Cancer Research
09 Feb Anti-Cancer Agent May Have Simultaneous Regenerative Properties
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31860" align="alignleft" width="70"]
Dr. Lum[/caption]
Lawrence Lum, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Virginia Murchison Linthicum Scholar in Medical Research
UT Southwestern Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Scarring of the adult heart due to excessive fibrotic responses is common after a heart attack, or following radiation therapy for the treatment of certain cancers. We have identified an anti-cancer agent currently in clinical development called WNT-974 that decreases fibrotic responses and improves heart function following myocardial infarction in mice. This unexpected observation was the outcome of a study focused on identifying unwanted adult tissue toxicities associated with this class of chemicals.
07 Feb Losing Some Weight May Reduce Risk of Endometrial Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31782" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Juhua Luo[/caption] Juhua Luo, PhD Associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics Indiana University School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We already know obesity increases risk of endometrial cancer. However, information on whether weight loss reduces risk of endometrial cancer is limited. MedicalResearch.com:...
07 Feb Link Between Soy Consumption and Breast Cancer Remains Complicated
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Xiyuan Zhang PhD and Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, PhD Professor of Oncology Georgetown University Research Building, Room E407 Washington, DC 20057 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Breast cancer is the most common cancer type in women and it also is the second leading cause of death by cancer in the United States. Every year, over 200,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the US and this number reached over 1.5 million worldwide in 2012. Asian women exhibit much lower risk of breast cancer than Caucasian women, accounting for about one fifth of the breast cancer incidence in Western women. Therefore, researchers have been intensively studying and aiming to decipher the difference between these two populations. Results of previous research from our laboratory and by others, in animal models and humans, indicate that higher intake of soy foods or soy isoflavone genistein during childhood is associated with reduced breast cancer risk. However, findings done using human breast cancer cells indicate that soy isoflavones stimulate growth of breast cancer cells. Thus, there is an apparent controversy regarding soy isoflavones and breast cancer. 70% of all breast cancer cases are estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and are therefore treated with endocrine therapy, including with tamoxifen. Although these treatments effectively prevent recurrence in half of the ER+ breast cancer patients, the other half are resistant or develop resistance to the endocrine therapy and recur. Intriguingly, several studies done using human breast cancer cells in culture or in mice found that soy isoflavone genistein negates tamoxifen’s effects. However, observational studies in women suggest that those patients who consume most soy foods have the lowest risk of breast cancer recurrence. The present study was designed to address these conflicting findings using a preclinical animal model and to determine if lifetime isoflavone intake has different effect on tamoxifen’s ability to treat breast cancer than intake that starts when cancer is detected.06 Feb Better Means to Reduce Breast Density Needed To Decrease Breast Cancer Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31761" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Natalie Engmann[/caption]
Natalie Engmann, MSc
PhD Candidate, Epidemiology and Translational Science
Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
University of California, San Francisco
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Breast density is well-established as a strong risk factor for breast cancer. Our study looked at what proportion of breast cancer cases in the entire population can be attributed to risk factors routinely collected in clinical practice, including breast density, measured using the clinical Breast Imaging and Reporting Scale (BI-RADS) categories.
03 Feb New Compounds May Extend Efficiency of Sunscreens
[caption id="attachment_31720" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Diego Sampedro[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Diego Sampedro PhD
Department of Chemistry, Centro de Investigación en Síntesis Química (CISQ)
Universidad de La Rioja
Logroño, Spain
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Skin cancer is currently the most common type of cancer. While it implies a relatively low mortality rate, the reported cases of all types of skin cancer have been steadily increasing for the last decades. The ozone layer depletion and longer sunlight exposure times due to outdoors activities contribute to this increase. Solar light is well-known to lead to several skin cellular problems, including DNA damage, mutations, oxidative stress, sunburn and immune suppression. These deleterious effects of sunlight may be mitigated by the use of sunscreens.
Sunscreens are inorganic or organic substances that are directly applied onto the skin, designed to minimize light transmission into the skin, mainly in the ultraviolet region of the solar spectrum. However, serious concerns exist about the safety of several commercial sunscreens components, as well as several drawbacks due to the lack of stability, biodegradability and effectiveness for skin protection. Thus, the development of new (and more efficient) types of sunscreens is of critical importance with a great potential impact in public health and industrial applications.
02 Feb Annual CT Lung Cancer Screening Among Former Smokers Remains Underutilized
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31705" align="alignleft" width="138"]
Dr. Ahmedin Jemal[/caption]
Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PHD
Vice President, Surveillance and Health Services Research
American Cancer Society, Inc.
