August 22, 2006, 8:03 PM CT

Exposure to pollutants may affect immunity

New epidemiological evidence suggests that exposure to environmental pollutants may have an adverse impact on immune responses to childhood vaccinations. The research appears in the Aug. 22, 2006, online edition of Public Library of Science Medicine.

The study looked at two groups of children in the Faroe Islands, which are located in the North Atlantic and where traditional diets may include whale blubber contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Blood and milk samples taken during pregnancy from the mothers were analyzed to determine the children's prenatal PCB exposure. After routine childhood vaccinations against tetanus and diphtheria, the two groups of children were examined at age 18 months and 7 years, and blood samples were examined for tetanus and diphtheria antibodies.

The findings showed an association between increased PCB contamination and lowered antibody response to the vaccines. At 18 months, the diphtheria antibody concentration decreased by 24 percent for each doubling of the PCB exposure. At 7 years, the tetanus antibody response showed the strongest response and decreased by 16 percent for each doubling of the prenatal exposure.

"Our study raises concern that exposure to PCB and similar compounds may make childhood vaccinations less efficient," said Philippe Grandjean , adjunct professor at Harvard School of Public Health and co-author of the paper. Exposed children may also be more susceptible to infections in general, he said.........

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August 22, 2006, 7:16 PM CT

Push For Breast Cancer Cure

Four men are testing their physical and mental as they skate board 8000 kilometers across Canada to raise awareness and raise funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Read the story of these brave men.

We're still out here! And we're really covering some ground. Shattering records left right and centre! We actually covered 125k each day three days running. WILD. Never imagined we'd be doing these distances. Really, we're skating so much - the Prairies have been crazy that way. Yesterday we did over 120k again with 15+ hours of skating. Unbelieveable. We're also starting to see some rolling terrain - saw the first hill in ages last night - pretty measley but still a welcome site. The Prairies have really been a treat - their tremendous sunsets are undescribable and they seem to last forever. I forgot how beautiful they could be.

Regina was our home on the weekend and the city really treated us well. We spent two nights there, did some fundraising and had great media coverage - print, radio and TV. So much so that we were recognized everywhere as we continued on our journey West. We were also fortunate to have CBC stop us on the highway yesterday to do a quick story.

Currently, we're on the road to Swift Current and spent last night in the town of Mortlach. Lovely place - a one stop sign kind of town. The Cooks family took us in last night and were gracious enough to let us park in their drive way and plug in for the night. They also treated us to a great breakfast this morning and stocked us with some steaks and produce from their garden - were looking forward to a delicious dinner tonight! Really a sweet family, cool folks, we're ever grateful!........

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August 22, 2006, 7:04 PM CT

Cigarette smoke blocks cell repair mechanism

Cigarette smoke can turn normal breast cells cancerous by blocking their ability to repair themselves, eventually triggering tumor development, University of Florida scientists report.

While some cells nonetheless rally and are able to fix their damaged DNA, many others become unable to access their own cellular first aid kit, according to findings from a UF study published recently (Aug. 21) in the journal Oncogene. If they survive long enough to divide and multiply, they pass along their mutations, acquiring malignant properties.

Past research has been controversial. Tobacco smoke contains dozens of cancer-causing chemicals, but until more recently many studies found only weak correlations between smoking and breast cancer risk, or none at all. Those findings are increasingly being challenged by newer studies that are focusing on more than just single chemical components of tobacco, as past research often has done. In the UF study, researchers instead used a tar that contains all of the 4,000 chemicals found in cigarette smoke.

"Our study suggests the mechanism by which this may be happening," said Satya Narayan, Ph.D., an associate professor of anatomy and cell biology at UF's College of Medicine. "This is basically the important finding in our case: We are now describing how cigarette smoke condensate, which is a surrogate for cigarette smoke, can cause DNA damage and can block the DNA repair of a cell or compromise the DNA repair capacity of a cell. That can be detrimental for the cell and can lead to transformation or carcinogenesis".........

