Cancer News

When you're pounding along an icy pavement or sweating through a gym workout, you try to remind yourself of the many health benefits of exercise. Between gasps, you can say that a healthy, fit lifestyle helps prevents obesity, a worldwide problem of increasing magnitude that has been linked to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. But here's one more -- exercise may decrease … [Read more...]

Every year in the United States as many as 15,000 people are diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most aggressive kind of brain cancer. Many patients don’t survive more than a year after diagnosis.  A new test can help doctors pinpoint what is driving the tumor and better target their treatment early on. Fifty-one-year-old Christopher Keim is a husband, dad and hockey coach. He … [Read more...]

Several studies have recognized a link between obesity and cancer. Richard Lehner, professor of Pediatrics and investigator at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, has taken his research further to understand how tumour cells grow through scavenging very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL), commonly known as the "bad … [Read more...]

Recent studies have indicated that patients with sleep apnea may be associated with worse cancer outcomes. Now a new animal study, presented at the European Association of Urology Congress in Munich, uncovers a possible mechanism which may underlie this link. Hypoxia is where a tissue or organ does not get enough oxygen. It is one of the consequences of sleep apnea, which is … [Read more...]

A team of researchers from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine has discovered how the cancer-related protein Bcl-2 signals cancer cells to live longer. The breakthrough emerged when the scientists discovered that Bcl-2 alters the level of calcium ions in lymphoma and leukemia cells that are resistant to cancer treatments. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National … [Read more...]

Papillomaviruses (linked to cervical cancer when they infect the mucosal tissue in the female reproductive tract) can also infect normal skin, where they cause warts and possibly non-melanoma skin cancer, mostly in immune-suppressed organ transplant patients. An article published in PLOS Pathogens suggests that vaccination might prevent virus-associated benign and malignant … [Read more...]

Almost 40 per cent of pancreatic cancers -- one of the deadliest forms of cancer -- could be avoided in the UK through maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking according to Cancer Research UK, in a call to arms against the disease. Every year 8,800 people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK but survival rates remain very low, with only three per cent of people … [Read more...]

A study of long-term thyroid cancer outcomes shows, among other findings, that moderate suppression of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which drives the disease, may be as beneficial as more extreme hormone suppression. Extreme TSH suppression is associated with increased side effects including osteoporosis and heart rhythm irregularities. Results are published online ahead … [Read more...]

A study by researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center shows vitamin D as an add-on therapy could provide some relief for chronic hives, a condition with no cure and few treatment options. An allergic skin condition, chronic hives create red, itchy welts on the skin and sometimes swelling. They can occur daily and last longer than six weeks, even years. Jill … [Read more...]

A narrative review published online by JAMA Pediatrics examines the current status of cancer in adolescents and young adults and offers a view of the future. The article by Ronald D. Barr, M.B., Ch.B., M.D., of McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, and coauthors discusses incidence and survival, distribution and biology of disease, special challenges, the price of success, … [Read more...]

The FDA says about 74,000 Americans were diagnosed with melanoma, a type of skin cancer. Last year, nearly 10,000 of them died of it. Now, researchers have a new weapon in their arsenal; one that comes from a genetically-altered herpes virus. Here’s more about the first cancer-killing viral therapy ever approved in the U.S. Larry Hegland can tell you exactly how long it’s … [Read more...]

Many experts believe that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has several root causes including some viruses. Now, lead scientists Shara Pantry, Maria Medveczky and Peter Medveczky of the University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine, along with the help of several collaborating scientists and clinicians, have published an article in the Journal of Medical Virology … [Read more...]

Long-term survival rates following laparoscopic surgery for bladder cancer are comparable to those of open surgery, according to a study published in BJU International. The findings, which come from the largest study to date with long-term follow-up after this type of minimally invasive surgery, indicate that prospective randomized trials comparing these two bladder cancer … [Read more...]

Overweight children may be at higher risk of esophageal (gullet) cancer when they grow up than their slimmer friends, according to research published this week in the British Journal of Cancer. Researchers studied the health records of more than 255,000 Danish school children, born between 1930 and 1971, whose height and weight was measured every year between the ages of 7 … [Read more...]

