment UCSF and QB3 have achieved.

They brought together the best engineering from UC Berkeley and the best bioscience and pharmacy knowledge from UCSF, and are now demonstrating the technology in a world-renowned academic medical centre.

We are delighted with the speed of progress of this collaboration. The science is very exciting.”

Vaccine to kill Tumour Cells

This study examines patients with colorectal cancer. Dr. Richard Barth, a Dartmouth surgeon and the author of the study, operated on 26 patients whose colorectal cancer had metastasised to the liver.

In such a situation, patients are expected to die from tiny undetectable metastases that escape the surgeon's scalpel.

But here's where Dr Barth and his colleagues tried something different. They took proteins from the patient's tumor and mixed them with a certain kind of cell grown from the patient's blood.

The personalised vaccines were injected into each patient a month after surgery. Barth was able to determine that about 60% of the patients developed an immune response from the vaccine.

About five years later, he was able to compare the clinical outcomes between those who had had an immune response, and those who had not. Of the group who did not have an immune response from the vaccine, only 18% were alive and tumor-free.

Of the group who did have an immune response from the vaccine, 63% were alive and tumor-free--a remarkable result indeed. (The vaccine approach has the added benefit of being non-toxic, in contrast to chemo.)

The results were published this week in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. This is not the first time doctors have tried to fight fire with fire (or rather, tumor with tumor).

Dr Barth has been trying it on mice and humans for over a decade. And other clinical researchers had tried it as well--but without much success. Researchers were hoping that tumor-derived vaccines could actually attack and kill fully-grown tumors, rather than the microscopic metastases.

Experimental drug helps kids with neuroblastoma

Two new studies offer hope for babies and toddlers suffering from neuroblastoma, a rare but often deadly cancer of the nervous system that strikes about 750 children a year.

Both therapies offer better, safer treatments for the disease, and belong to the emerging field of "personalized" cancer therapy, with medications tailored to the specific genetic profiles of a patient's tumor, says co-author John Maris of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Children diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which grows in nerve cells in the neck, chest and abdomen, are typically only about 17 months old, Maris says. About have an aggressive form of disease that relapses despite the best therapy.

A study of 226 children focused on an experimental, man-made antibody, called ch14.18, given as a cocktail with other immune stimulants. Doctors randomly assigned half of children to get standard care and half to receive the new antibody, according to the study in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

This type of antibody is the "holy grail" of cancer therapy, Maris says, because it targets a protein found only on cancer cells, but rarely on healthy ones. Scientists first identified this protein in the 1980s, he says.

The new therapy cut the risk of relapse from 66% to 46% after two years Because most relapses occur in the first two to three years, these children have likely been cured, Maris says. About 86% of those given the new therapy were alive after two years, compared to 75% of those given standard care.

"This is the biggest improvement we've ever seen in neuroblastoma," Maris says. "It's not a magic bullet, but it's the biggest result we've seen in a long time.. .. This is the culmination of 20 years of work."

Blood test can accurately predict death from prostate cancer

Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center found that a blood test given to men who are 60 can tell if they will die from prostate cancer up to 25 years in advance.

It’s the leading cause of death for men behind lung cancer. 1 out of every 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime.

“We know that screening detects many prostate cancers that are not harmful, leading to anxiety and unnecessary treatment. It is our ability to determine the risk of the really aggressive cancers that makes this approach of such great potential value,” Sloan-Kettering’s researcher Andrew Vickers said in a statement.

After studying blood samples from a thousand men born in 1921 — part of the Malmo Preventive Project in early 1980s— scientists found that the men who had high levels of PSA were the ones who were likely to die from prostate cancer. Indeed, the majority of the men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer had the top 25 percent PSA levels. And those who had PSA levels below 1 ng / ml, basically had no chance of dying from prostate cancer.

The researchers found that half the men fell into this low level PSA range. Distinquishing which cancers are more aggressive could help researchers treat individual cases accordingly.

However, there’s evidence that PSA tests don’t reduce deaths — and perhaps we should starting screening later at age 60 instead of 40.

According to WebMD:

“When we do routine mass screening for prostate cancer there are winners and losers,” Andriole said to WebMD. “Some men clearly benefit from early detection and early treatment. But other men are losers. They are diagnosed with a cancer, undergo unnecessary treatment and have side effects, and they go through all pain and anxiety associated with having cancer.”

In other news, researchers found that biomarkers can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease long before it manifests. And as I mentioned this week, biomarkers associated with cancer were found in swimmers who soaked themselves in chlorine-drenched pools.

