Cancer Research
11 Dec Abnormalities of PPM1D in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52430" align="alignleft" width="167"] Dr. Marcellino[/caption]
Bridget Marcellino, MD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Our work focuses on elucidating the mechanisms that drive the pathogenesis and progression of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Dysregulation of the TP53 pathway is associated with MPN progression evidenced by the association of TP53 loss of heterozygosity with transformation to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the presence of inactivating mutations of TP53 found in a proportion of MPN-related AML patients. Studies have shown that TP53 mutations, TP53 deletions and overexpression of the negative regulator of TP53, Murine Double Minute 2 (MDM2) all contribute to TP53 downregulation in MPNs and we therefore are interested in exploring other potential means by which TP53 is downregulated. Protein Phosphatase, Mg2+/Mn2+
Dependent 1D (PPM1D) is another negative regulator of the TP53 pathway and activating mutations in this gene are present in myeloid malignancies including MPNS. We therefore hypothesized that genomic alterations in PPM1D and/or overexpression of PPM1D would be found in the hematopoietic cells of MPN patients.
10 Dec Mt. Sinai Researcher Discusses Emerging Therapeutic Approach For Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52426" align="alignleft" width="130"] Dr. Jian Jin[/caption]
Jian Jin, Ph.D.
Mount Sinai Endowed Professor in Therapeutics Discovery
Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences
Professor, Department of Oncological Sciences
Director, Mount Sinai Center for Therapeutics Discovery
Co-leader, Cancer Clinical Investigation Program, Tisch Cancer Institute
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a subtype of breast cancer that lacks estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), represents 12-20% of all breast cancers. TNBC has poor prognosis, high recurrence, a low survival rate, and has higher incidence in African-American and Hispanic women. Currently, there are no effective therapies for treating a substantial portion of TNBC patients.
Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is the main enzymatic subunit of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) which catalyzes trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) to promote transcriptional silencing. EZH2 is overexpressed in multiple types of cancer including triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and high expression levels correlate with poor prognosis. Several EZH2 inhibitors which inhibit the enzymatic activity of EZH2 have shown promise in treating sarcoma and follicular lymphoma in clinics. However, current EZH2 inhibitors are ineffective at blocking proliferation of TNBC cells even though they effectively inhibit the enzymatic activity of EZH2. While the proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) technology for selective degradation of the target protein has been rapidly gaining momentum in the drug discovery field, the hydrophobic tagging approach for selective protein degradation has received considerately less attention from the scientific community.
10 Dec PRIMO Trial: Dose Optimization of Duvelisib in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52400" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Horwitz[/caption]
Steven M. Horwitz, MD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Relapsed or refractory Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma (R/R PTCL) remains a disease of significant unmet medical need.
Duvelisib is an oral dual inhibitor of PI3K-δ and PI3K-γ approved for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) after at least two prior therapies, relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) after at least two prior systemic therapies, and is being developed for the treatment of additional hematologic malignancies including R/R PTCL.
In early studies, we saw a suggestion of quite good activity of duvelisib as a single agent in a range of subtypes of T-cell lymphoma.
The PRIMO study is an ongoing, multi-center, open-label, registration-directed Phase 2 study evaluating duvelisib in patients with R/R PTCL that is expected to enroll approximately 120 patients. The study includes both a dose optimization phase and an expansion phase.
The Primo study will be sufficiently powered to give a much more precise estimate of the activity in peripheral t cell lymphomas. However, prior to initiating the main cohort we needed to first try to identify an optimal dose. That “dose optimization cohort” is the subject of our presentation here.
10 Dec MURANO Study Confirms Sustained Benefit of Time-Limited Venetoclax-Rituximab in Relapsed/Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Prof. John Seymour, MBBS, Ph.D
Lead investigator of the MURANO Trial
Director. Department of Hematology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre &
Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
- MURANO is an international, multicenter, open-label, randomized Phase 3 study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of venetoclax in combination with rituximab compared with bendamustine in combination with rituximab in patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
- At this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, we presented results from the four-year updated analysis from the study, which showed an 81 percent reduction in the relative risk of disease progression or death in patients randomized to the chemotherapy-free, two year fixed-duration treatment course of venetoclax plus rituximab and higher rates of minimal residual disease (MRD)-negativity compared to the standard of care regimen, bendamustine plus rituximab.
