June 2006 Briefing - Oncology

Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Oncology for June 2006. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.

Barrett's Esophagus Incidence Increasing in Australia

FRIDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- In an Australian population undergoing esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGD), new cases of Barrett's esophagus have significantly increased since 1990, with the biggest increase seen in diagnoses of short-segment Barrett's esophagus (SSBE), according to a study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

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Netrins May Spur Blood Vessels in Ischemia, Diabetes

FRIDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have found that the developmental signaling molecules called netrins, previously shown to direct neuron migration, also help form new blood vessels, according to a report published June 29 in Sciencexpress, the early edition of Science. The molecules boosted capillary growth in animal models of ischemia and diabetes.

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Pigment Receptor Linked to Non-Sun-Related Melanoma

FRIDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Fair-skinned people who inherit particular variants of the pigment receptor for melanocortin-1 (MC1R) have a greater chance of developing melanomas with mutations in the BRAF oncogene, a type of melanoma not associated with sun exposure, according to a report published June 29 in Sciencexpress, the early online edition of Science.

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Cream May Eradicate Squamous Cell Carcinoma In Situ

THURSDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- Imiquimod 5 percent cream monotherapy may help eradicate cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in situ, or Bowen's disease, in some patients, according to a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in the June issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

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FDA Approves Sprycel for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

THURSDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an oral drug called Sprycel (dasatinib) for the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who have failed treatment with Gleevec or other therapies. The drug was given accelerated approval for this indication, and was also approved for use in adults with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ALL) who have also failed to respond to other treatments.

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Renal Tumor Location Affects Laparoscopy Outcome

THURSDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- Kidney cancer patients who undergo laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) for exophytic or mesophytic renal masses have significantly fewer complications than patients with different types of renal masses, according to a report in the June issue of Urology.

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Fear Often Drives Decisions of Prostate Cancer Patients

THURSDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- Men with prostate cancer tend to make treatment decisions based on fears, misconceptions and anecdotes rather than on clinical facts, according to a report published online June 26 in Cancer.

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Marker Predicts Renal Cancer Metastasis and Survival

THURSDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified a marker in renal cell carcinomas that can predict tumor metastasis and patient outcome, according to a study published in the July issue of The Lancet Oncology.

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New Model Identifies Mutations in Colorectal Cancer

WEDNESDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) -- A new predictive model developed by multivariate logistic regression accurately identifies patients with colorectal cancer who are carriers of mutations in DNA repair genes, according to a study published in the June 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Chest X-Rays May Increase Risk of Breast Cancer

WEDNESDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) -- Women with inherited mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes may be at greater risk of developing breast cancer after exposure to chest X-rays compared with BRCA1/BRCA2 carriers who aren't exposed to X-rays, according to a report published online June 26 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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U.S. Surgeon General Issues Report on Secondhand Smoke

TUESDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- Secondhand smoke exposure increases non-smokers' heart disease and lung cancer risk and causes early death in non-smoking children and adults, according to a new scientific report issued June 27 by U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, M.D.

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NEJM Issues Correction on 2005 Vioxx Study

MONDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- The New England Journal of Medicine has issued a correction to the Adenomatous Polyp Prevention on Vioxx (APPROVe) trial, a 2005 publication that suggested that thrombotic events in rofecoxib-treated patients only diverged from placebo after 18 months of treatment. However, an error in the analysis now indicates that adverse events diverged from the placebo group prior to 18 months, the authors report.

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Obesity Linked to Poor Outcome After Prostate Cancer

MONDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- Obese prostate cancer patients are more likely than non-obese patients to have biochemical failure or clinical recurrence of their disease after radiotherapy, according to a report published online June 26 in Cancer.

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Possible Mechanism of Asbestos Carcinogenesis Found

FRIDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified a cellular signaling pathway triggered by asbestos that allows mesothelial cells to escape death and possibly become cancerous, according to a study published online June 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

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Minimally Invasive Procedure Can Cure Testicular Cancer

FRIDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) -- High-intensity focused ultrasonography (HIFU) combined with radiation treatment can eradicate testicular cancer in a minimally invasive way, according to a study of seven patients in the June issue of Urology.

