Archive for the ‘lung cancer’ Category
Friday, March 25th, 2011
Recent research in Clinical Cancer Research reports finding an enzyme that plays a role in vitamin D metabolism and can predict lung cancer survival. Comparing the enzyme in subjects with lung adenocarcinoma with those with normal lungs the levels of the enzyme, CYP24A1, was as much as 50 times higher in the lung cancer patients. In addition, the higher the levels of the enzyme, the more likely the tumors were aggressive.
In their sample, about one third of the lung cancer patients had high levels of the enzyme and after 5 years this group had about half the survival rate as the subjects with low levels of the enzyme.
They found that the enzyme, CYP24A1. interacts with calcitrol, the active form of vitamin D, by breaking down calcitrol that has an active role in cancer protection when the enzyme is kept in check, but when levels of the enzyme climbs, it hinders the positive anticancer effect of vitamin D.
Because half of all lung cancers recur following surgery researchers are interested in finding ways to prevent or delay this recurrence. Finding drugs to block the action of the enzyme might allow the positive anticancer effect of the vitamin D to prevent recurrence.
More information is available at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110301111656.htm
Tags: anti-cancer effect, enzyme, lung cancer, research, vitamin D
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, research | No Comments »
Friday, March 11th, 2011
A study recently presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference concluded that a diet that includes daily pistachios may help reduce the risk of lung cancer. Pistachios are a known source of of gamma-tocopherol so eating them increases the intake of gamma-tocophenoli, a form of vitamin E, and from research it has been suggested that vitamin E is protective against prostate cancer. The researchers,thus, thought it might also help prevent lung cancer.
In the study 36 healthy participants were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group with 18 in each. The methodology included a 2 week baseline period followed by a 4 week intervention period. During the intervention period the subjects were given 68 grams (about 2 ounces or 117 kernels) of pistachios daily while the control group continued with their normal diet only.
The effect of the intake on serum cholesterol-adjusted gamma-tocopherol was investigated using the Nutrition Data system for Research Version 2007 for intake and consumption was measured by monitoring the diet diaries and measuring the weight of returned pistachios. The researchers found a significant increase in energy-adjusted dietary intake of gamma-tocopherol during the third and fourth weeks for those who included the pistachios in their diet. Similar results were found at week five and six compared to those in the control group. The cholesterol-adjusted serum gamma-tocopherol was also significantly higher in the pistachio group at the end of the study period compared to their baseline data. Further research is needed to validated the potential relationship between gamma-tocopherol levels and lung cancer risk.
More information is available at:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0weeYSLz4JEJ:www.aacr.org/home/public–media/.
Tags: gamma-tocopherol, lung cancer, pistachios, research, vitamin E
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, research | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Recent research published in the February 16 issue of the Journal of the American medical Association concluded that higher elevated bilirubin levels among people with levels in the normal range reduces the risk of lung cancer. For every 0.1 mg/dL bilirubin, the rate of lung cancer dropped by 8 % in men and 11% in women.
Following over 504,200 patients age 20 and older from 371 practices in the United Kingdom for over 8 years the researchers found 1,331 incident cases of lung cancer (2.5 per 100,000 person year), and 23,103 (42.5) all cause deaths. All subjects had median recorded bilirubin levels of 0.64 mg/dL in men and 0.53 mg/dL in women with no hepatobiliary or hemolytic disease. They found that the rate of lung cancer in the sample dropped from 5 to 3 per 10,000 person years among men with the lowest bilirubin decile vs those in the fifth bilirubin decile. Further research is needed to validate these findings.
http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/slightly-elevated-bilirubin-may-protect-against-lung-cancer-copd/article/196555/
Tags: bilirubin levels, lung cancer, research
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, research | No Comments »
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Research on a new inhalable dry powder of a common chemotherapy drug encapsulated in nanoparticles shows it is more effective in treating lung cancer than the IV injection or solution form of the chemical. In an animal experiment over 80% of the mice survived over 90 days and over 70% survived 140 days when treated with the inhalable dry powder whereas none of the mice treated with the IV injection or solution form survived past 50 days. The researchers concluded “results show that this treatment method may not only increase someone’s survival rate but could also potentially be less toxic to the body.” The inhalable powder was also more effective in decreasing the amount and size of the tumors than in those treated with IV injections or solution.