- The long-term data further support the sustained clinical benefit of fixed-duration treatment with venetoclax in combination with rituximab for this patient population.
- The safety profile of the combination is consistent with the known safety profile of each individual therapy alone. There were no new serious safety issues observed in the MURANO study since the last update.
07 Dec CAPTIVATE Study: Ibrutinib Plus Venetoclax for First-line Treatment of CLL/SLL
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52376" align="alignleft" width="145"] Prof. Tam[/caption]
Constantine Tam, M.D.
Hematologist and Disease Group Lead
Low Grade Lymphoma and CLL at
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Victoria, Australia, and
Lead study investigator of CAPTIVATE
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The Phase 2 CAPTIVATE (PCYC-1142) clinical trial evaluated 164 patients younger than 70 years (median age of 58 years) with previously untreated CLL/SLL. Patients were planned to receive ibrutinib for 3 cycles, followed by 12 cycles of ibrutinib and venetoclax in combination. Ninety percent of patients was able to complete the planned therapy. MRD status was evaluated in PB after 6, 9, and 12 cycles and in BM after 12 cycles of the combination.
06 Dec Phase I Study of Duvelisib and Venetoclax in Relapsed or Refractory CLL / SLL
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52370" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Davids[/caption]
Dr. Matthew S. Davids MD MSC
Associate Director of the Dana-Farber CLL Center
Attending physician
Lymphoma Program, Division of Hematologic Malignancies
Dana-Farber
[caption id="attachment_52369" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Crombie[/caption]
Dr. Jennifer Crombie MD
Instructor in Medicine
Harvard Medical School
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: New data from our investigator-sponsored Phase 1 study exploring duvelisib in combination with venetoclax will be presented at ASH on December 7. In relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), duvelisib plus venetoclax demonstrated promising clinical activity, a manageable tolerability profile, and identified a recommended Phase 2 dosing (RP2D) regimen.
06 Dec Morbidity of Breast Cancer and Screening Interval: Annual versus Biennial
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52282" align="alignleft" width="144"] Dr. Moorman[/caption]
Sarah Moorman, MD
Department of Radiology
Michigan Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Professional societies and government agencies have variable recommendations regarding how often women should get a screening mammogram. Breast cancer screening may be recommended annually or biennially. These differing recommendations lead to confusion for both referring physicians and patients.
The goal of our study was to better understand differences between annual and biennial screening. We reviewed clinical outcomes of women undergoing annual or biennial mammographic screening to determine if there is an advantage to annual screening.
02 Dec Home Urine Test May Predict Aggressive Prostate Cancer Prior to Biopsy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Jeremy Clark University of East Anglia Norwich Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Earlier this year we published our pilot study which showed how useful we have found urine to be for diagnosing prostate cancer and predicting which cancers will get bigger and nastier up to 5 years later (Connell et al 2019). – Our PUR (Prostate Urine Risk) signatures separated men with low-risk cancer into two groups one of which had 8-times the rate of future development of aggressive cancer that the other. There is nothing in clinical use at present that can do this. The new development is our At-Home Urine collection system which means that we can now send out a urine collection kit to a man at home, he fills up a small pot with his first wee of the day and posts it back to us for PUR analysis. This makes the whole system so much less stressful for the patient. The idea behind it is as follows: the prostate lays just below the bladder, it is a secretory organ and these secretions carry cells and molecules from all over the prostate to the urethra which then get flushed out of the body on urination. If a cancer is present then tiny bits of the tumour are also carried with the secretions and we can detect these in the urine. As the prostate is constantly secreting the levels of biomarkers in the urethra will build up with time. Collecting from the first wee of the day means that overnight secretions can be collected which makes the analysis more sensitive and more robust.
26 Nov Pairing RNA with DNA Genetic Testing Improves Risk Assessment for Hereditary Cancers
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Rachid Karam, MD PhD
Director, Ambry Translational Genomics Lab
Ambry Genetics
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Standard DNA testing for hereditary cancer risk excludes large portions of DNA, thereby missing some mutations. In addition, DNA testing can produce inconclusive results and fail to determine that an error in our DNA increases cancer risk. These limitations impact patients and their families because doctors may not have the information needed to recommend appropriate preventive, early detection, or therapeutic steps. Additionally, relatives may not be referred for genetic testing and obtain the care they would otherwise have gotten if they had learned they had mutations. The study looked at how the addition of RNA genetic testing to standard DNA testing for hereditary cancer risk was able to increase diagnostic yield.