Scottish scientists discovers cancer breakthrough

New DNA discovered in the city of Discovery

A PROTEIN has been discovered which could have major implications for cancer treatments, it emerged last night.

Researchers at the University of Dundee described the find as “molecular scissors” which repair damaged DNA in human cells, helping to prevent mutations leading to cancer.

The protein at the centre of the development is known as FAN1 and is present in each cell.

Yesterday, one of the experts behind the discovery explained how it might help further research against the killer disease.

John Rouse, of the university’s renowned College of Life Sciences, said the findings helped unlock a “major part of the puzzle”.

He added: “The DNA in our cells is like an instruction manual for the proper working of each cell.

“A major problem is that DNA becomes damaged regularly. If DNA damage is not fixed quickly then these instructions are changed and the result is mutations – undesirable changes in DNA – that can cause the cell to become abnormal.

“This is essentially what causes cancer.

“However, cells are very good at recognising when DNA has become damaged and they are good at finding DNA damage and repairing it.

“For example, cells can quickly detect breakages in DNA and quickly fix these breaks. Many different factors help this process but we still haven’t identified all of them or exactly how this process works. FAN1 carries out this task, and in this sense it acts like a ‘molecular scissors’.”

No Relaxing for Cancer Cells

No relaxing for cancer cells

Many tumour cells would not be viable due to aberrant chromosome distribution if they had not developed a special trick. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Centre have investigated which genes are responsible for this survival strategy of cancer cells.

The revealed that cancer cells rely on the tension of specific protein fibers to be able to multiply. Thus, proteins which maintain this tension are promising targets for new, target-specific anticancer drugs: If they are switched off, cancer cells die.

The two centrosomes of a cell are responsible for cell division to proceed correctly. From these polar bodies in the cytoplasm protein fibers form which correctly distribute the duplicated chromosome set to the newly forming daughter cells. Seen under the microscope, these fibers have the shape of a spindle.

Cancer cells, however, often have more than two centrosomes. As a result, their spindle fibers do not necessarily assume the normal shape of a spindle with two poles; instead, they can have a dysfunctional, multipolar shape. Such malformed spindles distribute the chromosomes unevenly among the daughter cells, which are then no longer viable.

Hence, tumor cells only survive if they manage to partition their chromosomes correctly in spite of extra centrosomes. To do so, many cancer cells have developed a special trick: They form clusters of centrosomes.

Two clusters are formed per cell and a functioning bipolar spindle can develop between these two. Professor Dr. Alwin Krämer, head of a Clinical Cooperation Unit of DKFZ and Heidelberg University Hospitals has recognized this trick as a previously underrated Achilles’ heel of cancer cells, which might be used for destroying them.

Jointly with colleagues from DKFZ, Heidelberg University Hospitals, Mannheim Medical Faculty and Mayo Clinic in the U.S., he systematically investigated the question of which genes enable cancer cells to form centrosome clusters and, thus, to escape cell death.

Research finds surgery outperforms drug therapy in treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia

Research finds surgery outperforms drug therapy in treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia — Science Blog

A 17-year-long community study looking at symptoms of enlarged prostate in over 2,000 men age 40 to 79 years suggests that surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) offers more relief from incontinence and obstruction symptoms than treatment from drug-based therapy, according to a new study by researchers at Mayo Clinic. The researchers presented their results today at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association.

Overall, results show:

* Urinary incontinence was a common condition, coexisting with BPH/lower urinary tract symptoms.
* In the community setting, patients with the highest symptom scores were most likely to receive surgical intervention.
* Symptoms stabilised and did not get worse after treatment of all kinds.
* Patients who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) had the greatest decrease in both symptoms and incontinence compared to other treatment groups. Pre-TURP the incontinence rate was 64.5 percent and post-TURP it was 41.9 percent.

Significance
The findings provide large-sample, long-term data comparing the effectiveness of medical versus surgical treatments in a large, general population, as compared to small, select clinical populations of men. “Our data fills a gap in the research record that can be used by physicians and patients to evaluate management options,” says Amy Krambeck, M.D., Mayo Clinic urologist and lead study investigator. “Because it’s a large community-based study of more than 2,100 men, it includes the entire broad range of male health. This suggests the results are stronger in terms of being generalised and applied to other men.”

Background
BPH and lower urinary tract symptoms, such as frequent urge to urinate or leakage, are common. By age 60, an estimated 50 percent of all men suffer from enlarged prostate symptoms; by age 90, about 80 percent do. Multiple treatments exist but data comparing drug therapy to surgery are lacking, making clinical decisions vulnerable to subjective factors.

