Plastics Chemical Might Promote Breast Cancer

A chemical found in the harder plastics that make up CD cases, water-cooler jugs and other objects people handle might help promote breast cancer, researchers say. The chemical - a "pseudo-estrogen" called bisphenol-A - appears to be preferentially absorbed by breast tumor cells, according to a new study published in the Aug. 28 issue of Chemistry & Biology. While the new research doesn't give any definitive answer on BPA's potential role in breast cancer, American researchers say they have uncovered a biological mechanism that allows the compound to concentrate in tumor cells. Healthy cells don't readily absorb bisphenol sulfate, one of the body's metabolized forms of BPA. So, many experts have assumed the chemical might be harmless. However, "it turns out that breast tumor cells are different than normal cells," lead researcher Theodore Widlanski of Indiana University, said. "We showed that breast tumor cells actually convert bisphenol sulfate back into bisphenol-A, which can then be taken up into tumor cells." --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

How cigarette smoke leads to breast cancer

University of Florida scientists have reported that cigarette smoke could turn normal breast cells cancerous by blocking their ability to repair themselves, eventually triggering tumour development. In the study, researchers exposed normal breast epithelial cells to cigarette smoke condensate-a tar and found the cells acquired the mutation characteristics of malignant cells. The researches found that DNA repair was compromised when chemical components of smoke activate a key gene. That gene interacts with an enzyme that plays a crucial role in repairing damaged DNA, preventing it from doing its job. The cell, despite its mutated form, can then multiply rapidly, triggering a tumour. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

PET Scans Predict Breast Cancer Spread

Positron emission tomography (PET) scans can help doctors ascertain whether breast cancer has spread to the axillary lymph nodes in the armpit area, California researchers have determined. A study out of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles included 51 women with invasive breast cancer, whose average age was 54. Before the women had surgery or chemotherapy for their cancer, they all had PET scans after they'd been injected with a material similar to glucose (fludeoxyglucose F 18, or FDG), along with a chemical tracer. Cancer cells use more FDG than normal cells. The researchers analyzed the PET scans to determine each patient's standardized uptake value -- how much of the FDG was absorbed compared to how much of it was injected. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Needle Biopsy Gives Insight Into Breast Cancer Genetics

Breast tumor samples collected by a procedure called core needle biopsy provide an accurate snapshot of gene expression for the entire tumor, researchers say. The finding confirms the reliability of core needle biopsy as a method of breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis, the Swiss team reported in the journal Breast Cancer Research. In this study, researchers at the Women's University in Basel analyzed core needle biopsy samples collected from 22 breast cancer patients and compared those samples to surgical samples taken from the same women. In most of the women, the core biopsy and surgical sample revealed identical levels of expression of 60 genes known to be involved in breast tumor development. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Rare breast cancer affectes a dozen women in Hawaii a year

Redness and swelling of the breasts are signs something is not right. These women had inflammatory breast cancer, but thought it was only an infection. Queens Dr. Johnathan Cho says, "they go to the doctor. A lot of times, maybe it's an infection. They treat it with antibiotics for a couple of weeks and it doesn't get better. it gets worse, and fast, spreading to the lymph nodes, advanced cancer." Dr. Cho calls it the most aggressive form of breast cancer, without the most widely recognized warning sign. "The majority of these women will not have a palpable lump." --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Breast cancer chemo side effects elevated

Chemotherapy drugs may cause more serious side effects for breast cancer patients under age 64 than once thought, a U.S. study released on Tuesday said. Researchers mined insurance claims for 3,526 women who had intravenous chemotherapy for breast cancer and tallied problems serious enough to require emergency care or a hospital stay. Their review found more than 8 percent of women underwent treatment for a fever or infection compared with less than 2 percent reported in an earlier review of clinical trials. Other problems also occurred more frequently than previously estimated, said the study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

War Paint Used By Celts Fights Breast Cancer

The Woad plant, which the Celts used to use as a blue war paint dye, also contains compounds which could help fight breast cancer, say researchers from Bologna University, Italy. The plant, which comes from the same family as broccoli and cauliflower, is rich in glucobrassicin. Previous studies' findings have suggested that if you eat vegetables rich in glucobrassicin you could be protecting yourself against cancer. The problem with testing glucobrassicin itself has been getting enough of it. The scientists found that if you damage the leaves of the Woad plant its defence mechanism releases glucobrassicin. Glucobrassicin kills some pests which feed on plants. The compound has another useful property, it is especially effective as an anti-tumour agent for patients with breast cancer. The scientists believe that glucobrassicin gets rid of compounds that cause cancer, as well as derivatives of oestrogen. Dr Stefania Galletti, team leader, said in an interview with the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture “The availability of glucobrassicin in good amounts and at low cost could finally permit studies to be performed in order to clarify the anti-cancer role of glucobrassicin-rich vegetables, like broccoli, in the human diet.” The researchers believe that this chemical, and others like it, could eventually play an important role in cancer prevention and treatment. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Anti-miscarriage drug doubles breast cancer risk in daughters