The study looked at the first 2,500 patients that received Ambry Genetics +RNAinsight™, paired RNA and DNA genetic testing for hereditary cancer risk. The data from this study showed that the addition of RNA genetic testing to DNA testing (1) identified new mutations that would have been missed with DNA testing alone, and (2) clarified inconclusive results as disease-causing.
26 Nov Effect of Supplementation With Omega-3 Fatty Acid on Risk of Colorectal Polyps
Posted at 00:42h
in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Colon Cancer, JAMA, Omega-3 Fatty Acids
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_52246" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Song[/caption]
MINGYANG SONG, MD, ScD
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
Harvard T.H. Chan School Of Public Health
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Increasing data indicate that high intake of omega-3 fatty acid may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Since effects of nutritional factors on risk of cancer, a slow-developing disease, typically emerge only after several years, it is useful to study the effect of preventive agents on cancer precursors such as colorectal polyps. Colorectal polyps are small growths on the lining of the colon or rectum. Most polyps are harmless, but some can become cancerous.
20 Nov Anal Cancer Rates Rise Sharply
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52225" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Deshmukh[/caption]
Ashish Deshmukh, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
UTHealth School of Public Health
Houston
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Anal cancer is one of the six human papillomavirus associated cancers. Rates of anal cancer are increasing in the US, but no prior study quantified the contemporary trends (i.e., increase in rates over time) in anal cancer incidence. It was unknown whether the rise is real or driven by increased screening in some high-risk populations. Incidence trends according to age and stage at diagnosis was also never comprehensively studied. Furthermore, it was unknown whether the rise in incidence has led to a rise in mortality. Our objective was to answer these questions.
20 Nov Do Higher Plasma Omega-3 Levels Predispose to Prostate Cancer?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52211" align="alignleft" width="200"] Prof. Anderson[/caption]
Jeffrey L. Anderson, MD FAHA FACC MACP
Distinguished Research Physician
Professor of Medicine with Tenure
University of Utah School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Omega-3 supplements are widely used for cardiovascular prevention. However, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (105:1132, 2013) reported as an incidental finding in a plasma bank study that the risk of prostate cancer increased with increasing levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and trended to increase with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
17 Nov Sun Protection Rising? Melanoma Incidence Decreasing in Young Adults
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52150" align="alignleft" width="143"] Dr. Gardner[/caption]
Jennifer M. Gardner, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Dermatology
University of Washington School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: This study looked at age-specific differences of melanoma incidence in the United States. It was an observational study looking at population-based registry data extracted from the combined National Program of Cancer Registries-Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results United States Cancer Statistics (NPCR-SEER) database.
The overall take home message from this study is that though melanoma incidence has continued to climb in the past decade for both men and women, most of the increase is seen in adults greater than age 40 years of age. In contrast, melanoma incidence decreased in adolescents (ages 10-19 years of age) and young adults (ages 20-29) after peaking around 2004-2005.
Melanoma is more common in males in older individuals (older than 50 years of age) but in younger individuals (<50 years of age), melanoma is more common in females. According to a recently published JAMA-Otolaryngology paper by Bray and colleagues, there may be a subset of younger individuals where males are at a higher risk than females in regard to head and neck melanoma, and after that study was published we noted this to be true in our numbers, as well (we didn’t publish this in our study), further identifying a possibly “at risk” demographic within the younger age groups in addition to young women.
15 Nov Breast Cancer: Risk-Adapted Starting Age of Screening for Relatives of Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52174" align="alignleft" width="300"] Mammograms showing a normal breast (left) and a breast with cancer (right, white arrows). Wikipedia Image[/caption]
Dr. Elham Kharazmi, MD, PhD
Co-Leader, Risk Adapted Prevention (RAD) Group
Division of Preventive Oncology
National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT)
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Germany
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer death in American women, exceeded only by lung cancer. Available evidence suggests that implementation of a screening program can decrease breast cancer mortality.
Reductions in breast cancer mortality in Europe over the past two decades have been associated at least in part with the implementation of screening programs. Screening enables the detection of tumors at an early stage, when more treatment options are feasible and most effective. However, screening is associated with substantial risks, such as over-diagnosis, false-positive results, and physical and psychological harms, particularly when large numbers of women with low risk are frequently screened.
