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Combined physical and genetic map finds cancer's 'ignition key' 

Whole-organ maps that superimpose genetic information over the terrain of cancerous bladders chart the molecular journey from normal cell to invasive cancer, an international research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports online at the journal Laboratory Investigation, a member of the Nature Publishing Group.

By geographically relating an organ's varied tissues - normal, precancerous and malignant - to their underlying genetic variation or regulation, the team also identified a crucial new category of genes that launches the process of cancer development. . . .

A gene known as P2RY5 located inside a portion of the RB1 gene was affected by a number of single-nucleotide changes. A case-control study of one of the gene's variant forms was conducted using blood DNA from 790 bladder cancer patients and 712 controls matched for age and gender. The specific variation was present in 2.78 percent of patients and every patient with the variation who also smoked developed bladder cancer.

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• Smoking and Smoking Cessation in Relation to Mortality in Women 

Smoking is associated with an increased risk of total and cause-specific death, but the rate of mortality risk reduction after quitting compared with continuing to smoke is uncertain. . . .

Prospective observational study of 104 519 female participants in the Nurses' Health Study with follow-up from 1980 to 2004. . . .

Conclusions

Most of the excess risk of vascular mortality due to smoking in women may be eliminated rapidly upon cessation and within 20 years for lung diseases. Postponing the age of smoking initiation reduces the risk of respiratory disease, lung cancer, and other smoking-related cancer deaths but has little effect on other cause-specific mortality. These data suggest that smoking is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer mortality but not ovarian cancer mortality.

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Factors in Cancer Death Rates Stay Stagnant  

The factors behind cancer death rates seem to have leveled off, a new report shows. The effectiveness of smoking prevention and mammography screening that fueled recent declines in cancer deaths appears to have reached its limit.

"We've run into plateaus in terms of people smoking and getting necessary screening. The next big barrier is the obesity epidemic," said Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La.

Nevertheless, Brooks stressed, the progress already made is substantial. "When you step back and think about where we've come in this country, it's phenomenal," he said. "The report is a tremendous example of the work that's been done over the past 20 years in showing that the efforts to reduce smoking and increase screening have been tremendous in terms of decreasing death rates from cancer."

But the trends, detailed in the American Cancer Society's annual report, Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts and Figures 2008, do point to a need for more effort. . . .

* Twenty-nine states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have bans on smoking in workplaces and/or restaurants and/or bars, while almost 3,000 municipalities have passed some of smoke-free legislation. "Comprehensive tobacco control programs are really key," Cokkinides said. "They have been demonstrated to be effective. We just need to keep up the pace."

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Viruses may play a role in lung cancer development 

Papers presented at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference, jointly organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Geneva, Switzerland highlight emerging evidence that common viruses may contribute to the development of lung cancer.

Experts agree that smoking is by far the most important factor that contributes to lung cancer development. But other factors can play a role in some cases.

In one report at the conference (Abstract No. 124PD; Friday 25th April, 09:50) Dr. Arash Rezazadeh and colleagues from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, describe the results of a study on 23 lung cancer samples from patients in Kentucky.

The researchers found six samples that tested positive for the presence of human papilloma virus (HPV), the virus that also causes many cases of cervical cancer. One was later shown to be a cervical cancer that had spread to the lungs.

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• U.S. Cancer Prevention Stalling? 

Some important U.S. cancer-prevention trends -- such as less smoking and more mammograms -- have stalled, the American Cancer Society warns.

Cancer deaths are down because of huge gains made over more than a decade of cancer-prevention efforts. Far fewer Americans smoke, far more get regular cancer screening, and lots more of us use sunscreen when we're outside. The result: Fewer U.S. cancer deaths.

We may have started taking these annual gains for granted, suggests Vilma Cokkinides, PhD, the American Cancer Society's�strategic director for risk factor surveillance. Cokkinides is co-author of the American Cancer Society�report, Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts and Figures 2008.

"These trends have been very favorable in the past, saving a lot of lives," Cokkinides tells WebMD. "It is concerning we are stalling. We want to see further improvements so we can save more lives." . . .

