Researchers Develop Technique to ‘predict’ Breast Cancer Metastasis

October 18, 2012 Leave a comment

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | OCTOBER 18, 2012

It is called Raman Microspectroscopy, and it allows researchers to identify the metastatic phenotype of cancer cells from according to their lipid profile.

Researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) developed this tool to diagnose and identify how cancer cells multiply in women breast. The creation of this technique is an attempt to learn more about how breast cancer spreads and to try to predict its behavior.

As reported by both research centers, the “Raman microspectroscopy ‘, is a promising technique for identifying metastatic phenotype of breast cancer cells from their lipid profile.

The analysis is based on the characterization of the lipid component of the cells, which according to researchers is indicative of malignancy. This allowed the development of a classifications system for determining the ability of cells to metastasize.

The success of the research, funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Cellex Foundation of Barcelona was published in the online version of the scientific journal PLoS ONE. The achievement seems to have come from the technological development of Raman spectroscopy and the versatility of experimental models of breast cancer.

According to the researchers, the results of this process form the basis for introducing this technique in routine cytological diagnosis, which could be extended in the future to the diagnosis of other tumors.

Researchers analyzed main components to assess the different profile of the lipid composition of the breast cancer cells and generate a classification model of metastatic cells versus the non-metastatic ones.

The study coordinator, Angels from the IDIBELL group, explained that “the algorithm to discriminate metastatic capacity is a first step towards the stratification of breast cancer cells using this tool, which is labeled as fast and non-reactive. “

Researchers say that cytology studies helped them find a correlation between the activation of lipogenesis (the chemical reaction leading to fatty acids in an organism) and the amount of saturated fats in metastatic cells that indicate a worse prognosis and decreased survival.

The lipid content of the breast cancer cells might be a useful measure to determine various functions coupled to the progression of breast cancer.

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Birth Control Shots tied to Breast Cancer risk

April 9, 2012

By RITA RUBIN | MSNBC | APRIL 9 2012

Recent use of the injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera for at least a year was associated with a doubling of young women’s breast cancer risk, a new study has found.

However, users’ breast cancer risk dropped to that of non-users within several months of stopping Depo-Provera injections, researchers report in the journal Cancer Research.

Depo-Provera, injected every three months, was approved as a contraceptive in the United States 20 years ago. Convenient, highly effective and relatively inexpensive, Depo-Provera is used by about 1.2 million U.S. women, or 3.2 percent of those who practice contraception, according to the latest data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and education organization that focuses on reproductive health.

The injectable birth control method is the only contraceptive in the United States that contains the same progestin, or synthetic hormone, as Prempro, the postmenopausal hormone therapy pill. A landmark government study called the Women’s Health Initiative found that Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin, increased women’s breast cancer risk by 24 percent, while Premarin, which contains only estrogen, did not increase risk.

‘’Our hypothesis going into this study was that we did expect to see an increased risk of breast cancer associated with Depo-Provera,” says Dr. Christopher Li, a breast cancer epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and lead author of the new study.

Data on the relationship between Depo-Provera and breast cancer risk are limited, the researchers write. Li and his coauthors say theirs is the first large-scale U.S. study specifically designed to evaluate the relationship. Results from similar studies conducted in other countries have been mixed, they write.

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Mammograms: The Tool of Choice to Recruit New Cancer Patients

October 18, 2011

NaturalNews.com
October 18, 2011

Mammograms have become the tool of choice for the cancer industry to recruit new cancer patients..

According to mainstream medicine, mammograms are the key to surviving breast cancer because they supposedly catch the disease early for quick treatment. What this advice invariably leaves out is evidence that exposure to the radiation used in the tests may actually cause breast cancer in some women.

For example, a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) concluded annual mammography screening significantly increases breast cancer risk in women with a genetic or familial predisposition to the disease.

Now there’s another reason to be concerned about the push for women to have yearly mammograms. In a new study by University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) research shows that among women who receive a decade of annual mammograms, more than half of those women will be called and told the gut-wrenching news that their tests are positive when they are actually cancer-free. The victims of false-positive results — not a malignancy — are then subjected to more tests. In fact, one in twelve of these women will undergo invasive, potentially breast-scarring biopsy surgery.