15 Nov Blood Biomarker Can Help Distinguish Malignant from Benign Ocular Moles
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52167" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Stark[/caption]
Dr. Mitchell Stark, B.App.Sc (Hons), PhD
NHMRC Research Fellow
The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute
Woolloongabba, QLD
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Uveal nevi (moles) mimic the appearance of uveal melanoma and their transformation potential cannot be definitively determined without a biopsy. Moles or naevi in the eye are common but can be difficult to monitor because changes to their shape or colouring can’t always be seen as easily as on the skin. As naevi are difficult to biopsy, they are usually “monitored” at regular intervals. If there is a melanoma in the eye, then outcomes are poor for people if their cancer spreads to the liver.
This study aimed to identify a “biomarker” that could be measured in patients’ blood that could be used as an early indicator of melanoma formation (from a mole) or progression to other body sites.
13 Nov Family History of Cancer Linked to Increased Risk of Asthma
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52106" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Nagarajan[/caption]
Sairaman Nagarajan, MD
Clinical Fellow at State University
New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The impetus for this study came from our previous research linking asthma, hay-fever and overall cancer diagnoses using the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey database.
The division of Allergy and Immunology at SUNY Downstate has also conducted two pilot studies on the relationship between parental cancer and childhood asthma in Brooklyn’s population; one from Lutheran Medical Center focusing on Hispanics and Asian patients, and the other on African-American and Afro-Caribbean patients.
07 Nov Mailed HPV Kits Improved Cervical Cancer Screening
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Rachel L. Winer, PhD
Professor Department of Epidemiology
School of Public Health HPV Research Group
University of Washington Seattle, WA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In the U.S., 25% of women do not receive recommended cervical cancer screening. Increasing screening participation is a high priority, because over half of the 12,000 cervical cancers diagnosed each year in the U.S. are in women who are underscreened.
Currently available options for cervical cancer screening in the U.S. include Pap testing or HPV testing, either alone or in combination. HPV self-sampling is an emerging option for screening because HPV tests – unlike Pap tests – can be performed on either clinician- or self-collected samples, with similar accuracy. Internationally, several countries (including Australia and the Netherlands) include HPV self-sampling as a cervical cancer screening option for underscreened women.
02 Nov Racial & Ethnic Cancer Survivors Less Able to See Health Care Providers Who Share Their Culture
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51995" align="alignleft" width="191"] Dr. Nina Niu Sanford[/caption]
Nina Niu Sanford, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Dedman Family Scholar in Clinical Care
UT Southwestern Department of Radiation Oncology
Dallas TX
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Minority racial/ethnic groups present at later stages of cancer and have worse stage-specific survival rates. Cultural competency represents a single element within the dynamic and trans-disciplinary field of health disparities, but is an important modifiable factor for both providers and health organizations that could be associated with disparities in cancer outcomes.
There have been longstanding initiatives and training requirements in medical education specifically designed to improve provider cultural competency over the past couple of decades, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has recently outlined goals for improving cultural competency within its policy statement on cancer disparities.
Moreover, ASCO health disparity policies have recently highlighted the association between racial/ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes and a “lack of access to high-quality care that is understanding and respectful of diverse traditions and cultures plays a significant role.” Given the above, we wished to assess access to culturally competent providers among patients with cancer by race/ethnicity.
30 Oct Bariatric Surgery Linked to Reduced Melanoma Risk
Posted at 21:17h
in Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, Melanoma, Surgical Research, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Magdalena Taube, PhD
Institute of Medicine, Dept of Molecular and Clinical Medicine
Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University
Wallenberg laboratory
Gothenburg Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Obesity is a cancer risk factor, and bariatric surgery in patients with obesity is associated with reduced cancer risk. However, evidence of an association among obesity, bariatric surgery and skin cancer is limited.
In this study we used data from the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study– a prospective controlled intervention trial examining bariatric surgery outcomes – to analyze the impact of bariatric surgery on skin cancer incidence.
