“Mice study gives clue to how breast cancer spreads - Reuters” plus 4 more |
- Mice study gives clue to how breast cancer spreads - Reuters
- After breast cancer: ‘They can rebuild me’ - MSNBC
- Classical Music Agenda - DCist.com
- Fight the good fight: Volunteers in battle with cancer share a passion - Kenai Peninsula Clarion
- REV Homecoming carnival draws crowd - Redlands Daily Facts
| Mice study gives clue to how breast cancer spreads - Reuters Posted: 18 Oct 2009 10:04 AM PDT By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists who watched tumor cells spread in living mice said on Sunday they had found a gene signal controlling how cancer cells move, which could help companies design new drugs to fight the disease. Scientists working for Cancer Research UK used hi-tech imaging techniques to watch how breast cancer cells spread in mice. They found that a genetic signal, known as TGF-beta, was crucial to whether cells moved as single entities or in clumps. TGF-beta signaling is only active in singly moving cells, not in collectively moving cells. And in singly moving cells, the signal is on when they move and off when they stop in a new place to grow, they reported in the journal Nature Cell Biology. "The results helped us to find the set of genes that are behind the spread of breast cancer -- and that the genes need to be first turned on and then off in order for single cancer cells to be able to relocate," said Erik Sahai, head of the tumor cell biology lab at Cancer Research UK's London institute. He said several pharmaceutical firms were investigating how to stop TGF-beta from functioning, but stressed they were "very much in the development phase." "As yet there is no new drug in the pipeline," said Sahai, "But because we now know what these cancer cells are actually doing, it gives us lots of new ideas about how to stop them." CANCER SPREAD A study published in May 2007 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that treating cancer with surgery, chemotherapy or radiation raised levels of TGF-beta and could actually cause tumors to spread. But as yet, relatively little has been known about how cancer cells spread through the body because it is very difficult to track them when they are moving. "In a medium-sized tumor there could be a billion cells -- and only a small proportion might break away and spread. So it is like trying to find, and understand, a moving needle in a very big haystack," said Sahai. Sahai and his team used two groups of fluorescently labeled breast cancer cells inside live mice and tracked them with a technique called multiphoton confocal microscopy. When the TGF-beta signal was blocked, the tumor spread via clumps of cells in the lymphatic system -- limiting how far it could go, the researchers said. But cells that could receive the TGF-beta signal moved as single entities, and the TGF-beta signal was first turned on -- allowing the cells to spread through the blood, and then turned off -- allowing them to grow again in a new location. "It seems they can't multitask," said Sahai. "They can't move and grow at the same time, they can only do one or the other." (Editing by Charles Dick) This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| After breast cancer: ‘They can rebuild me’ - MSNBC Posted: 18 Oct 2009 10:32 AM PDT I was 29 years old when my gray-haired surgeon looked at me from across his desk and said, "I'd recommend a mastectomy." My dad, seated to my left, exhaled hard. To my right, my mom sat in silence. Family history had repeated itself: My grandmother underwent a mastectomy at age 39. Now it would be me. But in the four days since my diagnosis, I had researched and stumbled upon a choice my grandmother never had. "It's OK," I said to my dad. "They can rebuild me." They did. In one nine-hour procedure, a cancer surgeon performed a skin-sparing mastectomy, removing the nipple and tissue inside my right breast but leaving most of the skin intact. Then a plastic surgeon performed a free-flap reconstruction, extracting a portion of my stomach skin and fat and microscopically reconnecting it to my chest. Later, he reconstructed the nipple. The result was a breast that looks and feels like…my breast. In the 14 years since, my reconstructed chest has seen me through highs and lows: confident in an evening gown while reporting from the Oscars as a TV correspondent; sorrowful, at times, when standing naked under bright bathroom lights, the faint scars tracing my areola reminders of invading disease and scalpels. Yearly screenings send my heart pounding, but my surgery has helped me be hopeful about the future. Of course, some women don't want any kind of reconstruction, sometimes due to health reasons or as a matter of preference. But women who do choose it report significant, lasting psychological benefits, in a way that transcends physical beauty, according to a study by Amy K. Alderman, M.D., assistant professor of plastic surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. "Women tell me they feel whole again and more able to put cancer behind them," she explains. Which is why I'm alarmed that many women don't know that options like the one I selected exist. Nearly 70 percent of women eligible for reconstruction aren't informed of their reconstructive options, according to a 2007 study by Dr. Alderman. Almost 