250 Williams St.
Atlanta, GA 30303
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In December 2013, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended annual screening for lung cancer with low dose computed tomography (LDCT) for current or former heavy smokers who quit within the past 15 years.
A previous study estimated that only 2-4% of heavy smokers received LDCT for lung cancer screening in 2010 in the United States. We sought to determine whether lung cancer screening among high risk smokers increased in 2015, following the USPSTF recommendation in 2013.
01 Feb Cancer Susceptibility Gene Mutations in Individuals With Colorectal Cancer
Posted at 22:44h
in ASCO, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Colon Cancer, Genetic Research, Journal Clinical Oncology
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Matthew B Yurgelun, M.D
Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: It has long been known that hereditary factors play a key role in colorectal cancer risk. It is currently well-established that approximately 3% of all colorectal cancers arise in the setting of Lynch syndrome, a relatively common inherited syndrome that markedly increases one’s lifetime risk of colorectal cancer, as well as cancers of the uterus, ovaries, stomach, small intestine, urinary tract, pancreas, and other malignancies. Current standard-of-care in the field is to test all colorectal cancer specimens for mismatch repair deficiency, which is a very reliable means of screening for Lynch syndrome. The prevalence of other hereditary syndromes among patients with colorectal cancer has not been known, though other such factors have been presumed to be quite rare.
01 Feb Simulating Tumour Growth and Angiogenic Response Towards Improving Delivery of Cancer Therapies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31687" align="alignleft" width="186"]
Vasileios Vavourakis[/caption]
Vasileios Vavourakis
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow
Centre for Medical Image Computing
Department of Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering
Front Engineering Building, Malet Place
University College London
WC1E 6BT, London, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: It is already known that chemical factors play an important role in pathological angiogenesis, the process whereby cancer induces the formation of new blood vessels to provide it with nutrients. However, there is little knowledge about how mechanical forces induced by tumour growth affect the development and functionality of this pathological vasculature. By developing a mathematical & computational model – also referred in the research community as in-silico model – of the physical and chemical interactions occurring during angiogenic cancerous growth, we aimed to provide insights about how mechanical forces influence cancer-induced angiogenesis. The most important finding of our study is that mechanical forces play a key role in solid tumour-induced angiogenesis.
01 Feb Multifaceted Interventions Improve Cancer Screening Among Marginalized Groups
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31694" align="alignleft" width="141"]
Dr. Sheila Dunn[/caption]
Sheila F. Dunn, MD, MSc
Scientist, Women's College Research Institute
Director, Family Practice Health Centre
Staff Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Women's College Hospital
Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
University of Toronto
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Despite organized cervical and breast cancer screening programs, inequities in screening remain. In Ontario, women who are newcomers, especially those of South Asian and East Asian origin, have much lower screening rates than Canadian-born women.
In order to address these inequities the CARES program used a multi-faceted community-based intervention to increase knowledge and promote cervical and breast cancer screening among newcomer and otherwise marginalized women in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We reached out to women in the target groups through a network of community agencies. Women attended group educational sessions co-led by peers who spoke their language. Access to screening was facilitated through group screening visits, a visit health bus and on-site Pap smears. Administrative data were used to compare screening after the education date for CARES participants with a control group matched for age, screening status and area of residence.
30 Jan Does IVF Raise Risk of Malignancies in Offspring?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tamar Wainstock, PhD Department of Public Health; Faculty of Health Sciences Ben-Gurion University of the Negev ISRAEL MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There is a controversy in the medical literature regarding the possible association between infertility or infertility treatments, and the long-term offspring neoplasm risk: while some studies have found such an association, others have not. Since the number of offspring conceived following treatments are growing, and as they age, it is critical to clarify this possible association.30 Jan Comprehensive Lung Cancer Screening Is Complex Task With Many False Positives
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31587" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Linda Kinsinger[/caption]
Linda Kinsinger, MD, MPH
National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
NW Washington DC 20420
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for current and former heavy smokers ages 55 to 80.
However, clinicians have questioned the practical aspects of implementing lung cancer screening. VA provides care for 6.7 million Veterans each year, mostly older men – many of whom are current or former smokers – thus the implementation of a lung cancer screening program for VA patients would require substantial resources. In order to understand the feasibility and implications of this for patients and clinical staff, VA implemented a three-year Lung Cancer Screening Demonstration Project (LCSDP) in eight geographically-diverse VA hospitals. Investigators identified 93,033 primary care patients at eight sites who were assessed on screening criteria, of whom 2,106 patients were screened between July 2013 and June 2015.
