Sunday, June 10, 2012
Novel Non invasive Tests for Early Cancer Detection
Researchers at last month's AACR conference in Orlando demonstrated that they are intensifying their efforts to identify and validate various types of biomarkers that are detectable in readily accessible bodily fluids such as blood and urine, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). The goal is to detect biosignatures that are more specific and sensitive than existing diagnostic modalities, according to the May 1 issue of GEN .
Friday, June 8, 2012
Mesothelioma Treatment
Experimental Therapy
There is no proven cure for mesothelioma. Historically, neither chemotherapy nor radiation nor surgery have proven to be effective in the treatment of mesothelioma. However, doctors around the country are experimenting with various treatment options. One of these treatments, known as a pneumonectomy, involves the surgical removal of a lung combined with intensive chemotherapy. Although this treatment generally does not result in a cure, it may extend the life of the victim. If you would like more information about pneumonectomy or other experimental therapies, please call 1-888-370-0121 to speak to a resource person.
Life Expectancy of Mesothelioma Victims
On average, mesothelioma victims have a life expectancy of less than two years from the onset of symptoms. Long term survival of mesothelioma is extremely rare and it is not unusual for victims to die from mesothelioma within only a few months of diagnosis. Many treatment options available today offer the hope of extending the life expectancy of mesothelioma victims or at least improving the victim's quality of life. If you would like to speak to someone about mesothelioma, please call 1-888-370-0121.
Cornell University Mesothelioma Program
One of the problems doctors face in treating mesothelioma is the fact that it is a very rare form of cancer. Many oncologists, doctors who specialize in treating cancer, see only one or two mesothelioma cases in their entire careers. Cornell University's Weill Medical College has created a program that will establish a national registry of mesothelioma cases and a database of ongoing research studies. This information will allow Cornell to initiate clinical trials of mesothelioma treatment therapies. If you would like more information about this innovative program, please call 1-888-370-0121 to speak to a resource professional.
Breakthrough Case Heard Around the World
On February 13, 2012, the Italian court announced a verdict that may have an impact on people and families around the world who are dealing with mesothelioma. Billionaires Stephan Schidheiny and Jean-Louis de Cartier, key shareholders in the company Eternit, a producer of fiber-reinforced cement, were each sentenced to sixteen years in prison for the failure to comply with safety regulations in their factories’ uses of asbestos. This class action law suit is being touted as the most significant suit yet, because criminal charges were actually placed on the owners who benefited from the profits of the negligent factories.Invented in the late 19th century, fiber-reinforced cement products, generally containing a mixture of cement and asbestos, has been favored in construction for it’s relatively light weight along with its resistance to fire and water. Production of this material has reduced significantly since the public has been aware of the risks of exposure to friable asbestos.Prosecutors in the Eternit case claimed that at least 1,800 people died as a result of asbestos-related diseases in the town of Casale Monferrato, where the largest of the company’s factories was located. According to some reports, the company conducted its asbestos disposal in the open, releasing clouds of friable asbestos into the air to settle and collect on the town’s streets. They also gave left-over asbestos to families to use at home. When evidence of the dangers of asbestos began to surface, the company apparently concealed it and continued harmful practices, intending to protect the company profits.In addition to facing criminal charges, Schidheiny and de Cartier were ordered to pay €95 million (about $126 million US dollars) to families of the victims, as well as large sums to other entities and organizations, including trade unions and the town of Casale. This is a clear victory for asbestos awareness groups and advocates of mesothelioma victim’s rights.One of the biggest challenges facing groups dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of asbestos is the inconsistency among trading nations in their asbestos laws and regulations. Many workers rights groups, environmental advocates, and asbestos awareness groups are hoping this case will have positive global impact on this issue.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
New Molecule May Aid Mesothelioma Diagnosis
Scientists at one of the nation’s top cancer centers say they have come up with a new imaging tool that may make it easier to diagnose and monitor mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma, a cancer that attacks the membranes encasing the lungs or abdominal organs, is caused by exposure to airborne asbestos. It is a very challenging cancer to treat and most patients explore conventional therapies, clinical trials and integrative modalities. Mesothelioma symptoms, which can include shortness of breath, fatigue, coughing and chest pain, can mimic other illnesses, including lung cancer. Their sheet-like shape can also make mesothelioma tumors difficult to see on imaging studies. Just as treatment is usually multi-faceted, physicians often must use multiple methods to diagnose mesothelioma.
