Author Interviews, Duke, Genetic Research, Leukemia, MD Anderson, UT Southwestern / 23.03.2013

MedicalResearch.com Author Interview: Jun J. Yang, Ph.D. Assistant Member Dept. of Pharm. Sci. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital 262 Danny Thomas Pl., MS313 Memphis, TN 38105 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Yang: We performed a comprehensive survey of inherited genetic variations for their contribution to the susceptibility of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common cancer in children. This is by far the largest study of its kind (in terms of the number of subjects involved), and also the first one to include multi-ethnic populations. We identified 4 genomic loci related to the predisposition to ALL, 2 of which contributed to racial differences in the incidence of ALL.  This study provided unequivocal evidence for inherited susceptibility of childhood ALL and pointed to novel biology of the pathogenesis of this disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Cancer Research / 20.03.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with :Stig E. Bojesen Staff specialist, MD, PhD, DMSci Dept. of Clinical Biochemistry, Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev Hospital DK-2730 Herlev DenmarMedicalResearch.com Interview with Stig E. Bojesen Staff specialist, MD, PhD, DMSci Dept. of Clinical Biochemistry, Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev Hospital  DK-2730 Herlev  Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr. Bojesen: The most interesting findings were the increased risk of early death after cancer by decreasing telomere length – measured even before the cancer disease surfaced in the individual. This association was present even after adjusting for all known markers of adverse prognosis. We did not expect this, but it has important implications for how we might apply this marker in the management of cancer patients. The second - and also important and unexpected finding - was the overall lack of association with risk of cancer, after adjustment for the most common ordinary risk factors like age, gender, smoking and so on. This was in contrast to former meta-analyses and many other smaller studies suggesting increased cancer risk with decreasing telomere length. We could reject this hypothesis with considerable statistical power. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Cost of Health Care, JNCI / 15.03.2013

Gabriel Brooks MD Fellow, Medical Oncology Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteMedicalResearch.com Interview with Gabriel Brooks MD Fellow, Medical Oncology Dana-Farber Cancer Institute MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Brooks: First, we found that there is substantial regional variation in Medicare spending for patients with advanced cancer.  For patients with a new diagnosis of advanced stage cancer, spending in the six months following diagnosis varied by 32% between regions in the highest and lowest quintiles of spending.  And for patients who died from cancer, spending in the last six months of life varied by 41% between the highest and lowest spending regions. Second, we tested the association between area-level spending and survival from the time of advanced cancer diagnosis.  We found that there was no consistent association between increasing spending and survival for any of the five cancer sites included in our study (non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreas cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer). (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JNCI, Lung Cancer, NEJM / 08.03.2013

Dr. Martin C. Tammemägi Professor (Epidemiology) Brock University Department of Community Health Sciences Walker Complex – Academic South, Room 306 St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1Medical Research.com Author Interview: Dr. Martin C. Tammemägi Professor (Epidemiology) Brock University Department of Community Health Sciences St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1 Medical Research.com What are the main findings of the study?  Dr. Tammemägi: Our study accomplished three things: 1. We presented an updated Lung Cancer Risk Prediction Model, which compared to our previously JNCI-published model, incorporates more predictors but is simpler to use because we changed the way we modeled nonlinear effects. 2. We demonstrated that using the Lung Cancer Risk Prediction Model to select individuals for lung cancer screening was much more effective than using the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) enrolment criteria.  41.3% fewer lung cancers were missed.  Sensitivity and positive predictive value of identifying individuals who develop lung cancer were significantly improved.  Shortly after our NEJM paper was published, Ma et al published in CANCER their findings that 8.6 million Americans are NLST-criteria positive and if they were CT screened under ideal conditions 12,000 lung cancer deaths would be averted.  Our NEJM article findings indicate that an additional 2,764 lives would be saved if the selection criteria had enrolled 8.6 million individuals for screening based on highest risk by our Lung Cancer Risk Prediction Model. 3. Importantly, using NLST data we demonstrated that the beneficial effect of CT screening did not vary by model predicted lung cancer risk. (more…)