About the Study
From 1990 through 2007, the study enrolled 2,184 healthy men, age 40-79, living in Olmsted County, Minn., All participants completed surveys every other year about their urinary symptoms and the treatments they received. From this information, the investigators examined urinary problems and incontinence before and after different types of treatment.

Results showed that of the 2,184 men:

* 1,574 (72%) received no treatment for BPH symptoms.
* 307 (14%) took alpha adrenergic receptor blockers (α-ARs).
* 195 (9%) took the medication 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (ARIs).
* 23 (1%) received surgical laser vaporization.
* 85 (4%) received surgical transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP).

Comments Dr. Krambeck: “After intervention, the greatest improvement in symptom score was seen in the TURP group, followed by laser vaporisation, then the drugs, 5 alpha reductase inhibitors and alpha adrenergic receptor blockers.

Only the surgical TURP group reported a decrease in incontinence – pre-TURP the incontinence rate was 64.5 percent and post-TURP it was 41.9 percent.”

This reduction in incontinence rates is significant when compared to the increase in reported incontinence in the patients receiving both forms of medical therapy and no change in symptoms for patients receiving laser vaporization.

Paired drugs kill precancerous colon polyps, spare normal tissue

Paired drugs kill precancerous colon polyps, spare normal tissue

A two-drug combination destroys precancerous colon polyps with no effect on normal tissue, opening a new potential avenue for chemoprevention of colon cancer, a team of scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the advance online edition of the journal Nature.

The regimen, tested so far in mouse models and on human colon cancer tissue in the lab, appears to address a problem with chemopreventive drugs - they must be taken continuously long term to be effective, exposing patients to possible side effects, said senior author Xiangwei Wu, Ph.D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Head and Neck Surgery.

"This combination can be given short term and periodically to provide a long-term effect, which would be a new approach to chemoprevention," Wu said.

The team found that a combination of Vitamin A acetate (RAc) and TRAIL, short for tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand, kills precancerous polyps and inhibits tumour growth in mice that have deficiencies in a tumour-suppressor gene.

That gene, adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and its downstream signaling molecules, are mutated or deficient in 80 percent of all human colon cancers, Wu said.

Ineffective separately, powerful together
Early experiments with APC-deficient mice showed that the two drugs combined or separately did not harm normal colon epithelial cells. Separately, they showed no effect on premalignant polyps called adenomas.

RAc and TRAIL together killed adenoma cells, causing programmed cell suicide know as apoptosis. RAc, researchers found, sensitizes polyp cells to TRAIL.

The scientists painstakingly tracked the molecular cascade caused by APC deficiencies, and found that insufficient APC sensitizes cells to TRAIL and RAc by suppressing a protein that blocks TRAIL.

Tumours hide out from the immune system by mimicking lymph nodes

Tumours hide out from the immune system by mimicking lymph nodes

A new mechanism explaining how tumours escape the body's natural immune surveillance has recently been discovered at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland. The study shows how tumours can create a tolerant microenviroment and avoid attack by the immune system by mimicking key features of lymph nodes.

The discovery, published in Science and in Science Express, underscores the role of the lymphatic system in cancer and may open up new possibilities for cancer treatment.

"The tumour tricks the body into thinking it is healthy tissue," says lead author Melody Swartz, head of the Laboratory of Lymphatic and Cancer Bioengineering (LLCB) and EPFL professor. Swartz and her team set out to understand how immune tolerance is induced by tumours, allowing them to progress and spread.

The researchers from EPFL concentrated their efforts on a certain protein that is normally present in healthy lymph nodes to attract T cells and program them to perform vital immune functions. They found that some tumours can secrete this protein to transform the outer layer of the tumour into lymphoid-like tissue.

This outer layer then attracts and effectively re-programs the T cells to recognise the tumour as friend not foe, resulting in a tumour that goes undetected by the immune system.

Since most tumours progress only if they have escaped the immune system, this new understanding of one mechanism by which the tumour can bypasses or hides from immune defenses is an important step towards future cancer therapies.

Personalised Blood Test for Cancer DNA

A personalised blood test that can identify tumour DNA could be the first step towards a long-promised revolution in the way cancer is treated.

In the short term, the test - reported by Victor Velculescu of Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and his colleagues in Science Translational Medicine - could be used to spot cancer recurrence before tumour growth shows up on scans, meaning that treatment could be started earlier.