27 Jan Stool DNA Tests (Cologuard ) Increases Colon Cancer Screening and Detection Among Previously Noncompliant Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31554" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Mark Prince[/caption]
Dr. Mark Prince MD
USMD Health System
Arlington, TX 76017
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: This 12-month retrospective study conducted to determine the screening compliance rates for a noninvasive multitarget stool DNA (mt-sDNA) screening test (Cologuard) for colon cancer among a cohort of nearly 400 average-risk Medicare patients who had previously not complied with recommended screening. These were patients who had never had a colonoscopy, had been more than ten years since last colonoscopy, or had been more than one year since last stool testing for occult blood.
25 Jan Thyroid Care Collaborative Improves Adoption of Thyroid Cancer Clinical Guidelines
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31505" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Ilya Likhterov[/caption]
Ilya Likhterov, MD
Assistant Professor, Otolaryngology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: As our understanding of thyroid cancer improves, the way these patients are diagnosed and treated is changing. It is difficult for clinicians to incorporate every individual scientific study into their practice. These studies are numerous and the results can be conflicting.
To address this difficulty, organizations such as the American Thyroid Association (ATA) create summary recommendations that account for the latest research and translate it into a format that is easily usable for physicians. Such clinical practice guidelines are available not just for thyroid cancer care, but in many other fields. The difficulty however, is how to ensure that clinicians have access to the guidelines and incorporate the recommendations into their practice.
There are a number of barriers to actually using the guidelines in practice, and we attempt to identify strategies on how to overcome these.
25 Jan Younger Colon Cancer Patients Receive More Chemotherapy But No Greater Survival Benefit
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kangmin Zhu, PhD, MD John P. Murtha Cancer Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics Bethesda, Maryland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: An article published on JAMA Surgery in 2015 showed more utilization of chemotherapy among young colon cancer patients. To demonstrate the study findings, we analyzed the data from the Department of Defense healthcare system, in which all members have the same level of access to medical care and therefore the potential effects of insurance status and types on research results can be reduced. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: The main findings were that young and middle-aged colon cancer patients were 2 to 8 times more likely to receive postoperative chemotherapy and 2.5 times more likely to receive multiagent regimens, compared with their counterparts aged 65 to 75 years. However, no matched survival benefits were observed for the young and middle-aged among patients who received surgery and postoperative chemotherapy.24 Jan New Oncoprotein Offers Potential Therapeutic Target
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31452" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Hua Lu[/caption]
Dr. Hua Lu MS PhD
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Reynolds and Ryan Families Chair in Translation Cancer
Tulane Cancer Center
Tulane University School of Medicine
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: It has been well appreciated and acknowledged that p53 is the most important tumor suppressor in human body. However, approximately 50% of human cancers still sustain the wild type form of its gene, and also oddly, some cancers, such as breast cancer, which contain wild type p53, are often less sensitive to chemotherapy than those harbor mutated p53. Although a number of oncoproteins, including MDM2 and MDMX (MDM4), have been shown to be highly expressed and to inactivate p53 in those wild type p53-containing cancers, more molecules need to be discovered to keep p53 in control in order to let cancer cells to proliferate and growth.
Our study as described in our recent publication in Nature Communications unveils a new p53 target gene that encodes pleckstrin homology domain-containing protein (PHLDB3) as another p53 inhibitor in a negative feedback fashion. Interestingly and mechanistically, PHLDB3 can work with MDM2 by boosting its E3 ubiquitin ligase activity, consequently leading to degradation of p53. Biologically, PHLDB3 can promote cancer cell proliferation and growth in culture and in xenograft tumor models by in part inactivating p53 activity. More interestingly, PHLDB3 is highly amplified and expressed in a number of human cancers, such as pancreatic, prostate, colon and breast cancers. High expression of PHLDB3 is well correlated with the wild type status of p53 in certain portion of breast cancer. These findings uncover PHLDB3 as another oncoprotein that can promote cancer growth by partially inactivate p53, and thus might serve as a potential target for future development of anti-cancer therapy. Our study also suggests that PHLDB3 has a p53-independent function important for cancer growth.