One of the most popular diagnostic methods is positron emission tomography (PET), a nuclear medicine imaging technique. PET scanning detects gamma rays emitted by a tracer that is delivered into the body via a biologically active molecule, typically FDG, a form of glucose. The effectiveness of the scan depends in part on how much FDG is absorbed by the cancer cells and, hence, can be seen on imaging.
Now mesothelioma researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas have developed a new biologically active molecule for cancer imaging called ethylenedicysteine-glucosamine (ECG). ECG concentrates in the nucleus of cancer cells, potentially revealing important information about their function. To test the effectiveness of the new molecule in detecting the metabolic activity of mesothelioma cells, the research team first measured mesothelioma cell uptake of ECG in the lab. They then used the ECG molecule to conduct imaging studies on mesothelioma-bearing rats.
The team reports that mesothelioma tumors could be clearly visualized when imagine studies were conducted using ECG. They also conclude that ECG “showed increased uptake in mesothelioma”, suggesting that it may be even more valuable than FDG in diagnosing mesothelioma and monitoring a tumor’s response to therapy.
The World Health Organisation recognises Jean King, a pioneer of tobacco control
It’s World No Tobacco Day, focusing this year on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry’s “brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine global tobacco control efforts”.
To acknowledge this, the World Health Organisation is celebrating some of the people who’ve made outstanding contributions to tobacco control. We’re thrilled that one of these is Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s tireless Director of Tobacco Control, for her work in combating the tobacco industry’s interference in public health.
Together with her colleagues, Jean’s made huge strides over the past two decades. For example, she developed Cancer Research UK’s code of practice on tobacco industry funding, stopping scientists who get money from these companies from receiving research funding from us.
She was also instrumental in our campaigning for the tobacco advertising ban in the 1990s, smoke-free legislation in the 2000s, and the recent ban on vending machines and shop displays.
Jean also set up and still runs the Cancer Research UK Tobacco Advisory Group, enabling us to support scientific research into tobacco control. And her reach spreads much further than the UK – together with the American Cancer Society, she set up the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Awards and the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative. She also helped to establish the EU Smokefree Partnership, pushing for strong tobacco policies within Europe.
We spoke to Jean to find out more about what she’s achieved over the years, what motivates her, and why tobacco control is such a vital part of our efforts to beat cancer.
Let’s go right back – when did you first start working in tobacco control?
About 20 years ago Cancer Research UK’s predecessor The Cancer Research Campaign had an education research committee that used to fund some tobacco work, and we gradually got involved in policy work through ASH and at the European level.
Altogether I’ve worked here for 23 years. I’m not sure I thought I’d be staying that long when I started, but my job has changed and got more and more interesting so it’s been a great journey.
What drives you to do tobacco control work? There may be easier or smaller targets, so what gets you out of bed in the morning?
I think people get absolutely immersed in the issues around tobacco and tobacco control. Before it was my main focus of work I used to think people were a bit obsessive, but as you get more and more into it, it takes you over.
It’s not just a health problem that is entirely preventable and is killing millions of people in very horrible ways, especially in those parts of the world where there isn’t good treatment, but there’s the David and Goliath thing. There’s this opposing force that’s trying to keep people addicted to something that’s going to kill them, just to make money.
You do become a bit adversarial, definitely. It makes you feel that you’ve got to stand up for children, for the next generation – we don’t want them to get hooked – so it gets very absorbing.
Tell me about some of the things you’ve done over the years working for Cancer Research UK in tobacco control?
We’ve had campaigns and expert meetings, we’ve funded different bits of independent research, and we’ve had to really pull out all the stops to try and get studies published in time so that we could use them in talking to government at critical times in parliamentary debates.