65 percent of general surgeons said they believe patients lack interest in reconstruction, and less than one in four consistently refers breast cancer patients to plastic surgeons. Meanwhile, plastic surgeons often limit the time they devote to cancer patients, because they tend to lose money treating them. Insurance reimbursements — which are roughly based on what Medicare pays — are paltry. In the case of free-flap surgery, plastic surgeons can charge $7,000 to $25,000 per breast; the average Medicare reimbursement in 2007 was $1,737. As a result, some doctors won't accept insurance for reconstructive surgeries, forcing patients to pay out of pocket. Others steer patients toward more profitable types of reconstruction, regardless of what's best medically, says Mark Sultan, M.D., my reconstructive surgeon and chief of the division of plastic surgery at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center and Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. Insurers reimburse implant reconstruction at roughly the same level as a flap, but surgery takes only about an hour. "Doctors may think, Why do a six-hour operation when I am paid the same amount for a one-hour implant?" Dr. Sultan says. "They may convince themselves, consciously or unconsciously, that the patient is a better candidate for an implant." In this climate, a mere 16 percent of women with breast cancer receive reconstruction at the time of their mastectomies, Dr. Alderman found; and only 10 to 15 percent of mastectomy patients get it later. The numbers also show vast regional and racial disparities, as black and Hispanic women are half as likely to receive reconstruction as whites are. "What's the 'right' rate?" Dr. Alderman asks. "It's when women are well informed and each chooses the option that's right for her. I'm not sure that's happening." 'I couldn't bear the thought of losing a breast' Two years later, Miller befriended Edith Speed, who had had the same cancer as Miller but opted for a double mastectomy with implant reconstruction. "We were in her kitchen, drinking coffee, and I asked if I could look," Miller says. "She pulled up her shirt. Her breasts had less scarring than I have." Tentatively, Miller asked if she could touch them. "I can't believe these aren't real!" she exclaimed. "I'm OK with what I have, but had I known, I would not have been so terrified of a mastectomy." For certain women, especially those whose tumors are large relative to their breast size, "breast conservation" surgeries can be anything but. Nearly a third of lumpectomy patients are unhappy with their cosmetic outcomes, according to a 2006 study by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Talking to a cosmetic surgeon as early as possible can help women choose the procedure that is best for their situation, but Dr. Alderman found that's not happening — although women doctors in her research were twice as likely to refer patients to plastic surgeons as men were. "Many general surgeons want to do their surgery and move on," Dr. Sultan says, and they assume the patient can get reconstruction later. But "later" might never come, says Andrea Pusic, M.D., a plastic surgeon at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City: "Psychologically, there is a fork in the road, and once women go past it, they don't come back." A second surgery, with its costs and stress, can be less than appealing. Immediate reconstruction generally allows for "a better cosmetic result with fewer scars," Dr. Alderman adds. "The patient wakes up with a breast or in the process of getting a breast, so it cushions some of the psychological trauma." The best approach for patients may be a breast-care team: a general surgeon, a plastic surgeon, an oncologist and a radiation therapist, or another mix of specialists who can come together to offer evaluations. It's an approach now used at major cancer centers such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital in New Hampshire. Memorial Sloan-Kettering has an optional class for women considering reconstruction and their loved ones, so no one lacks for information. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has also launched a reconstruction-awareness campaign at PlasticSurgery.org. "Some patients feel it's somehow shameful to consider reconstruction when you should be thinking only about surviving and getting home to your kids," Dr. Pusic says. "Sometimes women need to be taken by the hand and told, 'It's all right. We want you to survive the cancer, but we also want you to overcome it.'" This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Classical Music Agenda - DCist.com Posted: 18 Oct 2009 09:35 AM PDT BEST OF THE REST: >> If you prefer the old to the new, your Monday night would be better spent at Opera Lafayette's performance of Charpentier's Les Arts Florissants, an opera about, at least in part, how the arts flourish in times of peace. This performance at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater (October 19, 7:30 p.m.) will feature choreography by dancers of the New York Baroque Dance Company. >> On Friday night (October 23, 7:30 p.m.) the beloved soprano Dawn Upshaw will perform a recital in the Music Center at Strathmore. In the past few years Upshaw has recovered from a battle with breast cancer, won a MacArthur