WHO Report Due Today
Geneva (AP) - The UN-sponsored emergency meeting to make recommendations on the potential carcinogen acrylamide in foods is due today. Recommendations may include temperatures at which to cook foods and safe levels for eating some foods.
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World Health Organization calls emergency meeting: Do potato chips cause colon cancer?
Health Scout - June 27, 2002 -- The World Health Organization is bringing together 25 experts to consider a recent Swedish study that connects high levels of acyrlamide in some breads and starchy vegetables cooked at high temperatures to human cancers. Acrylamide, which is also used in the manufacture of dyes and plastics, has been shown to cause cancer in animals.
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Veggies slow spread--not start--of colon cancer?
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) June 21, 2002 - Eating relatively high levels of fruits and vegetables appears unlikely to prevent development of polyps, the initially harmless abnormalities in the intestine that can eventually develop into colon cancer, according to new research. But while eating well may not reduce the risk of developing polyps, it may stop potentially dangerous polyps from becoming cancer, according to study lead author Dr. John D. Potter of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.
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Phase II study of irinotecan alternated with a weekly schedule of high-dose leucovorin and 48-hour 5-fluorouracil infusion in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer
Oncology - Vol. 62, No. 2, 2002 -- Conclusions: Our alternating schedule of 5-FU/LV and CPT-11 is a well-tolerated outpatient treatment as front-line therapy for MCRC with comparable efficacy to regimens with both drugs given together.
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Irofulven continues to show promise against a variety of cancers
Acurian - April 12, 2002 - Studies suggests that irofulven, a variation of a compound derived from the poisonous jack-o-lantern mushroom may help other chemotherapy drugs fight a variety of cancers, according to research findings presented April 10, 2002, at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in San Francisco.
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Identifying gene variants may help evaluate colon cancer risk
USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center - April 10, 2002 - Jeinz-Josef Lenz, associate professor of medicine, and researchers in his lab at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center reported that certain polymorphisms in genes might help direct treatment choices or potentially provide a way to tip off people at high risk of developing cancer.
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Early versus late radiation with concurrent chemotherapy appears superior in rectal cancer
Acurian - According to an article recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, radiation therapy following surgery delivered early in the course of treatment appears to prolong disease-free survival compared to radiation delivered later in patients with stages II and III rectal cancer. Source: 411Cancer.com, April 29, 2002.
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Oxaliplatin/Capecitabine combination active in advanced colon, rectal cancer
Source: 411Cancer.com "Cancer Experts leading the way to optimal cancer care." April 29, 2002 - According to results recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the chemotherapy combination consisting of capectabine and oxaliplatin appears to produce anti-cancer responses in advanced colon and rectal cancer.
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Neoadjuvant therapy recommended for all cancers with preoperative T3 staging
CHICAGO, IL -- DG News -- June 6, 2002 -- Researchers have found that ultrasound is not sufficiently accurate to justify using its findings when deciding on whether to use neoadjuvant chemoradiation for T3N0 cancers. Although it is standard practice to the use data from preoperative ultrasound when considering neoadjuvant chemoradiation, many colorectal surgeons question the value of neoadjuvant therapy in patients with T3N0 cancers, since recurrence is relatively rare.
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New study by Ochsner Clinic Foundation determines how frequently high-risk patients should be screened for colorectal cancer
CHICAGO, IL -- June 7, 2002 -- Patients with a family history of colon cancer and a personal history of polyps should be screened for colon cancer with a colonoscopy every three years, according to a study presented at the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) Annual Meeting June 3-8. Polyps are abnormal growths rising from the lining of the colon that may be precursors to colon cancer. The study also concluded that patients with a family history of colon cancer who are not found to have polyps when initially screened for colon cancer should receive a follow-up colonoscopy every five years and that women may not need to be screened as frequently as men.