We’ve supported groups and independent studies that have been amazing in what they’ve produced and shown, and we’ve set up the Smoke-free Partnership in Europe, the Tobacco Advisory Group. The charity has had a lot of foresight in recognising that we need to have dedicated funding for showing the evidence that we need, and seeing where there are gaps and seeking to fill them, so we can present a very strong case on what policies are needed to cut smoking rates.
What are you most proud of, looking back at this point?
Probably the Framework Convention on Tobacco control, and the fact that we were able to contribute to that, to support people who were working for that around the world before there was any significant funding in international tobacco control.
Together with the American Cancer Society we were supporting small grants so that people could get things off the ground in parts of the world where there was very little control on tobacco companies. Seeing this public health treaty, the Framework Convention, come together was incredible – if we could implement that fully we could knock the tobacco epidemic on the head. We could literally be saving millions of lives. That’s amazing.
Then as well, there’s the work I’ve been describing about the charity opposing the tobacco industry, and I think that‘s great. It’s a huge honour that the WHO has recognised that work.
If it’s possible to pick one, what’s the most scandalous thing that you have seen the tobacco industry do?
There are so many, such as denying the harmfulness and denying the addiction, when their own documents show that they were actually trying to enhance the addictiveness of tobacco.
I’ll give you a story that illustrates it all that a colleague in Nigeria told us. There were parties sponsored by a tobacco company, targeted at young people, where not only were you given a cigarette when you went in the door but you were told to light it up.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s the equivalent of giving someone a loaded syringe, I just think it’s outrageous. And these are the sorts of things that tobacco companies are doing around the world that we need to stop.
Have you ever smoked?
I did! I was lucky that I started later than most people do – I was probably about 19 or so – and I managed to stop within about five years. There was a group of us at college together and we all stopped.
I fell again when I was living abroad. I was on a long journey with people who were smoking, and I just took a couple of puffs because it was a boring journey and I couldn’t believe it – I was back on ten or 20 a day for a few months. That was a long time ago now, and happily I’ve been free from cigarettes since then.
Working for a cancer charity, we see all the time the devastation that smoking causes – do you have any personal experience of the kind of damage that smoking causes to people and to families?
I know people who’ve died from lung cancer as smokers, people with respiratory illness as a result of smoking and I have a close friend who I think is in denial about a condition that she has which is very debilitating, but was definitely (in my view) caused by her smoking.
I think it’s all around us and I’m always amazed that the tobacco industry spokespeople can be so flippant about that, because I think most people hearing them will know somebody who’s been touched by it.
One of the injustices that we need to try and address is around the families of smokers who die. - Because there’s this mistaken idea that smokers brought it on themselves, then people don’t express the outrage that we should be expressing towards the tobacco industry. It’s not a question of bringing it on yourself – most smokers start as children, it’s highly addictive and they are marketed to, so people should get over that idea. I’d love us to have a sense of outrage about all this suffering that’s being caused.
Historically it’s crazy, and I believe that in a couple of generations from now people will look back and wonder what on earth was going on. People do say it should be banned, but it’s not practical as there are so many people still addicted in this country. And also you don’t want to make it more glamorous than some young people find it already.
We have a pretty good idea about how we could get the smoking rates down so that smoking becomes something that is so rare that we are virtually tobacco-free, and that’s what we want to aim for. For a start, we’ve got one in five adults smoking but two-thirds of those want to stop, so if we can find better ways to help them stop and prevent young people starting – which we’re trying to do by getting cigarettes out of sight and into plain packs – all of these things together will drive the smoking rates down.
Some people ask why Cancer Research UK is campaigning so hard on tobacco - why should we be doing this campaigning work?
Our aim is to beat cancer and over a quarter of all cancer deaths are caused by tobacco. So we could wipe out so much of the cancer toll simply by getting the smoking rates down, preventing young people from starting and helping smokers to quit.
Absolutely we need to be looking for new treatments for cancer, but at the same time if we can prevent so many thousands of cancers and deaths, then that has to be part of what we do to beat cancer.
Kat
Help us fight against the tobacco industry using glitzy pack designs that are attractive to children – join our campaign, The Answer Is Plain, now.