The test detects genetic rearrangements that distinguish cancer cells from normal cells. Eventually it might also pave the way for more personalised cancer treatments tailored to the genetic signature of individuals' tumours.

Doctors already classify cancers by some of the genes that get switched on by the disease, and use this to guide treatment in some cases. For example, breast cancers are often divided into those that express oestrogen receptors on their surface and are therefore likely to respond to the drug tamoxifen, and those that don't.

Genes have also been identified that predict whether a variety of cancers are resistant to radiotherapy and certain drugs, and might therefore need a different sort of treatment. It is also possible to stratify cancers into aggressive and non-aggressive subtypes according to their genetic make-up.

But that's just the beginning. In the future, pretty much all cancers are likely to be defined by the genetic pathways that drive their growth, rather than where in the body they manifest themselves. And because cancers mutate as they grow, it should be possible to track these changes and tailor patients' therapies accordingly.

Velculescu's test is a step towards this. The real breakthrough will come when such blood tests become sophisticated enough to reveal how tumours are changing over time, rather than simply spotting that they have come back. That should truly revolutionise cancer treatment, enabling the most effective combinations of drugs to be tailored to individual patients - and without the need for painful tissue biopsies.

Cancer Home Detection Kit

Small Liquid Sensor May Detect Cancer Instantly, Could Lead To Home Detection Kit - What if it were possible to go to the store and buy a kit to quickly and accurately diagnose cancer, similar to a pregnancy test?

A University of Missouri researcher is developing a tiny sensor, known as an acoustic resonant sensor, that is smaller than a human hair and could test bodily fluids for a variety of diseases, including breast and prostate cancers.

"Many disease-related substances in liquids are not easily tracked," said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. "In a liquid environment, most sensors experience a significant loss of signal quality, but by using highly sensitive, low-signal-loss acoustic resonant sensors in a liquid, these substances can be effectively and quickly detected - a brand-new concept that will result in a noninvasive approach for breast cancer detection."

Kwon's real-time, special acoustic resonant sensor uses micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS), which are tiny devices smaller than the diameter of a human hair, to directly detect diseases in body fluids. The sensor doesn't require bulky data reading or analyzing equipment and can be integrated with equally small circuits, creating the potential for small stand-alone disease-screening systems.

Kwon's sensor also produces rapid, almost immediate results that could reduce patient anxiety often felt after waiting for other detection methods, such as biopsies, which can take several days or weeks before results are known.

"Our ultimate goal is to produce a device that will simply and quickly diagnose multiple specific diseases, and eventually be used to create 'point of care' systems, which are services provided to patients at their bedsides," Kwon said.

"The sensor has strong commercial potential to be manifested as simple home kits for easy, rapid and accurate diagnosis of various diseases, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer."

Scientists Claim Womb Transplants possible within 2 Years

The first successful human womb transplant could take place within two years, British scientists have said. London-based experts say they have worked out how to transplant a womb with a regular blood supply so it will last long enough to carry a pregnancy.

Research involving donor rabbits was presented at a US fertility conference. The charity Uterine Transplant UK is seeking funding of £250,000 after being denied grants by several medical research bodies.

A breakthrough could offer an alternative to surrogacy or adoption for women whose own wombs have been damaged by diseases such as cervical cancer. Up to 200 women in the UK are said to use surrogate mothers each year.

In the latest research conducted at the Royal Veterinary College in London, five rabbits were given a womb using a technique which connected major blood vessels, including the aorta.

Two of the rabbits lived to 10 months, with examinations after death indicating the transplants had been a success. This has created 'Huge interest'.

Richard Smith, consultant gynaecological surgeon at Hammersmith Hospital, told the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in Atlanta the team's next step would involve getting rabbits pregnant through IVF treatment. The technique would then be used on larger animals.

Other research projects in the past have carried out similar experiments on pigs, goats, sheep and monkeys but there is a big difference between demonstrating effectiveness in a rabbit and being able to do this in a larger animal or a human

Tony Rutherford, British Fertility Society
A human transplant has also been tried once before - in Saudi Arabia in 2000 - but the womb came from a live donor, and was rejected after three months. Mr Smith suggested it may have failed because surgeons had not worked out how to connect the blood vessels properly.

The UK study involved transplanting the womb with all its arteries, veins and bigger vessels. "I think there are certain technical issues to be ironed out but I think the crux of how to carry out a successful graft that's properly vascularised - I think we have cracked that one."