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August 21, 2006, 10:20 PM CT

Molecular Process Underlying Leukemia

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has identified a molecular process in cells that is crucial to the development of two common leukemias.

The findings help explain how fundamental cell processes go awry during cancer development and represent a first step toward new, targeted therapys for leukemia.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) leukemias develop when certain chromosomal abnormalities disrupt the genes that control blood cell formation. Without the proper instructions from these genes, blood cells produced by bone marrow never fully mature; these immature cells, which can't carry vital nutrients or fight infection, then flood the body.

The scientists showed how a fusion of proteins created by flawed chromosomes can trigger leukemia development. The study also identified an enzyme's important role in this process.

The results were published online Aug. 20 and will appear in a future print issue of the journal Nature Cell Biology.

The research was led by Dr. Yi Zhang, professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the UNC School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Zhang is also a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.........

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August 21, 2006, 10:07 PM CT

Protein That Protect Breast Cancer Tumors

About half of women whose breast cancer is treated with standard chemotherapy have their cancer return within five years. Most chemotherapeutic drugs have undesirable side effects, but there has been no way to predict who would benefit and who wouldn't. Fortunately, new research findings at the University of Southern California could change that.

Scientists at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a new biological marker in tumors that can help indicate whether a woman's breast cancer will respond to the most usually prescribed chemotherapy drugs.

Amy S. Lee, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, isolated the gene for the GRP78 protein (78-kDA glucose-regulated protein) in 1980. It normally helps protect cells from dying, especially when they are under stress from a lack of glucose. In her current research, Lee finds that breast cancer tumors with high levels of GRP78 are protected from a common chemotherapy regimen based on Adriamycin, a topoisomerase inhibitor. Her findings are published as a "Priority Report" in the August 15 issue of Cancer Research.

"The importance of this study is in its potential to help clinicians who treat cancer," Lee says. "It will help sort out the patients who won't respond to particular therapy regimens and will have a higher chance of cancer recurrence".........

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August 20, 2006, 9:59 PM CT

Cancer survivors may have suicidal thoughts

A survey of adult survivors of childhood cancers found that more than one out of eight reported having suicidal thoughts or previous attempts to take their lives many years after they were treated, say scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The suicidal symptoms were reported by more than 12 percent -- a greater proportion than had been expected -- of patients seen at a clinic providing care for adult cancer survivors, the researchers write in the August 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings should prompt providers at survivor clinics to consider the interaction of physical and emotional factors in their follow-up evaluations of patients, they said.

"Most people are doing fine, but there is a serious concern about the minority of survivors who have thoughts of ending their lives," said Christopher Recklitis, PhD, MPH, a psychologist and director of research in the Perini Family Survivors' Center at Dana-Farber. He is lead author of the paper.

The senior author is Lisa Diller, MD, chief medical officer of Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Care and clinical director of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston.

Previous studies have noted a temporary rise in suicidal thoughts among patients in the months after a cancer diagnosis. The new study is the first to substantiate a significant level of suicidality many years or even decades after treatment for childhood cancers, and to suggest a link with physical functioning in the survivorship period.........

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August 19, 2006, 7:24 AM CT

Lung Cancer Alliance Hails Court Decision

The Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) hailed yesterday's court decision in United States v. Philip Morris USA, Inc. After a lengthy trial, a federal court in Washington, DC observed that major tobacco companies engaged in racketeering and conspiracy for decades in a massive scheme to addict people to smoking "without regard for the human tragedy or social costs" that resulted.

Laurie Fenton, president of Lung Cancer Alliance, hailed the court's decision as, "An important step toward correcting decades of stigmatization of lung cancer patients as not worthy of compassion, and the deliberate underfunding of the disease of lung cancer as not deserving of public health research dollars".

"For years, the public health establishment has justified its underfunding of lung cancer research and early detection on the willful behavior of smokers," continued Fenton. "Now we have the DC District Court recognizing that, for 50 years, the tobacco companies lied, misrepresented and deceived the American public, including smokers, and the young people they avidly sought as 'replacement smokers.'".