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Stanford researcher advocates aggressive, preventive anal cancer treatment
STANFORD, CA -- June 10, 2002 -- Rates of cervical cancer dropped by 78 percent once women started receiving yearly pap smears in the 1940s. Now Mark Welton, MD, associate professor of surgery at Stanford University Medical Center, hopes to achieve similar success for anal cancer, which is believed to be caused by the same virus as cervical cancer. "The other option is to not treat these people and let them get cancer," Welton said. Welton has developed an approach for detecting and removing potentially cancerous cells before anal cancer develops.
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Gene defect found in 66% of deadly skin cancers NEW YORK - June 10, 2002 - (Reuters Health) - British researchers have discovered that 66% of malignant melanomas, the most rare, but deadly type of skin cancer, contain a certain genetic defect. The gene defect was identified in 66% of melanomas that were analyzed, and at a lower frequency in some other types of cancer, including colorectal cancer and ovarian cancer. The mutation--in a gene known as BRAF--could potentially make an ideal drug target.
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Neoadjuvant therapy recommended for all cancers with preoperative T3 staging
CHICAGO, IL - Doctor's Guide-- June 6, 2002 -- Researchers have found that ultrasound is not sufficiently accurate to justify using its findings when deciding on whether to use neoadjuvant chemoradiation for T3N0 cancers.
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Reduced survival for black patients with colorectal cancer not explained by treatment variation
Doctor's Guide - June 5, 2002 - Disparities in colorectal cancer outcomes between black and white patients are not related to variations in treatment. Black patients with colorectal cancer have marked reductions in overall and disease-free survival compared with white patients, report investigators from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
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Current colon cancer screening guidelines are sound
June 5, 2002 - High-profile colon cancer cases in younger individuals -- including former baseball star Darryl Strawberry and "Today" show anchor Katie Couric's husband, Jay Monahan -- have led many to wonder if the medical community was correct in recommending that screenings for the disease start at age 50. But a new study says the advice is right on target. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine 2002;346: 1781-1785.
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Lymphatic vessels surrounding tumors play a key role in cancer spread
BOSTON - Massachusetts General Hospital - April 25, 2002. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have discovered that metastasis, or spreading, of cancer cells depends upon lymphatic vessels at the margins of tumors, not those within the tumor itself, as had been speculated. "These findings suggest new strategies for cancer treatment," says Rakesh Jain, Ph.D., of the MGH Department of Radiation Oncology. "Lymphatics at the tumor periphery are sufficient to carry cancer cells to other parts of the body, so these structures should be the targets of therapy."
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Fighting cancer with angiogenesis inhibitors: clinical trials suggest silver bullet may be losing its luster
The Scientist - May 27, 2002 - From disdain to hype, to mixed results in clinical trials, a sobering reality is setting in for researchers pursuing antiangiogenesis as a treatment for cancer: It is not as straightforward as once hoped. The idea is that choking off a tumor's blood supply will slow or eliminate its growth. But several clinical trials following this line of inquiry have failed or been discontinued.
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Angiogenesis explained: Finding ways to starve the cancer seed
The Scientist - May 27, 2002 - Angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, bone metastases are focuses of intense research. Oncologists often describe cancer as a seed that grows in the body's soil. For these seeds to become tumors, the "soil" must be stocked with nutrients such as growth factors to help them proliferate. "Cancer is not a single-cell disease but involves cancer cells and how they collaborate or cooperate with surrounding cells," says Leland Chung, director of molecular urology and therapeutics at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine. New approaches to starving cancer cells figured prominently at the recent meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in San Francisco.
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Reining in a killer disease
The Scientist - May 27, 2002 - Cancer and chronic disease in the same sentence? Researchers hope it's not an oxymoron
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Triplet combination with Irinotecan plus Oxaliplatin plus continuous-infusion Fluorouracil and Leucovorin as first-line treatment in metastatic colorectal cancer: A multicenter Phase II trial
American Society for Clinical Oncology - Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 20, Issue 11 (June), 2002
PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of irinotecan (CPT-11) in combination with oxaliplatin (L-OHP) plus fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin (LV) (de Gramont regimen) as first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (MCC).
CONCLUSION: The triplet combination of 5-FU/LV CPT-11 L-OHP is a highly active regimen with manageable toxicity as front-line treatment in MCC.
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