A transplanted womb would only stay in place long enough for a woman to have the children she wanted and any baby would have to be delivered by Caesarean section as a transplanted human womb is unlikely to be able to withstand natural labour.

Conception would also need to be through IVF because women with a transplanted womb could be at higher risk of ectopic pregnancy.

Mr Smith acknowledged the procedures were seen as "a step too far in terms of fertility management" among the medical profession but said interest from patients was huge.

Tony Rutherford, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said: "I think there is a big difference between demonstrating effectiveness in a rabbit and being able to do this in a larger animal or a human..."

Clare Lewis-Jones, from Infertility Network UK, said "a great deal of thought and discussion" was needed on the issue including the ethical ramifications.

Healthy Foods That May Help Fight Against Prostate Cancer

Are we wholly convinced that eating a healthy diet helps protect us from all sorts of ailments, or are we only half convinced?

Some of us think that green apples are better for us and some prefer red but most of the time we are just looking at the skin. The real nutritional value is on the inside. Let's look deeper.

Some foods are healthier than others and some may even help protect you from, or reduce the risk of, developing chronic conditions e.g. cancer, primarily bowel and intestinal cancers.

However, knowing exactly which foods are beneficial and which ones are harmful can help to shape a diet to achieve its maximum health potential.

Prostrate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and although not every man dies of prostrate cancer, a very large proportion of elderly men do develop it, late in life. Even men who die of heart conditions, and other chronic diseases will also have a certain level of prostrate cancer.

So, let us take a good hard look at foods that may help protect you against prostate cancer or at least reduce the risk of developing it, until very late in life. Here are a few.

1. Tomatoes

The Active ingredient(s) we like here is; Lycopene, an antioxidant

Lycopene is an antioxidant compound, a carotenoid, which gives tomatoes their red colouring. It is also one of the most widely studied anti-cancer agents. A 2004 review of all the studies to date on tomatoes found a slight reduction in the risk of developing prostate cancer in men with high blood levels of lycopene or with diets rich in tomatoes. In 2007, however, the largest study of its kind disputed these results.

Fortunately, further studies of greater quality are currently underway that will hopefully clarify the situation. Whilst waiting on those results, it is well to note that tomatoes are still chock-full of other beneficial vitamins and antioxidants and, therefore, this little red fruit should be a part of any healthy diet.

How best to prepare them? When it comes to tomatoes, the general rule of thumb is to add heat and low cholesterol fats, whenever possible. The more processed the tomatoes and the longer you cook them, the more lycopene is released. Adding fat in the way of oils or meats will also improve lycopene absorption. So, a long slow cook that produces a delicious pasta sauce, is just what the doctors order.

2. Broccoli

The Active ingredient(s) here is; Sulforaphane, among others

You should always eat your broccoli. In fact, all cruciferous vegetables, like cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts, appear to offer good anti-cancer benefits. Although it’s still not clear which of the many beneficial chemicals or compounds found in broccoli is most responsible for protecting your health, sulforaphane has been the most widely investigated.

Just how does it prevent cancer? Well, sulforaphane might act as an antioxidant itself or it may instead boost detoxifying enzymes in the body. Regardless of how broccoli helps, it’s clear that it is a potent anti-prostate cancer vegetable. Some experts even suggest that it’s one of the strongest anti-cancer fighters we have. The Chinese are certainly big fans.

How best should you prepare it? When it comes to the method of preparing your broccoli, there is no clear-cut champion, so try to mix things up each time you dine. Eat it raw sometimes, steamed others, and if you boil it, try not to overcook it. Mixing it with other anti-prostate cancer foods such as tomatoes may even enhance anti-cancer effects according to one study done on mice.

3. Soy

The Active ingredient(s) here is; Isoflavones, such as genistein, daidzein and glycitein

Soy refers to the soybean, a high-protein legume that comes in many consumer-friendly forms including soy milk, tofu and protein powder. Soy is promoted for its protective properties against many cancers, among them prostate cancer. The effects of soy are thought to be due to isoflavones, compounds that are sometimes called plant estrogens because they mimic the actions of human estrogen, but in plants.

A number of laboratory, animal and population-based studies have shown soy to be an anti-prostate cancer food. However, these results still need to be confirmed in clinical trials. Even without those results, simply using soy as a replacement for meat or dairy may be beneficial on its own, since diets high in meats and dairy tend to increase the risk of certain cancers.

How best should you prepare it? The amount of isoflavone varies by type of soy product and there is generally no rule to help you pick one product over another. Until there is, just keep meals varied and opt for soy products instead of meats and dairy from time to time.