“This study provides accurate estimates of the risk of a false-positive mammography and breast biopsy for women undergoing repeat mammography in community practice, and so provides important information about the potential harms of undergoing regular mammography,” states Karla Kerlikowske, a professor of medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine. Karla is also the co-author of the study, which was just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. false-positive mammography

False-positive mammogram results are rampant

The research, led by Group Health Research Institute of Seattle for the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium, investigated false-positives in mammography by studying the records of approximately 170,000 women between the ages of 40 and 59 from seven regions around the United States. Almost 4,500 of these research subjects were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

The study found that women who started having mammograms at age 40 instead of 50 were far more likely to have false-positive findings that resulted in more expensive and needless medical tests, including biopsies.

Just by changing breast screening from every year to every other year, the researchers documented that a woman’s risk of having a false-positive finding dropped from 61 percent to 42 percent (about a third) over the course of ten years. What’s more, they found that if radiologists would simply review a patient’s previous mammograms it “may halve the odds of a false-positive recall.”

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines now recommend biennial mammograms starting at age 50 and continuing until age 74. However, many doctors still recommend annual mammograms, often beginning at age 40.

The new study concluded that after a decade of yearly screening, a majority of women will receive at least one false-positive result. Out of these, 7 to 9 percent will face having a biopsy and the risks that involves — from anesthesia complications to scarring to infection — although these women are, in fact, cancer-free.

And what about the argument that yearly mammograms are needed to catch cancer early enough to cure? The researchers found that women screened every two years were not significantly more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancer.

“We conducted this study to help women know what to expect when they get regular mammograms over the course of many years,” study leader Rebecca Hubbard, PhD, an assistant investigator at Group Health Research Institute, explained in the media statement. “We hope that if women know what to expect with screening, they’ll feel less anxiety if – or when – they are called back for more testing. In the vast majority of cases, this does not mean they have cancer.”

Sources for this article include:

http://www.ucsf.edu/news

http://www.annals.org/

http://www.naturalnews.com/024901.html

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Bisphenol-A now linked to male infertility

October 31, 2010

BPA is used widely to make plastic harder and watertight tin cans. It is found in most food and drink cans – including tins of infant formula milk – plastic food containers, and the casings of mobile phones, and other electronic goods.

UK Telegraph

Bisphenol-A (BPA), known as the “gender bending” chemical because of its connection to male impotence, has now been shown to decrease sperm mobility and quality.

The findings are likely to increase pressure on governments around the world to follow Canada and ban the substance from our shelves.

BPA is used widely to make plastic harder and watertight tin cans.

It is found in most food and drink cans – including tins of infant formula milk – plastic food containers, and the casings of mobile phones, and other electronic goods.

It is also used in baby bottles though this is slowly being phased out.

BPA has been the subject of intense research as it is a known endocrine disruptor which in large quantities interferes with the release of hormones.

Earlier studies have linked it to low sex drive, impotence and DNA damage in sperm.

Now a new five year study claims to have found a link between levels of BPA in the blood and male fertility.

For their study of 514 workers in factories in China, researchers at Kaiser Permanente, a California-based research centre, found that men with higher urine BPA levels were two to four times more at risk of having poor semen quality, including low sperm concentration, low sperm vitality and mobility.

What is more the amount of the BPA in the blood seemed to be inversely proportional to sperm quality.

Even those with less than the national average BPA levels in America were effected, it was claimed.

“Compared with men without detectable urine BPA, those with detectable urine BPA had more than three times the risk of lowered sperm concentration and lower sperm vitality, more than four times the risk of a lower sperm count, and more than twice the risk of lower sperm motility,” said study lead author Dr De-Kun Li.

He claims the research, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, was the first human study to report an adverse association between BPA and semen quality.

Previous studies found a negative link between BPA and male reproduction in mice and rats

It was also the third study in a series by Dr Li and his colleagues examining BPA’s effect on humans.

The first study, published in November 2009, found that exposure to high levels of BPA in the workplace increases men’s risk of reduced sexual function.

Increasing BPA levels urine are also associated with worsening male sexual function, according to the second study, published in May 2010.