More information is available at:
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=25677
Tags: chemotherapy, inhalable dry powder, IV injection, lung cancer, mice, research. survival
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, research, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
In a study reported in the November 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (see the reference below) researchers concluded that when using two interventions to determine the stage of suspected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) the less invasive may be more effective and save the patient unnecessary surgery.
In the study the researchers compared the two recommended lung cancer staging strategies that are endosonography, untrasound using a fiberoptic endoscope, considered the less invasive and
surgery. Currently, endosonography may be followed by surgical staging if no nodal metastases are found. Surgical staging alone has limitations and mit is believed may result in unnecessary surgery.
Interventions in the study included either surgical staging or endosonography followed by surgical staging if no nodal metastases were found and thoracotomy (surgical procedure) with lymph node dissection when there was no evidence of mediastinal (space near the lungs in the thoracic cavity) spread of the tumor.
Two hundred forty one patients with suspected NSCLC in whom mediastinal staging was indicated were randomized into the two group during the period February 2007 to April 2009. Of these, 118 were in the surgical staging group, and 123 in the endosonography group. Of the later group 65 also underwent surgical staging. “Nodal metastases were found in 41 patients (35%) by surgical staging vs 56 patients by endosonography (46%) and in 62 patients (50%) by endosonography followed by surgical staging. This corresponded to sensitivity of 79% (41/52) vs 85% (56/66) and 94% (62/66).” Unnecessary thoracotomies were performed on 21 patients (18%) in the mediastinoscopy group vs 9 (7%) in the endosonography group.
The authors concluded that among suspect NSCLC patients a staging strategy combining endosonography and surgical staging resulted in greater sensitivity for mediastinal nodal metastases and fewer unnecessary thoracotomies than using surgical strategies alone.
See the full study below:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/304/20/2245
Tags: endosonography, lung cancer. staging, NSCLC, surgery, unnecessary surgery
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, research | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 15th, 2010
In a study published in the online journal Cancer Research researchers from Northwestern University and North Shore University Health System reported a method for detecting early lung cancer by examining cheek cells using pioneering biophotonic technology. This optical technique is called partial wave spectroscopic (PWS) microscopy and involves shinning diffuse light on cells from the patient’s cheeks. The PWS can detects cell features as small as 20 nanometers and uncovers differences that seem normal when standard microscopic techniques are used. The disordered strength of the nanoscale organization of the cell which can be measured with the PWS is one of the earliest signs of carcinogenesis according to the researchers.
Following a small scale trial using this technology the researchers studies 135 participants including 63 smokers with lung cancer and 37 smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 13 smokers without COPD and 22 non-smokers and the test was sensitive to cancer and equally sensitivity to cancer at all stages including early curable cancer.
Patients with lung cancer showed markedly elevated results (over 50 percent) when tested with PWS compared to cancer-free smokers. Additional, large scale studies are necessary to confirm these results.
Tags: biophotonic technique, early detection, lung cancer, PWS, research, screening technique
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, research | No Comments »
Friday, September 10th, 2010
A study reported in the online journal Addiction concluded that stopping smoking cessation interventions too soon may reduce success rates by up to 45%. They believe current treatment theories that consider any smoking after a planned quit date a failure need to be updated to incorporate two types of successful quitters. These are the smokers who quit immediately and remain smoke free throughout the treatment, and those who delay smoking cessation but achiever success by the end of the treatment. The researchers believe that considering a theory in which smokers who do not stop smoking immediately as a failure may discourage both the health care provider and the patient from finishing the program.