The daughters of the thousands of women who took an anti-miscarriage pill more than 40 years ago are at increased risk of breast cancer, it was revealed yesterday. The drug, known as DES (diethylstilbestrol), was commonly prescribed for pregnant women between the 40s and 60s if doctors thought they were at risk of miscarrying and sometimes also for morning sickness. There are no definite figures for the number of women who took it, but research suggests there may have been as many as 200,000 in the UK. A study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, has found that the daughters of women who took DES have almost double the risk of breast cancer of their peers and the more their mothers took, the greater their chance of developing the disease. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Hand-held breast cancer scanner which fits in your handbag

Women could soon be testing themselves for breast cancer at home, using a tiny hand-held scanner. Scientists say they are two years away from launching the device, which will be sold in high street chemists. The ground-breaking technology, to be sold in High Street chemists, could be used by women of all ages but could be particularly useful for younger and pre-menopausal women who are currently not screened for cancer. The device uses infrared light to locate a tumour, so it can be used as often as a woman wishes without fear of causing harm. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

New blood test for breast cancer

An international research group has developed an ultra-sensitive blood test for breast cancer that could help to detect cancer at a very early stage and improve screening for the disease in younger women, for whom mammography is less sensitive. The group developed an immunoassay that was 200–1,000 times more sensitive than existing tests, according to their report in the latest issue of the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Proteome Research. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Researchers find 3rd breast cancer gene

Danish researchers say they have isolated a new gene that is linked to the development of breast cancer. A study of some 9,000 Danes participating in the Copenhagen City Heart Study found a mutation in the newly discovered CHEK2 gene can triple the risk of developing breast cancer, the Copenhagen Post reported. The results of the research will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Miscarriage Linked with Breast Cancer Risk

Women who experience a miscarriage in their first pregnancy appear have an increased risk of developing breast cancer after menopause, according to a new conducted in France. Changes in the cells of the breast that follow a first full-term pregnancy are believed to protect women from breast cancer, Dr. Francoise Clavel-Chapelon, of Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, and colleagues point out in the August 20th issue of the International Journal of Cancer. However, studies of the association between miscarriage and breast cancer risk have yielded conflicting results. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Doctors Investigate Treatment of Men’s Breast Cancer

Researchers are studying a drug combination they say could be a big breakthrough for thousands of men who have not responded to standard treatments. Dr, Zeina Nahleh, an oncologist who specializes in breast cancer, said her goal is to find out if a pill called "anastrozole" and a synthetic hormone called "goserelin" can lower a man's estrogen levels and limit breast tumor growth. “We studied the hormonal pathways of men and learned that estrogen is produced in men by certain different pathways than in women,” she said. The trial, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, is the first to test this drug combination in men with advanced breast cancer. Researchers say that's significant because in the past 30 years, they've seen a 26-percent increase in male breast cancer rates. Treatments that were tested in women may not be applicable. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Variation to Gene May Triple Breast-Cancer Risk

A mutation of a gene called CHEK2 may triple a woman's risk for developing breast cancer, a new study suggests. Previous research had found that the CHEK2 mutation -- carried by an estimated 1 percent of white, northern European women -- increased the chances of breast cancer in women at high risk for the disease. However, that risk is still far less than the threat posed by the well-known BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Carefully mixed radiation cocktail reduces breast cancer treatment's collateral damage to skin

A carefully determined mixture of electron and x-ray beams precisely treated breast tumors while significantly reducing collateral skin damage in 78 patients, researchers will report on August 1 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in Orlando. The key to choosing the right mixture of beams, as well as their individual properties, was a sophisticated computer approach developed by medical physicists Jinsheng Li, Ph.D. and Chang-Ming Ma, Ph.D. of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. In treating shallow tumors such as those that occur in the breast, physicians have been turning to mixed-beam radiation therapy (MBRT), which employs separate beams of electrons and photons (x-rays). The two types of radiation complement one another, as electrons generally travel to shallow depths while the x-rays can penetrate to deeper parts of the tumor as needed. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--