While the court's ruling placed new marketing restrictions on tobacco companies, the court read a prior appellate court decision to rule out stiff monetary remedies.

Said Fenton: "We urge the federal government to appeal on the scope of remedies available under the RICO statute, all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, to make these companies accountable for the tragic results of their deliberate, decades-long conspiracy to deceive the public about these lethal products".........

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August 18, 2006, 6:38 AM CT

Core Needle Biopsy Gives An Accurate Picture

The gene expression profile detected in the core needle biopsy of a breast tumour is representative of gene expression in the whole tumour. A study published recently in the open access journal Breast Cancer Research confirms the reliability of core needle biopsy as a tool in breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis. The study also shows that the gene expression profile of a core needle biopsy might be more accurate than the profile of a surgical sample taken from the same tumour, after the biopsy was carried out. According to the study results, the biopsy procedure seems to trigger the expression of genes involved in wound healing as well as tumour invasion and metastasis, thus modifying the gene expression profile of subsequent surgical samples.

Rosanna Zanetti-Dällenbach from the Women's University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland and colleagues from Stiftung Tumorbank, OncoScore AG and University Hospital in Basel, analysed the gene expression profile of core needle biopsies taken from 22 women diagnosed with breast cancer. For each woman, they compared the biopsy expression profile with the expression profile of a surgical sample taken from the tumour subsequently to the core needle biopsy. Zanetti-Dällenbach et al. quantified the expression of 60 genes known to be involved in breast tumour development using a technique called reverse polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Zanetti-Dällenbach et al. also analysed the gene expression profiles of surgical samples taken from the breast tumours of 317 patients who did not undergo a core needle biopsy.........

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August 13, 2006, 9:25 AM CT

Bisphosphonates In Treatment Of Multiple Myeloma

Research team headed by Mayo Clinic's has jointly issued a consensus statement regarding the use of bisphosphonates like Aredia to prevent or treat bone disease in MM. Their recommendations address several controversial issues, including the type of bisphosphonate to be used and the duration of such treatment, and are available in the recent issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

"It was imperative that we address the issue that has been under recent intense debate due to patient safety concerns," said Martha Lacy, M.D., Mayo Clinic hematologist and lead author of the statement. "These drugs have far-ranging effects that raised concerns in the medical field, so we brought together the relevant specialists to develop a set of best practice recommendations. We published them in Mayo Clinic Proceedings in order to provide other physicians the benefit of our shared knowledge".

The Mayo Clinic team provided recommendations for the myeloma patients for whom bisphosphonates are indicated. They said pamidronate should be the bisphosphonate of choice for patients who are starting treatment, over the newer, more potent drug zoledronic acid, which is more frequently linked to serious damage to jaw bones. Also in the interest of safety, the team recommended that patients without active disease stop bisphosphonate treatment after two years, and patients with active disease reduce the frequency at which the drugs are given.........

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August 13, 2006, 8:45 AM CT

Nurses Have A Larger Role In Smoking Cessation

Some good advice from nurses to patients who smoke significantly increases the likelihood of those smokers quitting, as per several articles in a special issue of the July-August 2006 Nursing Research journal.

"These reports are evidence that nurses are widely recognized as central to global efforts to reduce the detrimental health effects of tobacco use," said Dr. Molly C. Dougherty, Nursing Research editor and professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Nursing Research articles contain tobacco cessation information including original research evaluating methods for treating tobacco dependence. For example, one study observed that smokers who received tobacco cessation information from their nurses were nearly 50 percent more likely to quit than smokers with no nursing intervention. The report also notes that nurses often care for underserved people, who are disproportionately affected by tobacco use.

Summaries in the journal highlight innovative methods for treating tobacco dependence and practical approaches for clinical use, including recommendations from 42 researchers, clinicians, educators and representatives from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Cancer Institute.

"This information represents a call to action for nurses, health care providers and policy-makers. Health care professionals, and especially nurses, have tremendous access to patients and families affected by tobacco use. Nurses are in the unique position to act as agents of change when it comes to preventing and treating tobacco dependence," Dougherty said.........

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