Foundation genius grant, and returned to performing. Her 2008 recital was an event to be remembered. >> Composer Nicholas Maw, who died this past spring at his home in Takoma Park, will receive a tribute concert on Saturday (October 24, 5 p.m.) at the Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. Members of the 21st Century Consort will play an entire program of Maw's music. >> By far the most exciting opera on the fall schedule at Washington National Opera is the production of Ariadne auf Naxos, which opens this Saturday night (October 24, 7 p.m.) at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Iréne Theorin, in the title role, will be joined by Lyubov Petrova (Zerbinetta), Kristine Jepson (Komponist), and Gidon Saks (Musiklehrer). Unfortunately, conductor Heinz Fricke will not be at the podium, but his replacement, Andreas Delfs, should have things well in hand. >> Louis Langrée, director of the Mostly Mozart Festival, takes the reins of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra this week, leading a program of classical music. The program, including Simone Dinnerstein playing one of the Mozart piano concerti, comes to the Music Center at Strathmore on Saturday (October 24, 8 p.m.). >> The next concert sponsored by the Young Concert Artists Series will feature soprano Jeanine De Bique and Warren Jones, on Sunday afternoon (October 25, 2 p.m.) at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. >> For more concert information, go to Ionarts. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Fight the good fight: Volunteers in battle with cancer share a passion - Kenai Peninsula Clarion Posted: 18 Oct 2009 10:54 AM PDT A diagnosis of cancer affects many -- the patients, their family members, and friends and coworkers, and while these effects are often pain and sorrow, some good can grow from all the heartache. "My mother was diagnosed with cancer 19 years ago, and I wasn't happy with the care that she received," said Kathy Lopeman of Kenai. "After I lost her to cancer, I'd hear a voice in the back of my head in her voice saying 'If you don't like how something's done, try to change it,' so I did." Lopeman began what in many ways was a personal crusade to help those with cancer. She became on oncology nurse, and got involved with American Cancer Society fundraisers, but she said it still wasn't enough. She tired of seeing money raised leave the community, and leave the people living here who needed it for treatment. "It was frustrating to see people fall through the cracks," she said. "Sometimes there are things that insurance and Medicaid don't pay for, so I wanted to find a way to help people pay for their treatment." Then, Lopeman attended a fundraising event -- a snowmachine relay ride from California to Minnesota -- and she got an idea. "I thought, if they could raise money with an event like that Outside, why couldn't we do something like that here, and personalize it to local patients?" she said. So, in 2004 Lopeman organized the Way out Women (WOW) snowmachine ride, which gathered women who don crazy costumes and ride snowmachines through the Caribou Hills to raise money for cancer patients on the Kenai Peninsula. Her idea has grown into an annual event raising more than $125,000 during the past five years. "All the money raised stays right here on the peninsula," she said. "It's given directly back to patients in the form of $1,000 grants." The event is a lot of work to organize, and there is always the looming reality that many of the recipients still will be lost to their disease, but Lopeman said she never gives in to feeling sorry for herself. The focus stays on those who need it. "Each and every one of these people diagnosed touch my heart," she said, "and with the heavy burden they carry, I think if you can help these people in some little way, its worth doing." The Pink Ribbon Rally golf tournament and auction -- formerly known as the Rally for a Cure, which gave funds to the Central Peninsula Health Foundation and to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation -- will change in 2010 to adopt a more local focus, much like the WOW ride. "We really liked being part of the national Rally, but we decided to go on our own to keep all the money in the community," said Judy Keck-Walsh, a member of the organizing board for the event. Other boardmembers include Sharon Keating, Elaine Anderson, June Stuckey and Peggy Bowen. In June of 2009, 88 women attended the golf tournament and the event raised $14,000 of which $10,000 stayed in the community. And while next year all funds raised will stay local, what the money will be used for has not changed. "It goes to preventative mammograms and anything else that has to do with fighting breast cancer," Keck-Walsh said. Like Lopeman, Keck-Walsh said she thrives on helping those who need it. "Breast cancer hasn't personally affected me, but it has touched so many other people in so many ways that it drives me to help," she said. "I think serving the community is the best gratification I could ever have." Brain Heath, an organizer for the St. Baldrick's event, said he is glad he got involved in this particular fight against cancer. "It seemed like a great cause, and no one here was doing anything like it," he said. "And by being involved I've learned a lot more about it. I