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Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Risk Linked to Sjogren's

THURSDAY, June 22 (HealthDay News) -- Sjogren's syndrome patients do have an elevated risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, although the risk may not be as high as previously thought, according to a report in the June issue of the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

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Condom Use Reduces Risk of HPV in Young Women

WEDNESDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- Newly sexually active young women whose male partners consistently use condoms during sex are at less risk of cervical and vulvovaginal infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), according to a study published in the June 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Genome of Atrophic Gastritis Helicobacter pylori Sequenced

WEDNESDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have sequenced the genome of Helicobacter pylori using a strain isolated from a patient with chronic atrophic gastritis, according to a report published online June 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

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Androgen Deprivation Therapy Use Varies Among Urologists

WEDNESDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- There is a substantial variation in use of androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer by urologists, and the chance that a patient will receive the therapy may be more dependent on which doctor they see than on their tumor characteristics, according to a report in the June 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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New Tumor Suppressor ID'd in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

WEDNESDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- The DnaJ-like heat shock protein (HLJ1) previously associated with tumor invasion has now been identified as a tumor suppressor in non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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FDA Warns About Reusable Ultrasound Biopsy Equipment

WEDNESDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning to health care professionals to properly clean and sterilize reusable ultrasound biopsy transducer assemblies to avoid patient infections due to contaminated equipment.

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High Urinary Cadmium Linked to Breast Cancer Risk

WEDNESDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- Women with high levels of cadmium in their urine have more than twice the risk of developing breast cancer than women with the lowest levels, according to a study in the June 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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Milk Thistle Flavanone Cuts Lung Tumor Growth in Mice

WEDNESDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- Silibinin, a flavanone from milk thistle, reduces the size and number of lung tumors as well as the density of blood vessels feeding the tumors when given to mice as part of their diets, according to a study in the June 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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Radiation Helps Survival for Inflammatory Breast Cancer

TUESDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- Although radiation therapy appears to improve survival for inflammatory breast cancer patients, only 42 percent survive five years, and the order of treatment does not seem to help, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Surgery.

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Sentinel Node Analysis Accurate in Colorectal Cancer

TUESDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- Lymphatic mapping and the analysis of sentinel nodes can be a reliable way to stage colorectal cancer (CRC) and to select patients for chemotherapy, according to a report in the June issue of the Archives of Surgery.

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More Blacks Diagnosed with Advanced-Stage Melanoma

TUESDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- More black and Hispanic Florida residents were diagnosed with late-stage melanoma than whites during a recent five-year period, according to a report in the June issue of the Archives of Dermatology.

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Radiation, Surgery Improve Merkel Cancer Recurrence

TUESDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma with radiation in addition to surgery can improve recurrence rates, and biopsy of the sentinel lymph nodes can be useful in detecting the spread of the disease, according to a pair of reports in the June issue of the Archives of Dermatology.

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Organelles Key to Melanomas' Chemotherapy Resistance

FRIDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- Melanomas may be resistant to chemotherapeutic agents like cisplatin because the tumor cells sequester toxic compounds in their melanosomes, according to a report published online June 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

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FDA Approves Hycamtin for Late-Stage Cervical Cancer

THURSDAY, June 15 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Hycamtin (topotecan hydrochloride) as the treatment of choice to be used in combination with cisplatin for women with stage IVB cervical cancer who have recurrent or persistent cervical cancer with metastases who are unlikely to benefit from surgery or radiation.

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HPV Test Has Similar Sensitivity As Pap Smear

THURSDAY, June 15 (HealthDay News) -- In women aged 35-60, human papillomavirus (HPV) testing alone is more sensitive than the conventional Pap smear for detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or higher, but it has a lower positive predictive value, according to a report in the June 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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FDA Targets Unclear Medical Abbreviations

THURSDAY, June 15 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has launched a national health professional education campaign to eliminate a common but preventable cause of medication errors: unclear and potentially confusing abbreviations written by health care professionals and others.