* Smoking rates for adults and teens dropped from 1997 to 2003. But they haven't gone down since then -- and 21% of adults and 23% of teens still smoke.

* For every dollar states spend on tobacco-control programs, the tobacco industry spends $24.

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ARMSTRONG: Renewing the war on cancer  

THE 112TH Boston Marathon is a grand tradition I am proud to take part in for the first time this year. I'm running with 50 LIVE-STRONG team members to raise funds for the fight against cancer, another grand tradition that has strong roots in Boston. . . .

The good news is, now more than ever, we have an opportunity to change things. We are about to elect a new president, and now - before the election, while the candidates are still making promises to win our vote - is the time when we can hold them accountable for the war on cancer. Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain have all been affected by this disease, either personally or through the death of a loved one. Let's ask them how they intend to defeat the enemy, what steps they'll take against tobacco, the number-one cause of cancer, and how they'll ensure all of us - not just star athletes and politicians - have a healthcare system that rolls out the red carpet when we need it.

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Risk of cervical cancer higher among women who smoke 

Munich - Smoking increases the risk of cervical cancer, according to the professional association of gynaecologists. An infection caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) could more easily lead to cancer of the cervix in a woman who smokes than in a non-smoker, the Munich-based association said.

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Mouth cancer op for Kenny Richey  

JUST months after being freed from death row, Kenny Richey has been delivered a new blow with the confirmation he has cancer.

The 43-year-old chain smoker broke down in tears when doctors told him a lump in his mouth was malignant.

Although, his chances will depend on the extent to which the cancer has developed and embedded itself -- and Richey has admitted he tried to ignore it while in jail in the US --survival rates for mouth cancer are not good.

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Cancer and mortality among users and nonusers of snus 

Scandinavian moist snuff (snus) is claimed to be a safer alternative to smoking. We aimed to quantify cancer incidence among male snus users . . .

A statistically significant increase in the incidence of the combined category of oral and pharyngeal cancer among daily users of snus (incidence rate ratio 3.1, 95% confidence interval 1.5-6.6) was found. Overall mortality was also slightly increased (hazard ratio 1.10, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.21). Although the combined previous literature on snus and oral cancer weigh toward no association, this population-based prospective study provided suggestive evidence of snus-related risks that cannot be lightly ignored.

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Spokesman warns against dangers of smokeless tobacco  

Rick Bender is a living testament to the destruction tobacco, including smokeless tobacco, can do. Bender, who lost part of his jaw due to oral cancer, spoke to Portales youth Saturday at the Teens Take Control Summit at the Portales Recreation Center.

Bender, 46, has testified before Congress in support of laws banning tobacco use for those under age 18. He started using chew tobacco at age 12, and by age 26, he found himself in a doctor's office with a dime size mouth sore which turned out to be an aggressive form of oral cancer which required part of his mouth, jaw and tongue to be removed. . . .

With this is mind, Bender is focusing much of his awareness campaign these days on Clean Air Acts, laws which prohibit smoking in public places, which many cities are adopting. While he supports such acts, he said, "This is a problem. They should not only be smoke-free ordinances, but tobacco-free."

To illustrate his point, Bender showed advertisements by the Camel tobacco company which is test marketing a new flavored tobacco product called, "Smus." He showed an advertisement in which a man says, "I love tobacco. I don't smoke .... Take a pinch instead of a puff!" . . .

Terri Teti, coordinator of the Roosevelt County Health Council and a Teen Summit organizer, told of an incident last year in which a group of youth were wearing tobacco product T-shirts at the Curry County Fair in Clovis and told how tobacco product advertisements are no longer allowed in the parade.

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• Council OKs disability plan for firefighters with cancer 

From now on, any Providence firefighter diagnosed with cancer will be presumed to have contracted the cancer on the job, and will be given a generous accidental disability pension, assuming they can prove that they do not smoke, use drugs or abuse alcohol, under a measure passed by the City Council last night. . . .

The fire chief and the firefighters union have made the case that firefighters are exposed to numerous carcinogens and have greater risk of developing blood, lung, lymphatic and skin cancer than the rest of the population. . . .