4. Flax

The Active ingredient(s) here is; Lignans, and alpha linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid)

Flax is an annual plant used in making the fabric known as linen. Although flaxseed is high in omega-3, it is also rich in lignans, a class of phytoestrogen that may act as an antioxidant. Both flaxseed and its oil have been promoted as anti-cancer substances since the early 1950s, but only recently has any solid evidence emerged.

Unfortunately, only a handful of small studies have investigated the link between flax and prostate cancer in humans, but the results all look promising. Of course, further studies will be needed to definitively close the chapter on flax and cancer, but that shouldn’t keep you from getting your flax fix.

How best should you prepare it? As far as versatility is concerned, flaxseed is certainly the most flexible of the anti-prostate cancer foods. Flaxseed is available in flour, meal and seed form and can be found in multigrain breads, cereals, breakfast bars, and even muffins. Flaxseed oil can also be found in pure liquid form or as capsules.

You Are What You Eat
Rigorous research takes time, money and effort, unfortunately, one, if not two, may be lacking. There are simply so many foods and supplements available that researching them all is not only impractical, but likely impossible.

Having said that, the key to preventing prostate cancer via diet is to eat a well-balanced meal, including all of the above foods, along with a hearty serving of other fruits and vegetables. You can dabble in meats and dairy, but if possible, keep your dabbling to a minimum.

Turmeric: The Indian Spice of Life

Rates of Alzheimer's in India are about four times lower than in the USA and studies suggest that Indian curry contains a powerful substance that might protect the brain from damage that leads to Alzheimer's. The growing file on the benefits of eating curry, includes compelling evidence gleaned from animal and human studies.

The findings from Western science are becoming more aligned with what traditional Indian healers have long said about turmeric. They call it the "spice of life".

For centuries, doctors trained in Ayurvedic medicine, a traditional medical system in India, have turned to turmeric to treat inflammatory diseases such as arthritis. In the USA, many people with arthritis take over-the-counter supplements that contain curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric.

Ina scientific study, rats that were bred to develop rheumatoid arthritis, were given injections of turmeric. The turmeric almost completely prevented the onset of arthritis. The spice also seemed to help stop joint destruction in rats that had already started to develop the disease.

Curry also may offer some protection against cancer. Indians eat from 100 to 200 milligrams of curry every day, and US cancer experts think that that might be enough to prevent cancer.

The curcumin in curry seems to shut down genes that trigger the development and the spread of breast cancer, animal studies in suggest and a preliminary human study suggests curcumin supplements might — in a handful of cases — be able to stabilise pancreatic cancer.

Epidemiology studies in humans also have linked frequent use of turmeric spice to lower rates of breast, prostate and colon cancer but more extensive clinical studies still need to be carried out.

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Obesity is the leading cause of Cancer in Western Women

Being obese is nothing to sing about. Obesity is fast becoming the leading cause of cancer in women in Western countries, European researchers said Thursday.

Being overweight or obese accounts for up to 8% of cancers in Europe. Experts said that figure is poised to increase substantially, as the obesity epidemic continues.

This is partly caused by a decrease in the other major causes of cancer, such as smoking and hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women. These causes have dropped or been reduced, dramatically.

"Obesity is catching up at a rate that makes it possible it could become the biggest attributable cause of cancer in women within the next decade," said Andrew Renehan, a cancer expert at the University of Manchester. Renehan presented his findings to a joint meeting of the European Cancer Organisation and the European Society for Medical Oncology in Berlin on Thursday.

Renehan and colleagues designed a model to estimate the number of cancers that could be blamed on being fat in 30 European countries. In 2002, they calculated that 70,000 cases of cancer out of about 2 million cancer cases were attributable to being overweight or obese. By 2008, the number had jumped to at least 124,000.

Colorectal cancer, breast cancer in menopausal women and endometrial cancer accounted for 65% of all cancers linked to being fat. Renehan said that in the U.S., some studies found obesity was responsible for up to 20% of cancers.

European health experts said the results will shape future cancer policies across Europe.

"Being overweight or obese is one of the biggest single causes of cancer after smoking," said Lucy Boyd, an epidemiologist at Cancer Research United Kingdom who was not linked to the research.

Scientists aren't sure why being fat boosts your cancer risk, but suspect it is connected to hormones. As people become fatter, they produce more hormones like estrogen that help tumors grow. People with big bellies also have more acid in their stomachs, which can lead to stomach, intestinal or esophageal cancer.