23 Jan ACA Medicare Changes Increased Diagnosis of Early-Stage Colorectal Cancer Among Seniors.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31434" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Nengliang Yao[/caption]
Nengliang “Aaron” Yao PhD
Assistant professor
Department of Public Health Sciences
University of Virginia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The ACA made several changes in Medicare that could increase the use of cancer screening and thus lead to more early cancer diagnoses. This includes waiving patient cost-sharing for screening, waiving patient cost-sharing for one wellness visit per year, and paying bonuses to physicians for doing more work in a primary care setting.
We studied how effective those changes were in facilitating more early diagnoses of breast and colorectal cancers. We found that the changes had no effect on early breast cancer diagnoses (likely because costs and other access barriers for mammograms were already low), but increased the number of early colorectal cancer diagnoses by 8 percent.
21 Jan Physical Activity Linked to Improved Survival from Metastatic Colon Cancer
Posted at 15:25h
in ASCO, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Colon Cancer, Exercise - Fitness
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_31331" align="alignleft" width="145"]
Dr. Brendan Guercio[/caption]
Brendan John Guercio, M.D.
Clinical Fellow in Medicine (EXT)
Brigham and Women's Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Sedentary lifestyle is a known risk factor for the development of colon cancer and has been associated with increased disease recurrence and mortality in patients with early stage colorectal cancer. This is the first study to our knowledge to show an association between increased physical activity (i.e. non-sedentary lifestyle) and improved survival and progression-free survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
20 Jan Cancer-Related Mortality Low In Men With Benign Prostate Biopsy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31606" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Nina Klemann[/caption]
Dr. Nina Klemann
MD, PhD-student
Copenhagen Prostate Cancer Center
Copenhagen
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: For 30 years, ultrasound-guided biopsies of the prostate have been used in the evaluation of men suspected for prostate cancer. The biopsy needles are employed systematically into the prostate at different sites where prostate cancer is typically present. However, it has been recognized for years, that there is a risk of not hitting the cancer areas, simply by chance. Although cancer diagnosis may be missed in the initial biopsy set by sampling error, it has been a continuous debate whether lethal prostate cancer is missed. Today, we know that prostate cancer is a common finding in men age 50-80, but that the life-time risk of prostate cancer death in this age-group is low. Consequently, we know that there is a considerable risk of diagnosing, and ultimately treating, a disease that will never result in symptoms or death.
19 Jan Cancer Killed While Preserving A Kidney Transplant
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31344" align="alignleft" width="160"]
Dr. Kenar Jhaveri,[/caption]
Kenar D. Jhaveri, MD
Professor of Medicine
Division of Kidney Diseases and Hypertension
Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine,
100 Community Drive, Great Neck, NY 11021
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The immune check point inhibitors are novel anti cancer agents being used rapidly in various cancers. Many cancers don’t allow our natural immune system to attack the cancer. These immunotherapy agents “activate” the immune system to attack the cancer. These agents have been reported to cause multiple end organ side effects as noted by this recent NYT article. We also recently reported the known renal effects of immunotherapy.
In the kidney transplant patient who is on immunosuppressive agents, the physicians need to keep the immune system suppressed to preserve the kidney. When one of these agents are used for a cancer in a kidney transplant patient, prior reports have suggested severe rejection episodes and loss of the transplanted kidney. Our case in the NEJM is the first report of a preventive strategy used to allow for simultaneous treatment of cancer and preventive rejection of the kidney. We used a regimen of steroids and sirolimus( an anti-proliferative agent that is used to treat cancer and also is an immunosuppresant) along with the immunotherapy. The cancer started regressing and the kidney did not reject.
14 Jan Gene Variant That Controls Tumor Metabolism Linked To Breast Cancer Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31251" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Dr. Ulrich Pfeffer[/caption]
Ulrich Pfeffer, PhD
Head of the Functional Genomics lab
IRCCS AOU San Martino - IST Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro
Genova, Italy
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In recent years our knowledge on genetic variants that are associated with the risk to develop breast cancer has grown substantially. In addition to the two breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2 we know approximately 100 other genes that are present in the population in two variants. In the presence of a single of these variants the breast cancer risk is slightly increased and several variants together determine a significant increase in risk. We also know that certain variants are associated with specific subtypes of breast cancer such as the estrogen receptor positive breast cancer.
We show in our work for the first time that some of these variants are more frequent in breast cancers that carry a specific somatic, non-inherited, mutation. In particular, we show this for the most frequent somatic mutation in breast cancer, PIK3CA, a gene involved in the control of tumor metabolism and many other aspects, a fundamental gene. The knowledge of this association tells us a lot on cancer biology. But most important, it might help to design specific prevention strategies. Since when you carry a germline allele that is associated with a specific somatic mutation you know your risk of a specific molecular type of breast cancer and eventually you can do something specific to prevent it.