In their study using data from two identically designed studies conducted in 2005 they included 2,052 healthy adult smokers who randomly received either a smoking cessation drug or a placebo for 12 weeks of treatment and 40 weeks of follow up. All subjects received brief smoking cessation counseling during clinic visits and investigators were unaware of individual treatment assignments.
The researchers defined successful quitters as those who did not smoke during the last 4 weeks of treatment and two groups were identified as discussed earlier-immediate and delayed quitters. They found quitting patterns were similar whether the subjects were in the drug or placebo group and even though the delayed quitters did not fare as well as the immediate quitters at the end of the 12 week treatment period they accounted for about 1/3 of those who remained continuously abstinent at the end of the 12 month period regardless of treatment group. The authors concluded that smoking cessation interventions should be continued for motivated patients despite lack of success during the first 8 weeks to increase their overall success rates.
Tags: lung cancer, research, smoking cessation
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, smoking cessation | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
A study in the Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention Journal concluded that adding a variety of vegetables to your diet may decrease the risk of getting lung cancer and adding a variety of fruit and vegetables may decrease the chances of both smokers and non-smokers getting squamous cell lung cancers. Even though quitting smoking is the best preventive method for reducing the risk of lung cancer eating a variety of fruit and vegetables may also reduce that risk.
Information was obtained from 452,187 individuals who completed the information and 1,613 of these were diagnosed with lung cancer. Data included information on 14 commonly eaten fruits and 26 commonly eaten vegetables that were fresh, canned or dried. Unlike previous studies that focused on quantity of fruit and vegetables and this study expanded to variety of these. For additional information see the original article.
Tags: fruit and vegetables, lung cancer, research
Posted in lung cancer, research, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
A study presented at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research concluded that a low intake of lycopene in the diet may be a risk factor for lung cancer. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant and is most readily found in tomatoes.
In the study, researchers collected blood samples from 93 patients with non-small cell lung cancer and matched with 102 controls. The blood samples were tested for levels of micronutrients that included retinol, lycopene, and Beta-carotene. The found significant differences in the two groups in the level of lycopene, that is, there was much lower levels in the lung cancer patients.
After adjusting for age, race, gender, drinking and smoking habits, use of vitamin supplements, exposure at work, and the season, they found that the lung cancer group who had the lowest levels of lycopene had an almost a threefold increased risk of lung cancer than the group with the highest level of lycopene. In addition, when evaluating current smokers they found that those with the lowest levels of lycopene had four times the risk of lung cancer than those with the highest levels. The researchers concluded that although their results are preliminary they add to the growing body of research that shows a relationship between lycopene and cancer risks.
Tags: Beta-carotene, lung cancer, lycopene, micronutrients, research, retinol, tomatoes
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, nutrition, research, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
A research report in the journal Clinical Cancer Research reported finding genetically abnormal cells in blood of non-small cell lung cancer patients that match abnormal cells found in tumor cells and these increase as the disease progresses. Lung cancer patients also had many more of these circulating in the blood than in the blood of closely matched controls. The researchers believe further research will show that these circulating abnormal cells are circulating non-small cell lung cancer cells. They said “Blood tests of these circulating tumor cells could be used to diagnose lung cancer earlier, monitor response to therapy and detect residual disease in patients after treatment.” To detect the abnormal cells the researchers used a technique called fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and believe this is the first time this technique has been used this way.
Using 12 biomarker probes that target aberrations previously connected to lung cancer they analyzed 59 cases of non-small cell lung cancer and 24 controls including smokers and non-smokers. Findings showed 1) a highly significant difference in the average number of abnormal cells in the blood of cases and controls. 2) abnormal cells were significantly associated with the stage of the disease with cells increasing as the disease progressed. 3) Eight of the biomarkers had a strong overall correlation between the circulating abnormal cells and tumors. More information can be found in the above named journal.
Tags: abnormal cells in blood, biomarkers, fluorescence in situ hybridization, lung cancer, research
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, research | No Comments »