The latest study, funded by the US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, throws further doubt on the safety of BPA.

“The finding of the adverse BPA effect on semen quality illustrates two points: first, exposure to BPA now has been linked to changes in semen quality, an objective physiological measure,” Dr Li said.

“Second, this association shows BPA potential potency: it could lead to pathological changes of the male reproductive system in addition to the changes of sexual function.

“When you see this kind of association with semen you have to wonder what else BPA has an effect on,” said Dr Li.

As a precautionary principle, he said, “Everybody should avoid BPA as much as you can.”

The researchers noted that BPA may also affect female reproductive systems and have adverse effects on ailments such as cancer or metabolic diseases.

BPA has already been banned in Canada and three US states.

Bottles and cans containing the chemical have been linked to breast cancer, heart disease, obesity, hyperactivity and other disorders.

Most manufacturers of baby bottles have stopped putting it in their products but older stock containing the chemical is still on sale.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supports its removal and has stated concerns regarding the impact of the chemical on babies and young children.

It can affect disorders associated with metabolism, fertility and neural development.

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Hormones for Menopause Increase Breast Cancer Hazard

October 20, 2010

LiveScience.com

Women undergoing hormone therapy for the symptoms of menopause face an increased risk of developing invasive breast cancer or dying of the disease, according to the results of an 11-year study.

Women taking a hormone therapy that uses a combination of estrogen and progestin were 1.25 times more likely to develop invasive breast cancer, and two times more likely to die from breast cancer, than women who took a placebo over the study period.

The study is a follow-up of participants in the Women’s Health Initiative, which consisted of several clinical trials involving more than 100,000 women. In 2002, a trial looking at the effects of estrogen and progestin therapy was stopped after 5 and a half years, when researchers found the treatment increased the risk of invasive breast cancer by about 25 percent.

The new study was able to look at the effect of hormone therapy over a longer time period, and was the first to look at a woman’s risk of dying from breast cancer.

The findings suggest women taking these hormones should closely follow the current recommendation, which is to use the lowest dose for the shortest amount of time, said study researcher Dr. Rowan Chlebowski, of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif.

Women might also want to think about stopping the therapy after a year or two, to see if their menopause symptoms have diminished, he said.
“I think this data suggests that maybe they should more aggressively consider stopping after some period of time, and see if they still need the treatment, because their symptoms related to the onset of menopause may have gotten better,” Chlebowski said.

More serious breast cancers

About 83 percent of the participants in the original Women’s Health Initiative hormone therapy trial, or 12,788 women, were followed for five years after the trial was stopped.

After this 11-year period, 385 women taking the hormones developed invasive breast cancer, compared with 293 taking the placebo.

Women taking the hormones were also more likely to have an advanced-stage cancer that had spread to the lymph nodes; 81 women on the hormones developed an advanced cancer, while 43 women on the placebo did.

And a total of 25 women died from breast cancer after taking the hormones, compared with 12 women taking the placebo. This means that for every 10,000 women taking the therapy, 2.6 would die from breast cancer per year, compared with 1.3 deaths per year among those not taking the therapy, the researchers said.

The results counter the suggestion from some previous findings that breast cancers arising in women taking estrogen and progestin would be less serious and less likely to result in death than in women not taking these hormones, Chlebowski said.

Why does hormone thearpy increase breast cancer risk?

Breast tissue responds to hormones, such as those that trigger milk production after pregnancy. Hormone therapy may contribute to the development of breast cancer by exaggerating or accelerating a normal response, Chlebowski said.

The hormones may also interfere with breast cancer detection, keeping the cancer from being found until it has reached a more advanced stage, he said. In a previous study, Chlebowski and his colleagues found mammograms were less able to detect breast cancers in women taking hormone therapy.

“The cancers were kind of hiding in the breast and getting larger, but they weren’t able to be detected,” Chlebowski said.

After many postmenopausal women in the United States stopped taking estrogen and progestin hormones, there was a decrease in cases of breast cancer in the country, the researchers said, and their results suggest even fewer deaths due to breast cancer can be expected in the future.

The new study will be published tomorrow (Oct. 20) in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

  • Findings: Why the Pill May Increase Breast Cancer Risk

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