know more people, and people in the area affected by it." St. Baldrick's is a volunteer-driven fundraising event to support childhood cancer research. Volunteers shave their heads in solidarity with children with cancer, while requesting donations of support from friends and family. In 2009, Heath said approximately $30,000 was raised during the local event and sent to childhood cancer researchers in the hope that someday cures can be found. "I didn't really know what I was getting into at first," he said. "But now it's personal. You hear the stories of people with cancer and you can't help but get involved, and get to know them. These people are my friends now." Another cancer-fighting fundraiser, the Relay For Life , is held annually on the Kenai Peninsula, as well as in all 50 states, and in communities spanning 19 countries outside of the United States. This event began in the mid-1980s, when a Washington colorectal surgeon wanted to enhance the income of his local American Cancer Society office and show support for all of his patients who had battled cancer. He spent a grueling 24 hours circling a track, running more than 83 miles. Throughout the night, his supporters donated $25 to run or walk with him for 30 minutes. His efforts raised $27,000 to fight cancer. The local event still runs much the same way as the original did. It is a 24-hour event where teams of people camp out and take turns walking or running around a track. People also purchase lumanaria to honor those fighting cancer, or in memory of those who haven't survived cancer. Names, photos and heartfelt messages are written on paper bags, which are placed around the track. Candles placed inside are lit up as darkness falls. "The 2009 event raised more than $104,000," said Teresa Gamble, who chaired the Relay last season. Like many of the volunteers and organizes of other cancer-related events, Gamble said she has personally known the horrible way cancer can take loved ones. "I'm a survivor. I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in '97, but that's not what motivates me," she said. "My family has been touched by cancer. I lost my mother and two uncles to cancer." Gamble said while the loss is difficult to bear, it drives her to do what she can to prevent others from knowing the same experience. "I do this in the hope of finding a cure," she said, "But also, while the loss makes me sad, I move on because of the importance of the message. I want to provide people with the information they need, so they can be checked, to hopefully save some lives." Joseph Robertia can be reached at joseph.robertia@peninsulaclarion.com. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| REV Homecoming carnival draws crowd - Redlands Daily Facts Posted: 18 Oct 2009 10:54 AM PDT MENTONE - Clubs and teams at Redlands East Valley High School set up game booths around the quad for the school's first carnival, which replaced the traditional Homecoming parade. Because in the past few years the parade has attracted only a few students, the Associated Student Body created a higher-participation event, adviser Lisa Bruich said. "It was a poorly attended parade, I would say," she said. "Not a lot of students came out." The carnival allowed clubs to raise money by creating fun activities for students, community members and administrators. "This killed two birds with one stone," Bruich said. "It had the purpose of a fundraiser and the kids got to have fun." Hundreds of students, parents and community members bore the heat to come out and support the event their peers helped create. Redlands Unified School District representatives like Chief Academic Officer Paul Cullen and Superintendent Lori Rhodes attended.Clubs setup booths to raise money for supplies, future events and out-of-state competitions. Members of the American Cancer Society club sold donated baked goods decorated in pink for breast cancer awareness, all proceeds going to the society, vice president Sanjida Khasru, 16, said. "The carnival is the best place to raise money because there are so many hungry students," she said. "This is better because people really get to interact with each other," she said. Trumpet players circled the quad playing songs like "Go, Fight, Win" while their peers stood in line to play games, buy food and socialize. To raise money for supplies and banquets, REV aquatics members were drenched by buckets of water in their "Soak the Swimmer" stand. For $1, participants tossed three sacks at a wooden post rigged to a bucket that dumped water on the head of a participating swimmer. Swimmer Mary Kate Marnell, 16, helped collect money and laughed as her teammates were soaked. Marnell said each swimmer volunteered and "they just kind of were like, `I have my Speedo, let's do it!' " The wooden structure was created in a day by swim coach Emily Abbott and her brother, an engineer. "It's really the swimmers that are doing all the work," she said. Full-size floats from each class were displayed in the school's entrance and each represented a different decade. After the carnival ended, students went to the gym to watch the Homecoming rally. Bruich said the students seemed to like the event and will look into continuing it next year. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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