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Two Treatments Effective for Gleevec-Resistant Leukemia

WEDNESDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Two drugs, dasatinib and nilotinib, are safe and effective in treating leukemias with BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase mutations that are resistant to imatinib (Gleevec), according to two studies in the June 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Colorectal Cancer Factors in Ulcerative Colitis Identified

WEDNESDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Surveillance colonoscopy and use of anti-inflammatory medications may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer for patients with ulcerative colitis, according to a report in the June issue of Gastroenterology.

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Hodgkin Disease Type Varies Geographically

TUESDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- Hodgkin disease survival may differ between Europe and the United States due to regional variations in the disease types, according to a report in the July 15 issue of Cancer.

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Radiotherapy Helps Survival in Some with Lung Cancer

TUESDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with stage II or stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and N2 nodal disease treated with post-operative radiation therapy have better survival rates than those who undergo surgery alone, according to a study published online June 12 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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Folic Acid May Slow or Stop Premalignant Lesions

MONDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- Folic acid supplementation may slow progression and reduce the size of precancerous laryngeal lesions, according to a study published online June 12 in Cancer.

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FDA Approves Gardasil Cervical Cancer Vaccine

THURSDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a vaccine to reduce cervical cancer by preventing infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16 and 18. Gardasil is manufactured by Merck & Co. and is approved for use in females aged 9 to 26.

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Lung Cancer Screening May Cause Overdiagnosis

THURSDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- Lung cancer screening could be responsible for more diagnoses than actual cases of the disease, according to a long-term follow-up of the Mayo Lung Project published in the June 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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DNA Vaccine Curbs Angiogenesis, Tumors in Mice

THURSDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- A DNA-based vaccine targeting the angiomotin receptor prevents angiogenesis and tumor growth in a mouse model and may provide an inexpensive alternative to angiogenesis inhibitors such as angiostatin, according to a report published online June 5 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

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Modified Radiation Therapy Spares Normal Tissue

THURSDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- By modifying conventional microbeam radiation therapy, researchers have produced a strong, focused X-ray beam that spares normal tissue and may be useful in treating brain tumors, according to a study published online June 7 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

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Gene Profiling Improves Burkitt's Lymphoma Diagnosis

WEDNESDAY, June 7 (HealthDay News) -- Genomic technology can distinguish Burkitt's lymphoma from other B-cell lymphomas, guiding crucial therapy choices, according to research in the June 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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More Basal-Like Breast Cancer Tumors in Young Black Women

TUESDAY, June 6 (HealthDay News) -- There is a higher prevalence of basal-like breast cancer tumors among premenopausal black women compared with their postmenopausal and non-black counterparts, according to the results of a study published in the June 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Radiation Does Not Improve Survival for Brain Metastases

TUESDAY, June 6 (HealthDay News) -- Adding whole-brain radiation to radiosurgery does not improve survival in patients with brain metastases, but patients experience higher tumor recurrence rates and more often need salvage brain treatment if they have radiosurgery alone, according to a study in the June 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Drug Effective in Treating Metastatic Renal Carcinoma

TUESDAY, June 6 (HealthDay News) -- Oral sunitinib is effective in treating metastatic renal cell carcinoma refractory to cytokine therapy, according to a study in the June 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Tamoxifen, Raloxifene Similar in Ability To Cut Cancer Risk

MONDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Tamoxifen and raloxifene are both effective in reducing the risk of invasive breast cancer, but each has its own risks and side effects, according to two studies from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) trial published online June 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Pulmonary Resection Helps in Small Cell Lung Cancer

THURSDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with early small cell lung cancer who have pulmonary resection surgery with a curative intent have a better median survival rate than those with a palliative procedure, and the surgery has a low morbidity and mortality for those with stage I or II cancer, according to a study published in the May issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

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