Major Discovery: How Carcinogens Cause Cancer

The current belief in medical research holds that most cancers are caused by exposure to carcinogens, and that carcinogens cause cancer by damaging DNA. However, the huge effort and billions of dollars invested by the NIH, private foundations, and pharmaceutical companies in searching for damaged DNA in cancer has produced few discoveries and little benefits to the public. The reason for this limited success is very simple. The cause of most cancers is not damaged DNA. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

10,000 women caught in a 'breast cancer backlog' (Northern Ireland)

About 10,000 women are now caught in a backlog for breast screening in the Northern Health Board area, the BBC has learned. The board said it was currently running 13 months behind schedule. It comes after a consultant radiologist who worked at three NI hospitals was suspended over concerns about his "clinical judgements". A review of hospital procedures and an investigation into his work was launched last year. Thousands of cases in which the consultant was involved - at Antrim Area, Belfast City and Altnagelvin hospitals - are being reviewed. Last week, it emerged that 19 women who were patients at Antrim Area Hospital had breast cancer which went undiagnosed - despite screening. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Singer and Breast Cancer Advocate Soraya Dies at the Age of 37

Breast cancer recently took the life of Colombian-American singer-songwriter and breast cancer awareness advocate Soraya. Only 37 years of age, her death marked the end of a six-year struggle with the disease, one that also took the life of her mother, grandmother, and maternal aunt. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Genentech seeks OK on Avastin for breast cancer

Drug development company Genentech Inc. on Thursday said it filed for regulatory approval to treat breast cancer using its Avastin monoclonal antibody in conjunction with standard chemotherapy.Genentech filed with the Food and Drug Administration for priority review of a supplemental Biologics License Application based on data from a late-stage trial that showed standard chemotherapy used with Avastin delivered a 52 percent reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared with patients who only got the chemotherapy.The study was conducted on 722 patients with previously untreated, locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. Avastin inhibits a protein that promotes tumor growth and is already approved to treat colorectal cancer in conjunction with a form of intravenous chemotherapy. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Raloxifene (Evista) may increase risk of stroke

In April, U.S. researchers reported raloxifene works as well as tamoxifen at cutting the risk of invasive breast cancer in half among post-menopausal women who take it every day. Unlike tamoxifen, raloxifene was less likely to lead to uterine cancer or potentially dangerous blood clots. But now the drug's manufacturer, Eli Lilly, says it has uncovered stroke risks. The finding was made during a study designed to see if raloxifene reduced the risk of heart disease and breast cancer in postmenopausal women who had heart disease or were considered at high risk. The study of 10,000 women found the incidence of stroke mortality was 1.5 per 1,000 women per year taking a placebo, compared to 2.2 per 1,000 per year for raloxifene, the company said. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Coffee Is Shown To Fight Breast Cancer

Over indulgence with the world's most aromatic beverage may give us important health benefits after all, report sources at Canada's favourite chain, Coffee Time. A recently published research study shows that women with a family history of breast cancer may indeed reduce this risk by drinking a significant amount of coffee.The Canadian study, published in the January edition of the International Journal of Cancer, found that women with the BRCA1 mutation - the gene responsible for an 80 percent chance of breast cancer before age 70 - benefited from heavy coffee consumption. The study involved 1,690 women in Canada, the United States, Israel, and Poland. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

New Vitamin A drug may cut breast cancer risk

Breakthrough Breast Cancer, a leading charity committed to fighting breast cancer through research and education in UK found that the drug Fenretinide reduced second cancers in pre-menopausal women by 38 per cent and halved the risk in those under 40. However, the cancer rate actually increased among post-menopausal women taking the drug, it said. Fenretinide is a synthetic version of Retinol or active vitamin A, which can combat certain types of tumour. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Nimesulide fights breast cancer by targeting key enzyme