13 Jan DNA Methylation Allows Head and Neck Tumors To Be SubClassified
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31235" align="alignleft" width="154"]
Dr. Jacek Majewski[/caption]
Jacek Majewski PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Human Genetics
McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre
Montreal, Canada
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Our lab, in collaboration with Dr. Nada Jabado, has been investigating the molecular genetics of pediatric glioblastoma – a deadly brain cancer. Several years ago, in the majority of our patients’ tumors we discovered mutations in genes that encode histone proteins. Those mutations disrupt the epigenome - that is the way the DNA is modified, silenced, or activated in the cancer cells. It appears that epigenome-modifying mutations are particularly important in pediatric cancers, and our hypothesis is that they act by diverting the normal developmental pathways into unrestrained proliferation. Many other studies have highlighted the significance of epigenome disruption in a number of cancers.
13 Jan Fall in PSA Best Predictor of Mortality After Prostate Cancer Treatment
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Trevor Royce MD MS
Resident, Harvard Radiation Oncology Program
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Clinical trials in early prostate cancer take more than a decade to report on.
Multiple early reporting endpoints have been proposed, but which one is best, remains unknown, until now. Of all the possible early endpoints examined, to date, how low a PSA blood test falls to, after treatment with radiation and hormonal therapy, appears to be the best, specifically, if the PSA doesn’t get below half a point, that patient is very likely to die of prostate cancer if given standard treatment for recurrence.
Those men deserve prompt enrollment on clinical trials in order to properly save their life.
13 Jan Breast and Prostate Cancer Screenings Have Similar Potential for OverDiagnosis
Posted at 00:20h
in Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Prostate Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Karsten Juhl Jørgensen, MD, Dr. MedSci
The Nordic Cochrane Centre
Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Our systematic Cochrane review of the original randomised breast screening trials showed substantial conflict between their estimates of the benefit. Some trials showed a large benefit, others none or a small benefit. This difference was related to the design of the trials.
The most optimistic trials were those with suboptimal randomisation.
The main findings of our current study support those of the most rigorously performed randomised trials: breast screening does not fulfill its fundamental premise, which is to reduce the occurrence of late stage disease. This means a mortality reduction is unlikely and that use of less invasive surgery due to breast screening is also unlikely.
However, we did find very substantial increases in early stage breast cancer, which persisted over our 17 year observation period. This means that breast screening likely leads to substantial overdiagnosis of breast cancers that would otherwise not have caused health problems during a woman’s lifetime. We estimate that 1 in 3 breast cancers detected in a screened population is likely overdiagnosed.
10 Jan In Global Survey, Risks of Sun Exposure and Tanning Not Well Known
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31129" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Sophie Seite[/caption]
Sophie Seite, Ph. D
La Roche-Posay Dermatological Laboratories
Asnières, France.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The survey included nearly 20,000 men and women in 23 countries, ages 16-65, and was primarily conducted online. The questionnaire collected data regarding demographics, sun exposure, behaviors regarding prevention and tanning, risk knowledge, self-examination, medical advice seeking, and social attitude. This unprecedented international survey on sun exposure behaviors and skin cancer detection found that there are many imperfections and geographical inequalities in primary and secondary prevention of skin cancer.
The study was published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology by researchers from La Roche-Posay and the George Washington University (GW) Department of Dermatology. Survey results indicate that 88 percent of those questioned were aware of the risks of developing skin cancer when exposed without protection to the sun. However, just 1 in 2 respondents has ever consulted a dermatologist for a mole screening and 4 in 10 people don’t think to protect themselves from the sun outside of vacation.