Firefighters would have to submit to annual physical exams administered by doctors hired by the city to prove that they do not use tobacco products, abuse alcohol or use illegal drugs, and sign affidavits stating that they have not used those substances.

Firefighters who use those substances now have a clean slate going forward, but will have to prove on their next annual physical that they are not using them anymore.

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Speaker serves as example of tobacco dangers (with video) 

SHELBY - Instead of attending first period Friday morning, Crest High School students heard a first-hand account of the effects tobacco has had on one man's life.

"People take so much for granted every day," said Gruen Von Behrens to a gym full of students. "No matter how bad the hand you think God has dealt you in your life, somebody else is always a lot worse off."

Behrens, an Illinois native, began using spit tobacco at age 13. Four years later, he was diagnosed with oral cancer. He has since endured 34 surgeries and "hundreds of treatments" totaling more than $3 million in medical expenses.

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• The Kanzius Machine: A Cancer Cure? 

What if we told you that a guy with no background in science or medicine-not even a college degree-has come up with what may be one of the most promising breakthroughs in cancer research in years?

Well it's true, and if you think it sounds improbable, consider this: he did it with his wife's pie pans and hot dogs.

His name is John Kanzius, and he's a former businessman and radio technician who built a radio wave machine that has cancer researchers so enthusiastic about its potential they're pouring money and effort into testing it out.

Here's the important part: if clinical trials pan out-and there's still a long way to go-the Kanzius machine will zap cancer cells all through your body without the need for drugs or surgery and without side effects. None at all. At least that's the idea. . . .

The answer would cost much more than that. Kanzius spent about $200,000 just to have a more advanced version of his machine built. He knew that metal heats up when it's exposed to high-powered radio waves. So what if a tumor was injected with some kind of metal, and zapped with a focused beam of radio waves? Would the metal heat up and kill the cancer cells, but leave the area around them unharmed? He did his first test with hot dogs. . . .

Kanzius thought he had found a way attack cancer cells without the collateral damage caused by chemotherapy and radiation. Today, his invention is in the laboratories of two major research centers - the University of Pittsburgh and M.D. Anderson, where Dr. Steven Curley, a liver cancer surgeon, is testing it. . . .

They’ve already shown that the Kanzius machine can heat nanoparticles and cook cancer to death in animals. Dr. Curley with rabbits, and in Pittsburgh, Dr. David Geller demonstrated to 60 Minutes how he used nanoparticles, made from gold, to kill liver cancer cells grown in rats.

"Now what we’re going to do is inject the nanoparticles," Dr. Geller explained. "Directly into the tumor."

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Smoking Is Related To Subset Of Colorectal Cancers 

According to research from a team of Mayo Clinic scientists, smoking puts older women at significant risk for loss of DNA repair proteins that are critical for defending against development of some colorectal cancers.

In a study being presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the researchers found that women who smoked were at increased risk of developing colorectal tumors that lacked some or all of four proteins, known as DNA mismatch repair (MMR) proteins. These proteins keep cells lining the colon and rectum healthy because they recognize and repair genetic damage as well as mistakes that occur during cell division.

Researchers believe that, in this study population, few if any of the four proteins were absent because of an inherited genetic alteration. "We think that smoking induces a condition within intestinal cells that does not allow MMR genes to express their associated proteins, and this loss leads to formation of tumors in some women."

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• Jefferson scientists' discovery may help explain smoking-pancreatic cancer link 

cigarette smokers are also at higher risk for developing, among other things, pancreatic cancer. Now, researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia have preliminary evidence indicating one possible reason why. Data being presented April 13, 2008 during the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research shows that they have found that nicotine in cigarettes increases the production of a protein that is known to promote cancer cell survival, invasion and spread.

According to Hwyda Arafat, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, the protein, osteopontin, is found in a variety of fluids in the body, such as plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid and breast milk. Osteopontin is also present in different organs and plays an important role during embryonic development. Recent studies have demonstrated that osteopontin levels are significantly higher in the blood and pancreas tissue of pancreatic cancer patients. The protein, when over-produced, can make cancer cells more likely to become metastatic.

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