Urgent Ban On All Asbestos Needed, Experts Urge
Scientists at the Collegium Ramazzini in Modena, Italy have repeated calls for a total ban on all asbestos across the globe. Writing in the International Journal of Environment and Health, the Collegium points out that just 52 nations have banned asbestos but a large number still use, import and export asbestos and asbestos-containing products.
Asbestos can refer to any of six naturally occurring fibrous minerals, serpentine asbestos, also known as chrysotile or white asbestos accounts for 95% of all asbestos use. The amphibole minerals: amosite (brown asbestos), crocidolite (blue asbestos), and tremolite, anthophyllite, and actinolite, are no longer used. Asbestos can withstand fire, heat and acid, is strong and insulates against heat and sound. But, it is a potent cancer-causing material account for 5-7% of lung cancers in men internationally and effecting the health of millions.
Despite the fact that there are now synthetic alternative that are much safer than asbestos, white asbestos is still mined and exported to the developing world, most notably by Canada, which has come under fire from the medical journal The Lancet for the alleged hypocrisy of having banned asbestos use in Canada but continuing to export the lethal material. The Collegium points out that exemption of white asbestos from any ban has no basis in medical science.
To protect the health of all people in the world -- industrial workers, construction workers, women and children, now and in future generations, a total ban, rigorously enforced, is urgently needed, the Collegium says.
At least 125 million people around the world are today exposed to asbestos through their work with about 20 to 40% of adult men reporting past occupations that may have exposed them to the risk of mesothelioma, asbestos, and lung cancer due to asbestos.
Mystery Unraveled: How Asbestos Causes Cancer
More than 20 million people in the U.S., and many more worldwide, who have been exposed to asbestos are at risk of developing mesothelioma, a malignant cancer of the membranes that cover the lungs and abdomen that is resistant to current therapies. Moreover, asbestos exposure increases the risk of lung cancer among smokers. For the past 40 years researchers have tried to understand why asbestos causes cancer.
The answer appears in a study published in the current issue of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., Drs. Haining Yang and Michele Carbone at the University of Hawai'i Cancer Research Center led a research team that included collaborators at New York University, University of Chicago, University of Pittsburgh, San Raffaele University of Milano, and the Imperial College in London.
These researchers addressed the paradox of how asbestos fibers that kill cells could cause cancer, since a dead cell should not be able to grow and form a tumor. They found that when asbestos kills cells, it does so by inducing a process called "programmed cell necrosis" that leads to the release of a molecule called high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1). HMGB1 starts a particular type of inflammatory reaction that causes the release of mutagens and factors that promote tumor growth. The researchers found that patients exposed to asbestos have elevated levels of HMGB1 in their serum. Therefore, they state that it may be possible to target HMGB1 to prevent or treat mesothelioma and identify asbestos-exposed cohorts by simple HMGB1 serological testing.
In the article, the researchers propose that by interfering with the inflammatory reaction caused by asbestos and HMGB1, it may be possible to decrease cancer incidence among cohorts exposed to asbestos and decrease the rate of tumor growth among those already affected by mesothelioma. Drs. Yang and Carbone, the lead authors, state that to test this hypothesis, they are now planning a clinical trial in a remote area in Cappadocia, Turkey, where over 50% of the population dies of malignant mesothelioma. If the results are positive, the approach will be extended to cohorts of asbestos-exposed individuals in the U.S.
This research emphasizes the role of inflammation in causing different types of cancers and provides novel clinical tools to identify exposed individuals and prevent or decrease tumor growth. The researchers question if it will be possible to prevent mesothelioma, like colon cancer, simply by taking aspirin or similar drugs that stop inflammation. They are about to test this hypothesis.
The article is authored by Haining Yang, Zeyana Rivera, Sandro Jube, Masaki Nasu, Pietro Bertino and Michele Carbone at the University of Hawai'i Cancer Research Center; Harvey I. Pass and Chandra Goparaju at New York University; Thomas Krausz at the University of Chicago; Michael T. Lotze at the University of Pittsburgh; Guido Franzoso at the Imperial College of London, U.K.; and Marco E. Bianchi at the University of San Raffele Milano, Italy. It will be published online in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. the week of June 28 2010, and later in print. The study was supported by grants from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, and by the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation.
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