New findings may spark cancer treatment

From the Channel 4

New cancer treatments could emerge from a key discovery about the way tumours escape the immune system, scientists have said.

A mechanism which normally stops the body defences over-reacting allows cancer cells to fall under the immune system radar. As a result, tumours are left alone and allowed to proliferate.

Understanding the process may lead to more effective cancer therapies, said the scientists from King's College London.

Under normal circumstances the immune system induces inflammation around a dangerous invader or injury which tells the body there is a problem.

Regulatory T cells, a type of white blood cell, have the job of deciding if the emergency is warranted. If it is not, they cause other cells called macrophages to dampen down the inflammatory response.

The King's College team found that in some cancers, regulatory T cells wrongly perceive the threat to be harmless and send out a "false alarm" signal to the macrophages.

Research leader Dr Leonie Taams said: "Neutralising an inflammatory response in this scenario can cause the tumour to fall under the radar of the body's immune system and 'trick' it into believing that there is no problem.

"We hope to be able to use this new knowledge about the relationship between regulatory T cells and macrophages to find more effective treatments for tumours.

"Interestingly, we also hope to use the same knowledge to achieve the opposite result and block chronic inflammation such as that which occurs in rheumatoid arthritis."

The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

New hope for women made infertile by cancer treatmentFrom the Hindustan Times

From the Hindustan Times

The first human embryo to be created after an ovarian tissue transplant may signal hope for hundreds of thousands of women made infertile by cancer treatment.

Researchers have been attempting to transplant ovarian tissue in humans for many years but this is the first time that they have obtained good quality eggs from a transplant and a viable embryo.

Kutluk Oktay, at Cornell University in New York, and colleagues took a strip of ovarian tissue from a 30-year-old woman with breast cancer before chemotherapy made her infertile. They froze the tissue and six years later transplanted it beneath the skin of her abdomen.

After three months, the tissue started functioning normally and produced eggs. Those that were viable were fertilised in the test tube, resulting in one promising embryo.

"This research represents a potentially significant reproductive advancement in two respects: first, women can preserve their fertility by freezing their ovarian tissue, and second, pregnancy may be possible even after the tissue remains frozen for a long time," said Oktay.

Oktay told 'New Scientist' that the method might also help children with cancer, offering hope to girls who are too young to have In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) before undergoing cancer treatment.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine welcomed the research as an important advance. Johan Smitz, research director of follicle biology at the University Hospital of the Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, Belgium agrees. He said, "This is a step forward. For a lot of cancer patients this is good news."

Oktay and colleagues have transplanted human ovarian tissue before, but the primordial follicles that contain the undeveloped egg had been at a very early stage. This means that the eggs harvested had not been sufficiently developed for IVF.

However, improvements to the way in which the eggs are harvested enabled the team to obtain 20 eggs in their latest attempt, eight of which were suitable for IVF.

Smitz, however, cautions that transplanting ovarian tissue could also pose risks. "We have to be very careful that by replacing this tissue back into the body of cured cancer patients, we also don't reintroduce cancer cells," said Smitz.

Study: Transplants Can Turn on Patients

from the Ap and google

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bone marrow transplants are one of cancer care's striking successes, but they have a dark side: The transplanted cells can turn on patients, attacking their skin and organs.

The potentially deadly side effect with the unwieldy name of graft-versus-host disease, or GVHD, strikes several thousand each year. The last decade has brought little progress in battling it.

Last month brought another blow, as the Food and Drug Administration rejected the new drug closest to market.

But that drug, called orBec, isn't dead; its manufacturer is pledging additional research to satisfy FDA's concerns. And it joins a list of other promising experiments into ways to ease the misery — from novel stem-cell infusions to drugs that block immune cells-run-amok.

The burst of research comes none too soon, as a long-lasting form of GVHD is on the rise.

"I love my doctors, but they throw up their hands. They don't know what to do," laments Stephen Dugan, 54, of Radnor, Pa., who longs for an alternative to the problematic steroid that is today's treatment mainstay.

His transplant four years ago saved Dugan from cancer. But two months later he barely survived a harsh bout of GVHD; now he battles a less severe but chronic form of the disease.

When someone receives a transplanted organ, the big fear is that their own immune system will attack the new "foreign" tissue. GVHD is the opposite problem. It occurs when patients receive donated bone marrow or the stem cells that produce it, pieces of someone else's immune system. Sometimes the donor's T cells, whose job is to hunt foreign invaders, become super-aggressive and attack the recipient's body.

It happens in at least half of the more than 6,000 Americans who receive allogeneic — or donated — marrow or stem-cell transplants every year. Many times, GVHD is mild or moderate, causing skin rashes or blistering, vomiting, liver or lung damage. But one of every five cases is life-threatening. A particularly dangerous form ravages the stomach and intestines, causing unremitting vomiting and diarrhea.

The only treatment: Super-high doses of the steroid prednisone for weeks, to suppress out-of-control immune cells and the inflammation they cause. But the treatment's side effects are severe, even deadly: Patients fall prey to infections; it debilitates bone and muscle until some become bedridden; and it can cause violent mood swings. Plus, about half of seriously ill patients fail to improve, prompting doctors to frantically add other steroids.

"They're our best friends but our greatest enemies," is how Dr. Steven Pavletic of the National Institutes of Health describes prednisone and its cousins.

Now in advanced testing are treatments that aim to calm GVHD without that body-wide steroid toxicity:

_OrBec is a milder kind of steroid, a pill version of the beclomethasone that asthma patients have long inhaled. Dr. George McDonald of Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reformulated the drug to coat the gastrointestinal tract, not roam the body.

