Friday, March 5, 2010

plus 3, Life Tech Joins With TGen, US Oncology For Breast Cancer Sequencing ... - RTT News

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plus 3, Life Tech Joins With TGen, US Oncology For Breast Cancer Sequencing ... - RTT News

Life Tech Joins With TGen, US Oncology For Breast Cancer Sequencing ... - RTT News

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 08:50 AM PST

(RTTNews) -  Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE: News ) said that it is collaborating with the Translational Genomics Research Institute and US Oncology to sequence the genomes of 14 patients afflicted with triple negative breast cancer whose tumors have progressed despite multiple other therapies.

The company noted that the goal of this first-of-its-kind research collaboration is to demonstrate whether genomic sequencing of cancer tissue can provide clues for treatment strategies for these individuals.

In this collaboration, US Oncology will help enroll patients in the study to have both tumor and healthy tissue sequenced using the SOLiD system to identify mutations, which will be validated by CLIA-certified Caris Life Sciences.

Scientists and oncologists will then leverage this information to more intelligently evaluate potential therapies that target the affected pathways responsible for the cancer, the company said.

In addition, scientists from TGen and Life Technologies will collaborate in the development of novel computational and informatics software paving the way for the use of whole genomic sequencing data for querying, identifying and interpreting mutations to provide for more effective therapeutic decisions.

by RTT Staff Writer

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

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Acupuncture could relieve joint pain linked to breast cancer ... - Daily News and Analysis

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:22 AM PST

WASHINGTON: Acupuncture could be an effective therapy for joint pain and stiffness in breast cancer patients who are being treated with commonly used hormonal therapies, says a new study.

Joint pain and stiffness are common side effects of aromatase inhibitor therapy, in which the synthesis of estrogen is blocked.

Researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, led the new study.

It was previously shown that the therapy, which is a common and effective treatment for early-stage, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer in post-menopausal women, causes some joint pain and stiffness in half of women being treated.

"Since aromatase inhibitors have become an increasingly popular treatment option for some breast cancer patients, we aimed to find a non-drug option to manage the joint issues they often create, thereby improving quality of life and reducing the likelihood that patients would discontinue this potentially life-saving treatment," said Dr. Dawn Hershman, senior author of the paper.

To explore the effects of acupuncture on aromatase inhibitor-associated joint pain, researchers randomly assigned 43 women to receive either true acupuncture or sham acupuncture twice a week for six weeks.

Sham acupuncture, which was used to control for a potential placebo effect, involved superficial needle insertion at body points not recognized as true acupuncture points.

All participants were receiving an aromatase inhibitor for early breast cancer, and all had reported musculoskeletal pain.

In women treated with true acupuncture, it was shown that they experienced significant improvement in joint pain and stiffness over the course of the study.

Pain severity declined, and overall physical well being improved.

In addition, 20 percent of the patients who had reported taking pain relief medications reported that they no longer needed to take these medications following acupuncture treatment.

However, no such improvements were reported in women who were treated with the sham acupuncture.

"This study suggests that acupuncture may help women manage the joint pain and stiffness that can accompany aromatase inhibitor treatment," said Dr. Katherine D. Crew, first author of the paper.

"To our knowledge, this is the first randomized, placebo-controlled trial establishing that acupuncture may be an effective method to relieve joint problems caused by these medications. However, results still need to be confirmed in larger, multicenter studies," she added.

The results of the study were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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Certain Bone Drugs May Lower Breast Cancer Risk - US News and World Report

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 07:03 AM PST

FRIDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- Some types of bone-building drugs used to prevent and treat osteoporosis might reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to new research.

The study, which included 6,000 Wisconsin women aged 20 to 69, found that those who took bisphosphonate drugs such as Fosamax, Boniva and Zometa for more than two years were 40 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than were women who did not take the drugs.

However, the protective effective was seen only among women who were not obese.

"Obese women may have elevated estrogen levels, so underlying hormones may influence the ability of bisphosphonates to reduce breast cancer risk," the study's lead author, Polly Newcomb, head of the cancer prevention program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said in a news release from the center.

The study is published online and in the March print issue of the British Journal of Cancer.

Just how bisphosphonate drugs affect the risk for breast cancer is unclear, but there are a number of possibilities.

"These drugs may affect cell function and be important in cell growth and death -- specifically the death of tumors or even premalignant disease," Newcomb said.

Also, previous studies have found that some kinds of bisphosphonates trigger tumor cell death, prevent tumors from establishing a blood supply and prevent cancer cells from binding to each other.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about breast cancer prevention.

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Freezing breast cancer — clinical trial aims to kill cancer in its ... - Arizona Daily Star

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 08:38 AM PST

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is looking for participants for a clinical trial of cryoblation — freezing cancer tumors to stop the spread.

U-M researchers are participating in a national clinical trial to evaluate using cryoablation for early stage breast cancer.

Participants will undergo rapid freezing of their tumor, and their blood samples will be analyzed to assess changes in their immune system. All participants will be treated three to four weeks later with standard surgery to remove their tumor.

For more information about the study, contact the U-M Cancer AnswerLine at 1-800-865-1125.

A new study on mice with breast cancer conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center shows that freezing a cancer kills it in its place and also appears to generate an immune response to stop its spread.

Researchers looked at two different cryoablation techniques, which both involve applying a cold probe to a tumor to freeze it.

One method involves freezing the tumor rapidly, in about 30 seconds. The other freezes the tumor slowly, taking a few minutes. Results from the cryoablation were compared to results from mice whose tumors were removed with surgery.

Both cryoablation techniques successfully killed the breast tumor.

The mice treated with the rapid freeze had fewer tumors that spread to the lungs and improved survival compared to mice treated with surgery alone or mice treated with the slower freezing technique.

The study showed that the benefit from the rapid freezing is likely due to changes in the immune system that help to kill the tumor. Freezing with the slower technique appeared to make the immune system not as able to kill the tumor.

The study appears online in Annals of Surgical Oncology. Based on these results from mice, researchers are now conducting a clinical trial using cryoablation in patients with breast cancer. In this trial, researchers use the rapid freezing technique.

Cryoablation is currently used routinely for prostate cancer, kidney cancer and a variety of cancers that have spread to the liver and bone.

Breast cancer statistics: 192,280 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and 40,610 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society

 

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