Recent studies have indicated that patients with sleep apnea may be associated with worse cancer outcomes. Now a new animal study, presented at the European Association of Urology Congress in Munich, uncovers a possible mechanism which may underlie this link. Hypoxia is where a tissue or organ does not get enough oxygen. It is one of the consequences of sleep apnea, which is … [Read more...]

A panel of 55 genes, almost all of which are impacted by the loss of a particular protein, appears to predict if breast cancer will become invasive, leading to poorer survival, researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center report in PLOS ONE. The panel represents loss of a powerful tumor suppressor gene, SYK, as well as genetic alterations in 51 other genes … [Read more...]

Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine conducted a comprehensive genetic analysis of invasive bladder cancer tumors to discover that the disease shares genetic similarities with two forms of breast cancer. The finding is significant because a greater understanding of the genetic basis of cancers, such as breast cancers, has in the recent past led to the development of new … [Read more...]

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center has treated three men with a recently FDA-approved treatment, which offers new options for men whose prostate cancer has spread to their bones. The treatment's trade name is Xofigo® (or radium-223 dichloride). It is an alpha particle-emitting radioactive therapeutic agent with an anti-tumor effect. Treatment entails an … [Read more...]

Light therapy decreased depressive symptoms and normalized circadian rhythms among cancer survivors, according to new research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai presented at the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver, CO. Researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Northwestern University in Chicago, University of Iowa, University of California … [Read more...]

Consuming a diet with a high glycemic index, a classification of how rapidly carbohydrates elevate blood sugar levels, was independently associated with an increased risk of developing lung cancer in non-Hispanic whites, according to a new epidemiologic study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. This research, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers … [Read more...]

Scientists from the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) in San Antonio published work that provides deeper insight into how the Angelina Jolie gene, BRCA1, functions in normal breast tissue and how its loss results in breast cancer. The CTRC -- a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center -- is part of UT Medicine San Antonio, the clinical practice of the … [Read more...]

Ovarian cancer is called the silent killer because by the time most women get diagnosed, it’s too late. Most women mistake the symptoms for constipation. But now, dogs are sticking their nose in the middle of a groundbreaking study, and it could be the key to an early diagnosis. When it comes to the sense of smell, dogs beat us out 10,000 to one. Cynthia M. Otto, DVM, … [Read more...]

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have made a breakthrough in developing a new therapy for advanced bladder cancer -- for which there have been no major treatment advances in the past 30 years. Published today in Nature, the study examined an antibody (MPDL3280A) which blocks a protein (PD-L1) thought to help cancer cells evade immune detection. In a phase … [Read more...]

A new study has found women who smoke when pregnant are putting their daughters at a greater risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer later in life. The Australian National University (ANU) study, published in Human Reproduction, found mothers who reported smoking most days while pregnant had daughters who had an earlier age of first menstruation, or menarche. Lead … [Read more...]

One of the family of drugs prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions is called TNF inhibitors. They act by dampening part of the immune system called tumor necrosis factor (TNF). In one of the balancing acts of medicine, the anti-inflammatory action of the drug also increases the risk for other conditions, in this case, a rare form of eye cancer, … [Read more...]

Over the past decade, studies have found that obesity and eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet are significant risk factors for many types of cancer. Now, a new study from Whitehead Institute and MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research reveals how a high-fat diet makes the cells of the intestinal lining more likely to become cancerous. The study of mice suggests … [Read more...]

A University of Central Florida chemist has come up with a unique way to kill certain cancer cells -- give them acid reflux. Chemistry professor Kevin Belfield used a special salt to make cancer cells more acidic -- similar to the way greasy foods cause acid reflux in some people. He used a light-activated, acid-generating molecule to make the cells more acidic when exposed … [Read more...]

A new study provides a major link between low levels of vitamin D and aggressive prostate cancer. Northwestern Medicine research showed deficient vitamin D blood levels in men can predict aggressive prostate cancer identified at the time of surgery. The finding is important because it can offer guidance to men and their doctors who may be considering active surveillance, in … [Read more...]