Breast Cancer Central

Low-Fat Diets Don't Protect Postmenopausal Women - Womens Health and Medical Information on MedicineNet.com

Link: Low-Fat Diets Don't Protect Postmenopausal Women - Womens Health and Medical Information on MedicineNet.com.

TUESDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) -- A large U.S. government study has found that a diet low in fat but high in vegetables, grains and fruits does not reduce the risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer or cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women.

The results, the latest from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), are not likely to be the last word on the subject, however.

"The issue isn't over," said Dr. Jacques E. Rossouw, WHI project officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "We plan to follow these women for another five years because it's quite possible that a benefit for both breast cancer and colorectal cancer will emerge over time. This is not going to go away."

Biopsies Still Best for Detecting Breast Cancer - Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com

Link: Biopsies Still Best for Detecting Breast Cancer - Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com.

The four tests evaluated in this report -- magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasonography, positron emission tomography scanning, and scintimammography -- have all been proposed as substitutes for biopsies.

But after analyzing 81 existing studies, the authors of the new report determined that the tests weren't as effective as a biopsy.

Gene Vaccine Targets Aggressive Breast Cancer

Link: Gene Vaccine Targets Aggressive Breast Cancer

A genetic vaccine that triggers the immune system to recognize a breast cancer-causing protein has protected mice against the disease and could do the same in humans.

American researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have shown that the vaccine protected 86% of experimental mice against Her2/neu-associated breast cancer.

High Blood Sugar Linked with Cancer

Link: High Blood Sugar Linked with Cancer

"Although past research has shown that having diabetes or an elevated glucose level may increase cancer risk, the evidence has been mixed and many of the studies to date were relatively small," says study coauthor Jonathan Samet of Johns Hopkins.

This study was anything but small, involving 1,298,385 Korean men and women aged 30 to 95 who were members of the National Health Insurance Corp. Participants provided information on their lifestyle and medical histories, and fasting blood samples were taken at biennial medical examinations.

Those with the highest fasting glucose levels (greater than 140 mg/dL) had a higher death rate from all cancers combined. For men, pancreatic cancer had the strongest link while there were also significant associations with cancers of the esophagus, liver and colon/rectum. For women, the strongest links where to cancers of the liver and cervix.

How Olive Oil Fights Breast Cancer

Link: How Olive Oil Fights Breast Cancer

Tests on breast cancer cell lines by American researchers have shown that the compound, oleic acid, cuts the activity of the oncogene Her-2/neu (also known as erb B-2). Excess expression of this gene has been found in more than a fifth of breast cancer cases and been linked with highly aggressive tumors with a poor prognosis.

Oleic acid was also found to boost treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin), a monoclonal antibody treatment that targets the Her-2/neu gene and has proven to prolong the lives of people with breast cancer.

Black Women Receive the Worst Medical Care

From Womens ENews

While some racial disparities in healthcare appear to be lessening, over the last decade, African American women are still treated the worst, reported Reuters on Wednesday. Findings concluded that black women have the highest mortality rate and are less likely to receive needed cardiac treatment, followed by black men and then white women.

"The corrective actions we have taken to close the gap over the past decade are simply not enough," said National Medical Association President, Dr. Sandra Gadson. Gadson said that the 2002 recommendations to increase cultural competency and diversity in healthcare providers, made by the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit organization providing science-based advice, need to be enforced.

Although this study was done on cardiac treatment, given the high mortality for black women with breast cancer, I would theorize that this holds true in this arena as well.

CYP2D6 Genotype, Antidepressant Use, and Tamoxifen Metabolism During Adjuvant Breast Cancer Treatment

In people with a specific genotype associated with their cancer, taking Paxil, and to a lesser extent Effexor, may alter the way tamoxifen works in their body.

Link: CYP2D6 Genotype, Antidepressant Use, and Tamoxifen Metabolism During Adjuvant Breast Cancer Treatment

Long-term adjustment of survivors of early-stage breast carcinoma, 20 years after adjuvant chemotherapy.

This study found that wenty years after the initial treatment, the impact of breast carcinoma on survivors' adjustment was minimal. However, the higher prevalence of PTSD symptoms in response to having had cancer is indicative of continuing psychologic sequelae long after treatment completion. Findings related to lymphedema and numbness and continued symptoms of PTSD suggest that the long-term psychologic and medical sequelae on adjustment may be underrecognized.

Link: Entrez PubMed.

Targeted Therapies Hit Breast Cancer Hard

FRIDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- Evidence is mounting that so-called targeted therapies, including Herceptin, work well against breast cancer.

In two North American trials of Herceptin, women with aggressive breast cancer who took the drug after surgery and chemotherapy had a 52 percent reduction in the risk of a recurrence, compared with women who did not take the drug. Because of the positive results, the trials were halted early.

Researchers at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., delivered more good news: A third trial of Herceptin showed a 46 percent reduction in risk among women who took the drug simultaneously with chemotherapy.

Link: Targeted Therapies Hit Breast Cancer Hard

Statin Use Linked to 51% Reduction in Breast Cancer

May 20, 2005 (Orlando) — An observational study has found that statin use in U.S. female veterans compared with nonusers was associated with a 51% reduced risk of breast cancer, researchers reported here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2005 Annual Meeting.

The beneficial effect is seen in more than four years of statin use, said lead author Ruby Kochhar, MD, who led the study at the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center at Shreveport, Louisiana.

The retrospective case-control study compared statin use among 556 women with a history of breast cancer and 39,865 women without the disease who served as controls. Breast cancer was identified by International Classification of Diseases codes, and statin use was tracked by prescription.

Read the entire article at Medscape (free registration required). Link: Statin Use Linked to 51% Reduction in Breast Cancer.