23 Oct Additive Benefit of RNA Genetic Testing for Hereditary Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Rachid Karam, MD, PhD
Ambry Genetics
Aliso Viejo, California
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: DNA genetic testing is a powerful tool used to tailor medical care based on an individual’s cancer risk. However, even medical grade DNA genetic testing can produce inconclusive results, finding a change in our DNA to be a variant of unknown significance (a VUS) and failing to determine whether it increases cancer risk. When this happens, healthcare providers might not have the information needed to recommend appropriate preventive and early detection steps, or certain cancer treatments, and relatives may not be referred for genetic testing for their own care.
In this study, investigators from Ambry, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute, and University of Kansas Cancer Center demonstrated that performing both DNA and RNA genetic testing reduces inconclusive results enabling clinicians to offer cancer screening and treatment resources to the right patients.
23 Oct Lung Cancer Screening: Using Life-Gained Model To Reduce Harms and Prevent More Deaths
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51923" align="alignleft" width="160"] Dr. Cheung[/caption]
Li C. Cheung, PhD
Staff Scientist, Biostatistics Branch
Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics
NCI National Cancer Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Using individualized risk prediction models to select individuals for lung-cancer screening will prevent more lung cancer deaths than current USPSTF guidelines (ages 55-80y; 30+ pack-years; smoke in past 15y). However, risk-based screening would lead to screening even more older smokers with comorbidities, for whom the harms of screening may outweigh the benefits.
21 Oct DERM: AI Algorithm Helps Determine Likelihood of Melanoma from Dermoscopic Images
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Helen Marsden PhD
Skin Analytics Limited
London, United Kingdom
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In this technology age, with the explosion of interest and applications using Artificial Intelligence, it is easy to accept the output of a technology-based test - such as a smartphone app designed to identify skin cancer - without thinking too much about it. In reality, technology is only as good as the way it has been developed, tested and validated. In particular, AI algorithms are prone to a lack of “generalisation” - i.e. their performance drops when presented with data it has not seen before. In the medical field, and particularly in areas where AI is being developed to direct a patient’s diagnosis or care, this is particularly problematic. Inappropriate diagnosis or advice to patients can lead to false reassurance, heightened concern and pressure on NHS services, or worse. It is concerning, therefore, that there are a large number of smartphone apps available that provide an assessment of skin lesions, including some that provide an estimate of the probability of malignancy, that have not been assessed for diagnostic accuracy.
Skin Analytics has developed an AI-based algorithm, named: Deep Ensemble for Recognition of Malignancy (DERM), for use as a decision support tool for healthcare providers. DERM determines the likelihood of skin cancer from dermoscopic images of skin lesions. It was developed using deep learning techniques that identify and assess features of these lesions which are associated with melanoma, using over 7,000 archived dermoscopic images. Using these images, it was shown to identify melanoma with similar accuracy to specialist physicians. However, to prove the algorithm could be used in a real life clinical setting, Skin Analytics set out to conduct a clinical validation study.
20 Oct Cancer Cells Take Advantage of Brain’s Fatty Environment to Grow
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51877" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Qing Chen[/caption]
Qing Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Immunology, Microenvironment & Metastasis Program
Scientific Director, Imaging Facility
The Wistar Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We are focusing on how a specific type of brain cells, astrocytes, helps the cancer cells from melanoma and breast cancer to form metastatic lesions.
10 Oct Australia’s SunSmart Program Program Linked to Decrease in Melanomas
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51801" align="alignleft" width="173"]
Dr. Dobbinson[/caption]
Suzanne Dobbinson, PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer
Behavioural Science Division
Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Skin cancer prevention programs, such as the SunSmart program in Victoria, have been implemented in Australia over 30 years with the aim of reducing the population’s exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV), the main cause of skin cancer. A recent reduction in melanoma rates among younger Australians has led to this paper which examines the extent of behaviour change in Melbourne, Australia, and the potential contribution of prevention programs to the decline in melanoma rates.
Previous population-based studies assessing the impact of these programs have focused on measuring the change in the prevalence of individual sun protection behaviours, and thus have largely overlooked the use of sun avoidance and composite sun protection behaviours. The focus on tracking individual behaviours may have underestimated the behaviour change associated with these programs.
We analysed data from a series of cross-sectional surveys conducted in Melbourne during summer months between 1987 and 2017. These data include the summer before the SunSmart program commenced (1987-88) and across summers in three subsequent decades.
