Tag Archives: Cancer

Multivitamins, Blueberries Could Complicate Late-Stage Cancer Treatment

From: webpronews.com

By Sean Patterson

Noble Prize recipient James Watson this month published a proposal stating that antioxidants, such as those found in blueberries or multivitamin supplements, could actually promote late-stage cancer progression. The paper, published in the journal Open Biology, is considered by Watson to be “among my most important work since the double helix.” Watson and his colleague Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA in 1953.

Watson believes that oxidants and antioxidants could play a role in currently incurable cancers. From the paper:

For as long as I have been focused on the understanding and curing of cancer (I taught a course on Cancer at Harvard in the autumn of 1959), well-intentioned individuals have been consuming antioxidative nutritional supplements as cancer preventatives if not actual therapies. The past, most prominent scientific proponent of their value was the great Caltech chemist, Linus Pauling, who near the end of his illustrious career wrote a book with Ewan Cameron in 1979, Cancer and Vitamin C, about vitamin C’s great potential as an anti-cancer agent [52]. At the time of his death from prostate cancer in 1994, at the age of 93, Linus was taking 12 g of vitamin C every day. In light of the recent data strongly hinting that much of late-stage cancer’s untreatability may arise from its possession of too many antioxidants, the time has come to seriously ask whether antioxidant use much more likely causes than prevents cancer.

All in all, the by now vast number of nutritional intervention trials using the antioxidants β-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and selenium have shown no obvious effectiveness in preventing gastrointestinal cancer nor in lengthening mortality [53]. In fact, they seem to slightly shorten the lives of those who take them. Future data may, in fact, show that antioxidant use, particularly that of vitamin E, leads to a small number of cancers that would not have come into existence but for antioxidant supplementation. Blueberries best be eaten because they taste good, not because their consumption will lead to less cancer.

Watson proposes that the cell-killing ability of some anti-cancer treatments is due to the action of a group of molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS). If ROS induce cell death, Watson claims, it could explain why chemotherapy-resistant cancers also become resistant to radiation treatments.

Pitt researchers report cancer vaccine success

From: www.post-gazette.com

By David Templeton

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute has announced initial success of a vaccine that triggers the immune response against colon cancer.

The study, involving 39 patients at the highest risk for colon cancer, helps to switch the focus of cancer-vaccine research from treatment to prevention. The Pitt trial also advances efforts to use the same vaccine against 80 percent of all cancers, including pancreatic, lung, prostate and breast cancers.

Among major cancers not expected to respond to the vaccine are melanomas, lymphomas, leukemia and brain cancers.

The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health, is published in the January edition of Cancer Prevention Research and is available online.

The National Cancer Institute says colorectal cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death in the United States, with expectations of 103,170 new cases in 2012 and 40,280 new cases of rectal cancer. The overall lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is 1 in 20, with about 51,700 deaths in 2012.

“Most [vaccine] treatments for cancer are not useful once the cancer has grown and spread,” said vaccine inventor Olivera Finn, who holds a doctoral degree in immunology and heads the department of immunology at Pitt’s School of Medicine. “We will do a lot better on all fronts if we learn more about how cancer starts and progresses.”

That is the approach the Pitt team took with colon cancer. The vaccine trial, following two decades of research, boosts the immune system to destroy cancer cells carrying the abnormal variant of the MUC1 (pronounced “muck one”) protein on the cell surface. The MUC1 protein is necessary for the cancer to survive and progress.

In the beginning stages of colon cancer, a polyp, a benign but abnormal cell growth, becomes malignant. The MUC1 protein, normally serving a protective function against pathogens, undergoes changes without stirring the immune system to respond to the pending danger. Only when the cancer takes hold does the immune system react to the threat. But by then, the cancer already has begun suppressing the immune response.

In the study, the vaccine was tested on 39 patients, each 40 to 70 years old with a history of advanced adenomas, polyps that have become precancerous. The Pitt clinical trial shows the vaccine is safe and produced the expected immune response by producing antibodies against abnormal variants of the MUC1 protein.

The trial proved successful in 17 of the 39 patients by showing the vaccine stimulated the production of antibodies. The study showed only the expected immune response and has yet to show long-term effects. The vaccine also doesn’t attack normal MUC1 proteins necessary for healthy cell function.

Explaining why 22 patients showed no response to the vaccine, the study said those people already had the expression of precancerous cells that blocked the immune response.

That confirmed the strategy to inoculate people at an earlier stage before a patient has polyps that have become precancerous. A Pitt news release says polyps initially are benign but turn cancerous 30 percent to 40 percent of the time.

The vaccine, if proved successful in more advanced trials, could reduce or eliminate the need for people at high risk for colon cancer to undergo repeated colonoscopies.