Adding orBec to standard prednisone seemed to improve survival, a year after gut GVHD first struck, by 45 percent. But because of a statistical issue with the research, the FDA told Dor BioPharma to show more evidence that orBec works. The company pledged to do so, and already has a different Phase III trial under way — to see if giving orBec with the transplant can prevent gut GVHD in the first place.

_The experimental drug Prochymal aims to soothe the source of GVHD's inflammation without suppressing immunity. It's made of a different kind of stem cell, mesenchymal cells. Your own mesenchymal cells are damaged during a bone marrow transplant. But when donated ones are infused into patients' bodies, they steer to wherever GVHD is attacking. There, overly aggressive T cells spur high levels of chemicals called cytokines that in turn inflame tissue.

The mesenchymal cells "change the chemical environment and basically put the brakes on" that damaging process, explains Dr. Hans Klingemann, bone marrow transplant chief at Tufts New England Medical Center. He is the independent safety monitor for Osiris Therapeutics' studies of the drug.

In a small study, adding Prochymal to steroid treatment doubled the chances of a complete recovery. Now a large Phase III trial is beginning to try to prove that effect.

_Johns Hopkins University researchers are studying if two doses of an old cancer drug, cyclophosphamide, at the time of transplant could prevent GVHD anywhere in the body. It's a drug thought to block the function of only bad-acting immune cells, while allowing the rest of the immune system to build back up after the transplant. Of roughly 100 patients tested so far, 65 percent have needed no further anti-GVHD protection, says Dr. Leo Luznik of Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Larger studies at other hospitals are about to begin.

Biocon gets DCGI nod to market breast cancer drug

From The Hindu Business Line

CHENNAI: Biocon Ltd and Abraxis BioScience Inc have announced that the Drug Controller-General of India (DCGI) has granted approval to market Abraxane for injectible suspension in India for the treatment of breast cancer.

Commercial introduction of Abraxane in the Indian market is expected in 2008 following the completion of the appropriate importation certifications.

In August 2007, Biocon and Abraxis announced an agreement for the commercialisation of Abraxane in India by Biocon.

Under the terms of the agreement, Biocon will have the right to market the drug in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and certain other South Asian and Persian Gulf countries.

Food habits to reduce Cancer

The most important cause for the development of carcinoma oesophagus is consumption of alcohol and smoking for long time. This will irritate the oesophageal mucosa and initiate the development of food pipe cancer. Other important nutritional causes are deficient Vitamin A, C, E, Selenium, Carotinoids and fibres also leads to the development of food pipe cancer.

Consumption of hot beverages for long time also promotes the development of cancer of food pipe. Individuals with iron deficiency anaemia are also at risk of developing cancer.

Individual with occupation in printing, exposure to metal dust and asbestos are also at risk of food pipe cancer. Obesity and persistent gastro oesophageal reflux are also at high risk of food pipe cancer.

Individual with cancer of the food pipe will have sticking of food in the food pipe followed by difficulty in taking solid foods then liquids gradually.

Cancer of stomach is again one of the common cancers of south India. The important cause will be high salt consumption, low Vitamin A, C, D, E, Smoked food, lack of refrigeration, poor quality of drinking water, excessive cigarette smoking, rubber workers, coal workers and also Epstein Barr virus infection. Prior gastric surgery, pernicious anaemia and family history of stomach cancer also will have impact on the development of cancer of stomach.

Adenomatous polyps of the stomach are also important cause for gastric cancer.

Persistent cigarette smoking is also precursor for liver cancer. Exposure to thoro trast and aflatoxins from mushrooms are also at risk of developing cancer of the liver. There are lot of metabolic diseases like Haemochromatosis are also at risk of developing cirrhosis liver and liver cancer. The common presentations are abdominal pain, loss of appetite and indigestion. Sometime with jaundice, Vomiting and ascites. The usual screening tract is ultrasound abdomen and CT scan is more useful for the confirmation of the cancer, any patient with cirrhosis should have regular follow up with ultrasound abdominal also with serum Alfa fetoprotein.

The gall bladder and bile duct will get affected by cancer in case of presence of large stones for longer duration, presence of polyp of more than 10 mm, multiple polyps with stones and also persistence chronic infection like typhoid.

Presence of cancer in the bile duct manifest as jaundice, itching and lay coloured stools. The investigations are ultrasound scan and Magnetic Renosance Cholangio Pancreatography (MRCP).

Lack of awareness casts big cancer burden, says GCCI

From The Hindu

NEW DELHI: Lack of awareness and reluctance, particularly among women, to admit that they suffer from cancer due to the stigma attached it, are some of the factors that have led to a huge cancer burden in the country.

Close to 70 per cent of all cancers in India are detected when the disease is so advanced that treatment becomes much less effective. Many of these cancers can be either prevented altogether or treated effectively if detected early, according to Geetha K. Raman of the Global Cancer Concern India (GCCI), a non-governmental organisation involved in free screening, detection and awareness camps.

Started in 1998 by the late Major General R.S. Pannu, the GCCI, spread across 12 States, reaches out to thousands of people, particularly in slums and among the deprived sections. It provides screening facilities, including mammography, at cheap rates, palliative and home care services to the affected, apart from guidance and counselling to family members. Under the patronage of the former President R. Venkataraman, Arvind Lalbhai and Gursharan Kaur, the GCCI extends educational sponsorships to children. Donations from philanthropists are its primary source of funding. Last year alone, the GCCI conducted 152 screening camps which were attended by 19,516 people, of whom 232 were diagnosed as cancer patients.

There are about 2.6 million cases of cancer in India and close to nine lakh new cases are diagnosed every year.