Breast cancer and heart disease may have common roots: Study. Breast cancer and heart disease may have common roots: Study Toronto, December 20, 2011 By Leslie Shepherd Dec. 20, 2011 - Women who are at risk for breast cancer may also be at greater risk for heart disease, new research has found. The majority of women with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer have a mutated form of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which normally suppress the growth of breast and ovarian tumours.
Dr. Following a heart attack, mice with the mutated BRCA1 gene had a three-to-five times higher rate of death. A similar two-fold increase in heart failure was observed when mice with a mutated BRCA1 or BRAC2 gene were treated with doxorubicin, one of the most common chemotherapy drugs for patients with breast cancer. The researchers believe that the mutated BRCA1/2 prevents DNA repair in muscle cells that is essential to recovery after a heart attack. Their findings were published in the journals Nature Communications and Journal of Biological Chemistry. Dr. Dr. About St. St. New test to indicate likely spread or recurrence of breast cancer. 13 December 2011 A Queensland University of Technology (QUT) PhD student has developed a potential breakthrough test for predicting the likelihood of the spread or return of breast cancer. "While in recent years there have been fantastic advances in the treatment of breast cancer there has been no way of predicting its progress," said Helen McCosker, a PhD student at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI).
Ms McCosker's research found that a breast cancer's interaction with its surrounding environment held the key to predicting whether it would grow, become dormant or spread to other organs. "The ability to predict its progress is a huge step forward as it will ultimately enable doctors to select the most appropriate treatments for individual patients," she said. "That will mean that patients should neither receive unnecessary treatments nor be undertreated when a more aggressive medical response is required. " Scientists Develop Vaccine That Successfully Attacks Breast Cancer in Mice. Breast Cancer Survivors Struggle with Cognitive Problems Several Years after Chemotherapy or Radiation. 12:00 AM EST December 12, 2011 Breast Cancer Survivors Struggle with Cognitive Problems Several Years after Chemotherapy or Radiation A new analysis has found that breast cancer survivors may experience problems with certain mental abilities several years after treatment, regardless of whether they were treated with chemotherapy plus radiation or radiation only.
Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study indicates that there may be common and treatment-specific ways that cancer therapies negatively affect cancer survivors’ mental abilities. Previous research suggests that chemotherapy can cause problems with memory and concentration in breast cancer survivors. The study confirmed that chemotherapy can cause cognitive problems in breast cancer survivors that persist for three years after they finish treatment. Why Women Quit Breast Cancer Drugs Early. CHICAGO --- Why do so many postmenopausal women who are treated for estrogen-sensitive breast cancer quit using drugs that help prevent the disease from recurring? The first study to actually ask the women themselves -- as well as the largest, most scientifically rigorous study to examine the question -- reports 36 percent of women quit early because of the medications’ side effects, which are more severe and widespread than previously known.
The Northwestern Medicine research also reveals a big gap between what women tell their doctors about side effects and what they actually experience. “Clinicians consistently underestimate the side effects associated with treatment,” said lead investigator Lynne Wagner, an associate professor in medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a clinical psychologist at Robert H.
Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Women advised to avoid ZEN bust-enhancing supplements because of possible cancer risk. Public release date: 8-Dec-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Annette Whibleyannette.wizard@gmail.com Wiley-Blackwell Women who use bust-enhancing dietary supplements containing the mycoestrogen zearalenone (ZEN), a naturally occurring toxin that widely contaminates agricultural products, could be increasing their risk of breast cancer. That is the warning from breast health experts in a paper published online ahead of print publication in the January issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.
"No clinical trials have been published on the use of potent oestrogens like ZEN in bust-enhancing products and their use should be discouraged because of the lack of evidence of their long-term safety" says Professor Ian Fentiman, consultant breast surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London. International studies have suggested links between consumption of ZEN-fed animals and products and precocious (early) puberty in young females. Combination of everolimus and exemestane improves survival for women with metastatic breast cancer.
In an international Phase III randomized study, everolimus, when combined with the hormonal therapy exemestane, has been shown to dramatically improve progression-free survival, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study, known as Breast Cancer Trials of Oral Everolimus (BOLERO-2), was presented today at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium by Gabriel Hortobagyi, M.D., professor and chair of MD Anderson's Department of Breast Medical Oncology.
Earlier findings were simultaneously reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Everolimus, an immunosuppressant agent first used to prevent rejection of organ transplants, also has anti-angiogenic properties. It inhibits the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) protein, a central regulator of tumor cell division and blood vessel growth in cancer cells; the mTOR pathway is activated in hormone-resistant breast cancer, explained Hortobagyi. Follow-up study finds prolonged fatigue for those who had chemotherapy for breast cancer.
In a follow-up study, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have found that patients who receive chemotherapy for breast cancer might experience prolonged fatigue years after their therapy. The new study, published in the American Cancer Society's current issue of CANCER, is a follow-up to a study on fatigue and chemotherapy and radiotherapy for breast cancer Moffitt researchers published in CANCER in 2007. "Fatigue is among the most common symptoms reported by women who are treated for breast cancer," said study corresponding author Paul B. Jacobsen, Ph.D., program leader for Health Outcomes and Behavior at Moffitt. The 2007 study found that immediately following treatment fatigue was greater in women who had received chemotherapy than in patient groups comprised of women who had received both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, radiotherapy alone, or in groups with no cancer history.
Researchers recommend exercise for breast cancer survivors, lymphedema patients. Lymphedema, a chronic swelling condition common in breast cancer survivors, affects three million people in the U.S. In the past, most people believed that exercise might induce or worsen lymphedema. After reviewing the literature, University of Missouri researchers say the benefits of exercise outweigh the risks for breast cancer survivors and patients with lymphedema.
Jane Armer, professor in the Sinclair School of Nursing, says patients at risk for lymphedema can exercise if they closely monitor their activities. "Exercise can be beneficial and not harmful for breast cancer survivors," Armer said. "Each individual should balance the pros and cons of the activity she chooses, but keep in mind that being sedentary has risks and being active is beneficial in many ways, including possibly reducing the risk of cancer recurrence. " Lymphedema can occur any time after cancer treatment and is usually caused by the removal or radiation of lymph nodes as part of the treatment process.