The Pitt team now is seeking a grant for the next stage of human clinical trials that could involve 10 medical centers nationwide and as many as 200 patients at highest risk for developing colon cancer.

The study’s clinical leader, Robert E. Schoen, a professor of medicine and epidemiology with Pitt’s division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition, said subsequent trials “need to evaluate the vaccine for its ability to lower or prevent polyp recurrence and thus progression to colon cancer.”

The American Cancer Society Inc., which was not involved in the study, praised its potential.

“Colon cancer has a lot of genetic cancers and links,” said Lynne Ayres, director of research communications for the society’s east-central division, noting that Pitt’s approach, if successful, “would be the best of all worlds.” “Pitt and its cancer institute is tops and well-respected. They are outstanding and doing great work. I think they are right on track. This is what you want to do — see more vaccines of the preventative nature.”

The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project also sees potential with the Pitt research.

“These findings are an important step in making colon cancer a preventable disease,” said Larry Wickerham, the project’s associate chairman and chief of cancer genetics and prevention at Allegheny General Hospital. “There is a substantial amount of work needed to establish both the safety and the effectiveness of the vaccine.

“However, the history of medicine has shown us repeatedly that often the biggest advances in care have been from prevention of disease rather than treatment.”

NHL Stars Hit The Ice For Krush Cancer Hockey Game

From: ottawa.ctvnews.ca

image.jpeg

Ottawa’s hockey community, along with several NHL stars, came together Thursday night in support of Ottawa native Chris Kushneriuk who was diagnosed with cancer in June 2012.

Ottawa’s hockey community, along with several NHL stars, came together Thursday night in support of one of their own.

25-year-old Ottawa native Chris Kushneriuk was diagnosed with cancer in June 2012.

The treatment he is receiving is considered experimental in Canada which is why had to go to Indianapolis, Indiana. But with no insurance in the United States, the bills for his treatment are racking up.

His friends said Thursday’s “Krush Cancer” charity hockey game was just one way they could help.

“It’s good to see all these people out here,” said Andrew Hazard. “Chris is a good guy he’d do the exact same thing if it were for somebody else.”

“He’s super positive and very rooted in his faith which is probably a big thing for him, something that really helps him,” said Kushneriuk’s girlfriend Christiane Lalonde. “Physically he’s very tired with the treatments which is expected but he’s moving forward.”

Many NHL players, including Claude Giroux and Marc Methot participated in Thursday’s game.

“We all know how good of a guy Kush is and he’s one of the most genuine human beings I think I’ve ever met in my life,” said Ottawa Senators defenceman Marc Methot. “I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him over the last few years and what happened was so unfortunate and he’s battling it right now so anything we could do to step in and help playing hockey is one thing we could take advantage of.”

Through fundraising initiatives Kushneriuk’s family says they’ve raised about $65,000 but the treatment could cost upwards of $300,000.

“My father had to sell off most of his assets, we were building a house, we had to sell that…just scraping together to get him better,” said Kushneriuk’s brother Stefan.

But the main goal, he said, is bringing his brother back to Ottawa cancer-free.

“I’d like to get him home as soon as possible. I love the guy”

N.Y. Has Plan To Reduce Cancer Deaths

From: upi.com

ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 6 (UPI) — About 288 New Yorkers are diagnosed with cancer each day and more than 96 die, but state health officials have a plan to lower the rate.

Dr. Nirav R. Shah, commissioner of the New York Department of Health, said “The 2012 to 2017 Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan” suggested strategies to reduce cancer rates.

“Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in New York state,” Shah said in a statement.

About 109,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed among state residents every year. More than 35,000 residents die every year — more than 95 people per day. The effects of cancer do not end with the last treatment. There are nearly 1 million cancer survivors in New York State continue to face challenges.

About one-third of cancers can be attributed to tobacco use, while another one-third can be attributed to poor nutrition, physical inactivity and obesity.

The report said in 2011:

— 18 percent of adult New Yorkers were cigarette smokers.

— Almost one-quarter of New York adults were obese.

— 27 percent of N.Y. adults consumed five or more fruits and vegetables a day.

— Nearly 80 percent of New York adults did not meet recommended physical activity guidelines, and one quarter did not exercise at all.

The plan said to prevent cancer New York would encourage healthy behaviors and foster communities that support and reinforce healthy lifestyles including:

— Increase early detection of cancer by raising awareness of and access to evidence-based cancer screenings.

— Increase access to quality cancer treatment.

— Improve the integration of palliative care in cancer treatment and care.

— Improve the quality of life for cancer survivors.

— Sustain an adequate health care workforce to meet the need for all cancer services.