07 Oct Indoor Tanning More Available in Neighborhoods with More Gay Men
Posted at 16:23h
in Author Interviews, Dermatology, Environmental Risks, General Medicine, JAMA, Melanoma, Stanford
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_18136" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Linos[/caption]
Eleni Linos MD MPH DrPH
Professor of Dermatology and Epidemiology
Stanford University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: We know that tanning beds are harmful: people who use tanning beds are more likely to get skin cancer. Sexual minority men are much more likely to use tanning beds and also more likely to get skin cancer. In a separate study we discovered that one reason sexual minority men use tanning beds is if it is convenient: e.g. if close to home, cheap, and easy. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjd.17684). Recent research showed that tobacco retailers cluster in LGB neighborhoods: https://sph.unc.edu/sph-news/more-tobacco-retailers-in-lgbt-neighborhoods-may-explain-smoking-disparities/. This made us wonder if tanning salons also cluster in neighborhoods with more gay men.
04 Oct Study Finds Multigene Testing For All Women With Breast Cancer Can Save Lives and Money
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51722" align="alignleft" width="138"] Dr. Manchanda[/caption]
Dr Ranjit Manchanda MD, MRCOG, PhD
Professor & Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist
NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) Fellow
Integrated Academic Training Programme Director
London Specialty School of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Health Education England
Cancer Research UK, Barts Centre | Queen Mary University of London
Department of Gynaecological Oncology | Barts Health NHS Trust, Royal London Hospital
London
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Current national and international guidelines recommend genetic-testing (for BRCA genes) in women with breast cancer (BC) who fulfil recognised/established clinical criteria which are based on a history of cancer in the patient and family. However 50% of BRCA carriers do not fulfil these criteria. Thus the current family-history or clinical-criteria based approach misses half the people at risk. Additionally only 20%-30% of patients eligible tend to get referred for and access BRCA testing. Newer genes like PALB2 which cause breast cancer have been identified and can also be tested for.
Knowing a patient’s mutation status (carrier identification) can have a number of benefits. After unilateral breast cancer, mutations carriers can choose contralateral prophylactic-mastectomy (CPM) or preventative mastectomy of the second breast to reduce their risk of developing contralateral breast cancer. Additionally they can opt for surgical prevention for ovarian-cancer (OC). Cancer affected carriers may become eligible for novel drugs (like poly-adenosine-diphosphate-ribose-polymerase (PARP) inhibitors) and other precision-medicine based novel drug therapies through clinical trials. A major advantage of genetic-testing is enabling testing relatives of breast cancer mutation carriers, to identify unaffected relatives carrying mutations who can benefit from early diagnosis and cancer prevention.
Testing everyone instead of being restricted by family history will identify many more mutation carriers and their family members who can benefit from precision prevention. A large proportion of these cancers are preventable in known unaffected mutations carriers.
03 Oct Most BRCA Testing Done in Women Already Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
Posted at 16:48h
in Antibiotic Resistance, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Genetic Research, Journal Clinical Oncology, University Texas
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_33272" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Fangjian Guo[/caption]
Fangjian Guo, MD, PhD
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health
University of Texas Medical Branch
Galveston TX
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The identification of BRCA1/BRCA2 pathogenic variants in women susceptible to breast or ovarian cancer in the 1990s created an opportunity for targeted, individualized cancer prevention. BRCA testing in young women before cancer onset enables early detection of those with increased cancer risk and creates an opportunity to offer life-saving prophylactic procedures and medication.
We used insurance claims data to assess the use of BRCA testing in unaffected young women <40 years of age between 2006 and 2017 and found that BRCA testing among cancer-free women under 40 has more than doubled in recent years. However, only about 25% of all BRCA testing done in 2017 was performed in unaffected young women under 40.
03 Oct Wistar Researchers Identify Mitochondrial Factor That Keeps Cancer Cells Alive
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ekta Agarwal, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow in the lab of
Dario Altieri, M.D.
Wistar president and CEO ,Director of the Institute’s Cancer Center
Robert & Penny Fox Distinguished Professor
and co-first author on the study.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Mitochondrial reprogramming is one of the hallmarks of cancer cell growth and metastasis. There are several studies correlating mitochondrial dynamics to increased cancer cell motility and invasion. However, therapies that can target molecular markers associated with mitochondrial functions and integrity are still obscure. Thus, it is crucial to identify novel targets and pathways that regulate mitochondrial functions in cancer. This study reveals one such mitochondrial molecular pathway which might serve as an actionable anti-cancer therapy.