A pain–killing medication appears to halt the production of an enzyme that is key to a common form of breast cancer, a new study using tissue cultures suggests. The drug is called nimesulide. In laboratory experiments on breast cancer cells, scientists found that derivatives of nimesulide stopped the production of aromatase, the enzyme implicated in estrogen-dependent breast cancer. This form of breast cancer is the most common kind of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Aromatase converts hormones called androgens into estrogens. While many women with estrogen-dependent breast cancer take aromatase inhibitors to control their disease, the problem is that the current inhibitor drugs halt estrogen production throughout the body...That means that other tissues, like bone and brain, which rely on normal aromatase production, may suffer. For one, we think that aromatase helps to maintain bone tissue throughout the postmenopausal period. Current aromatase inhibitors may disturb normal bone production – there is some suggestion that these drugs may increase the risk of fractures. The study's results suggest that nimesulide may block aromatase production only in breast tissue. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Using Missile Technology to Fight Breast Cance

To protect Americans from a Russian missile attack, scientists developed special infrared photo technology to map the heat from a missile approaching the United States so that it could be destroyed in midflight. Today, that same technology is being used to map the temperature of the skin in a bioscan. Extra heat generated from specific areas of the skin can be an indication of a tumor. "The tumor causes increased blood flow at the surface of the skin," said Dr. David Weng of The Cleveland Clinic. "You can actually see where the tumor is on the patient's body." --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

British women to be allowed to select embryos without cancer-causing genes

British women with inherited forms of breast cancer will be allowed to select embryos free from genes that can cause the disease, according to a report in the Times on Tuesday. The recommendation has won the backing of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) ethics and law committee and will be approved on Wednesday by the government's fertility watchdog, the report said. The landmark ruling from the HFEA will permit thousands of women who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, which are known to increase the likelihood of developing breast cancer, to spare their daughters a genetic inheritance that confers an 80 percent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. The move also applies to a third gene that predisposes to bowel cancer. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Eighth Medical Organization Acknowledges Abortion Breast Cancer Link

Another medical organization has gone on record as acknowledging that a link exists between induced abortion and breast cancer. The Philippine Foundation for Breast Care wrote a letter to the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, a woman's group that monitors information about the link, saying that it exists. Cristina Santos, MD, president of PFBCI, wrote that the board of director and members of her group recognize that the link exists. "[W]e acknowledge the abortion and breast cancer link based on the physiologic changes in the breast lobules of a woman who chose to deliberately interrupt her pregnancy (induced abortion) and the risk for breast cancer this will pose to that woman," Dr. Santos wrote. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Breath Test To Detect Breast Cancer

A simple 2-minute breath test at a doctor's surgery could detect breast cancer at an early stage. It is proven that some medical conditions cause patients to exhale volatile organic compounds in their breath. A breath analyzer made by Menssana Research of Fort Lee, New Jersey, is already being used to detect telltale volitile organic compounds in the breath of patients whose bodies are rejecting a heart transplant. The system can also be tuned to pick up compounds that are characteristic of other conditions, and early tests on volatile organic compounds in the exhaled breath of breast cancer sufferers suggest that it might be a more sensitive detector than mammograms, which can be difficult to interpret. The hope is that the system could be a more comfortable initial screening for patients before taking a mammogram --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Appetite-Inducing Hormone Receptor Found Active in Breast Cancer

A hormone receptor with regulatory roles as diverse as food intake, fear response, and cardiovascular function may also be involved in breast cancer, according to UC researchers. The UC research team, led by Hassane Amlal, PhD, and Sulaiman Sheriff, PhD, report their laboratory findings on the hormone, neuropeptide Y, and its receptor in the April edition of the journal Cancer Research. Earlier studies have shown that neuropeptide Y's receptor, known as Y1, is overproduced in human ovarian, prostate and breast cancers. This study, however, is the first to demonstrate that the Y1 receptor is actually working in breast cancer cells and can be "turned on" by excessive estrogen. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--