10 Jan Prostate Cancer Treatment Declines Sharply in General Population, But Not Among Diagnosed Men
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tudor Borza, MD, MS Urologic Oncology and Health Service Research Fellow Department of Urology, University of Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Starting in the late 2000’s studies began to identify overdiagnosis and overtreatment in men with prostate cancer. Because of the indolent nature of some prostate cancers many men who ended up diagnosed and treated would have never had any consequences from their prostate cancer. This led national organizations (like the American Urological Association and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network) to call for decreased prostate cancer screening (using the serum PSA test) and eventually led to the US Preventive Services Task Force to recommend against routine PSA screening, citing that the harms from diagnosis and treatment outweighed the harms from the disease. Over the same specialists treating the disease began to report on the safety of surveillance strategies in select men with prostate cancer. Watchful waiting (delaying any treatment until men become symptomatic from their cancer and then offering palliative treatment) was found to be comparable to initial treatment in men with a limited life expectance, either from advanced age or multiple comorbidities. Similarly, active surveillance (a technique employing intense monitoring with PSA testing, digital rectal exams, repeat biopsies and possible use of MRI or other biomarkers) was introduced with the goal of delaying treatment in some men with low risk cancer until the cancer becomes more aggressive and was shown to have similar outcomes to initial treatment in carefully selected men. We wanted to study the trends in initial prostate cancer treatment in this context of recommendations for decreased screening and recognition of the feasibility of surveillance in certain patients with prostate cancer.09 Jan ACA: Screening Disparities Fall For Mammograms But Not Colonoscopies
Posted at 13:02h
in Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Colon Cancer, Cost of Health Care, Mammograms, Medical Imaging, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Radiology
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_31020" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Dr. Gregory Cooper[/caption]
Dr. Gregory Cooper, MD
Program Director, Gastroenterology
UH Cleveland Medical Center
Co-Program Leader for Cancer Prevention and Control, UH Cleveland Medical Center
Professor, Medicine, CWRU School of Medicine
Co-Program Leader for Cancer Prevention and Control
UH Seidman Cancer Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The Affordable Care Act, among other features, removed out of pocket expenses for approved preventive services, and this may have served as a barrier to cancer screening in socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals. If so, then the gap in screening between socioeconomic groups should narrow following the ACA.
The main findings of the study were that although in the pre-ACA era, there were disparities in screening, they narrowed only for mammography and not colonoscopy.
06 Jan Cancer Deaths Drop 25% in Less Than 25 Years
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31023" align="alignleft" width="175"]
Rebecca Siegel[/caption]
Rebecca Siegel, MPH
Strategic Director, Surveillance Information Services
American Cancer Society, Inc.
250 Williams St.
Atlanta, GA 30303
MedicalResearch.com: What is the bottom line for incidence and mortality trends?
Response: The bottom line for cancer mortality is that in contrast to many other major causes of death, cancer death rates continue to decline, dropping by 25% from 1991 to 2014. This translates to about 2 million fewer cancer deaths over this time period than would be expected if cancer death rates had remained at their peak. Death rates are the best measure of progress against disease.
Cancer incidence rates also dropped in men over the past decade of data, whereas in women they are flat. The drop in men is because of large declines for the top 3 cancers (prostate, lung, and colorectum), which account for more than 40% of cancers diagnosed in men. The stable trend in women is largely because declines in lung and colorectal cancers are offset by a flat trend for both breast and uterine corpus (i.e., endometrial) cancers, which combined account for almost 40% of cases in women, as well as rapid increases for thyroid cancer over the past decade -- increasing by almost 5% annually. Importantly, thyroid incidence rates have stabilized in the past few data years because of modifications in diagnostic criteria.
06 Jan Bisphosphonates For Bone Metastases May Be Given Less Frequently
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31008" align="alignleft" width="130"]
Dr. Charles Shapiro[/caption]
Charles L. Shapiro, MD
Professor of Medicine
Co-Director of Dubin Breast Center
Director of Translational Breast Cancer Research
Director of Cancer Survivorship, Tisch Cancer Institute
Mount Sinai Health System
Division of Hematology / Medical Oncology: Tisch Cancer Institute
New York, NY 10029
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Metastases to bone are frequent in many cancers and cause pain, pathological fractures, necessitate surgical and/or radiation treatments, cause spinal chord compression that can lead to paralysis, and significantly increase health care costs.
Zoledronic acid, a bisphosphonate that inhibits bone resorption, is used in standard practice because it reduces the risks skeletal-related events including cancer-related pathological fractures, the need for surgery and/or radiation to bone metastases, and spinal chord compression in patients with breast cancer, prostate cancer and multiple myeloma.
However, the optimal dosing interval for zoledronic acid is unknown and based on prior studies and empiricism it is administered monthly along with anti-cancer treatments.
In this trial, over 1800 breast cancer, prostate cancer and multiple myeloma patients with bone metastases were randomized to the standard dosing interval of monthly zoledronic acid versus every 3-months zoledronic acid for a duration of two years.
The results overall, and in each specific disease site, show that giving zoledronic acid once every 3-months as opposed to monthly did not result in any increase in skeletal-related
events.