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*Image: Huffington Post The scientific link between alcohol and breast cancer is strong, but most of the research backing it has been done in caucasian women, not diverse groups of women. Now, in a new analysis published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, scientists find …
The risk of developing liver cancer is significantly higher for people who have low levels of selenium in their blood, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Studies show that selenium has strong antioxidant properties due to it’s effect …
In a new study, researchers found that aerobic exercise may be a key factor to fighting malignant tumors. The results of the study confirmed that the oxygen supply provided by exercise can slow the growth of cancerous tumors, as well as make them more responsive to chemotherapy. Although chemotherapy is currently the most popular method of treating cancer, it has its flaws. The percentage of people who recover thanks to chemotherapy is also worryingly low, but this new research might help to boost these statistics. These findings offer a new clue towards finding an ultimate cure for cancer.
When a cancerous tumor forms, it tends to create its own “ecosystem” in the body. As it grows larger, it sends out signals – much like our vital organs do – that create new blood vessels and supply the tumor with extra oxygen. As we know, oxygen is crucial for healthy cells and organs in normal tissue, and it spurs the growth of unhealthy tissue as well. This allows the tumor to continue growing.
New study says Vitamin D Supplements along with sunlight offer protection against breast cancer.
However, in some tumors, the signals get mixed up and the blood vessels fail to supply the tumor with oxygen. The tumor continues to exist in the body, though, in what doctors refer to as a “hypoxic” state. It seems this would be a positive condition, since it is essentially “starved” of oxygen – but a tumor in the hypoxic state also makes it much more resistant to cancer treatments.
“It’s a bad sign from a clinical perspective when a tumor is hypoxic,” said Mark W. Dewhirst, the Gustavo S. Montana Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University School of Medicine and senior author of the new study. For years, he and his colleagues have been looking for ways to increase oxygen flow to tumors. They’ve tried various approaches with different substances that support oxygen and blood flow, but the results haven’t been successful. Eventually, the hypoxic state returns and the tumor remains.
For this study, Dr. Dewhirst and colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City switched gears. The team started to consider aerobic exercise, which is known to increase the flow of oxygen-rich blood to tissues. They performed the study on mice, by first implanting breast cancer cells and then splitting the mice into two groups, one that remained sedentary and one that practiced aerobic movement by running on a wheel.
In both groups, the tumors took hold and grew, but the growth was significantly slower in the active group. Further testing showed that the blood vessels feeding the tumors in these animals were healthier than in the sedentary mice. As a result, the active group’s tumors were less hypoxic. These results suggest that exercise had made the breast cancer tumors in the mice more responsive to the chemotherapy. By making the tumors less hypoxic, exercise also had made those tumors easier to kill.
More research is needed to find if this result is a major key to fighting cancerous tumors. Dr. Dewhirst has started follow-up mouse experiments using a different type of breast cancer cell that grows more slowly than the cells used in this study and is a better estimation of human breast cancer. He also hopes to study other types of cancerous tumors in future studies.
Source: New York Times: How Exercise May Aid Cancer Treatment
Photo by Martin Brosy on Unsplash A simple urine test for the virus that causes cervical cancer could offer a less invasive and more acceptable alternative to the conventional cervical smear test. For years now, studies have been exploring different ways not only to prevent …
Photo by Luma Pimentel on Unsplash According to Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, women who lived in or near lower Manhattan around the time of 9/11 are experiencing increased birth defects. Researchers found that these mothers were more likely to …
Cancer affects millions of people all over the world. The disease has been rampant for years, and still remains a fatal health threat despite major strides in treatment. According to a new report published Monday by the American Association for Cancer Research, pancreatic cancer is at the top of the list for the most deadly types of cancer, and will likely become the deadliest form of the disease by the year 2030 if scientists do not succeed in discovering a cure.
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Lung cancer is currently the top killer, followed by breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. The third deadliest is colorectal cancer in both men and women. But according to this new study, pancreatic and liver cancer will surpass the second and third most fatal forms by 2030. The data used by scientists showed that the death toll from breast, prostate and colon cancers should begin to fall, while fatalities from liver and pancreatic cancer, along with bladder cancer and leukemia, are likely to increase.
The rate of pancreatic cancer has been slowly increasing for the past 15 years, says Dr. Otis Brawley, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society. Much of this rise has been attributed to the prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the US. The United States had about 1.5 million cases of cancer in 2010. In 2030, researchers expect that number to reach 2.1 million.
Fortunately, the number of deaths due to cancer have fallen significantly overall. This is largely due to more screening and early detection options. Early detection is crucial in most cancer treatment. U sually, if cancer is detected during stage 1 or 2, the odds are much better for removing most of the cancer cells in the body.
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Most cancers have a relatively high survival rate. Thyroid cancer has an all-time high with an excellent five-year survival rate of 98%. However, only 6% of pancreatic cancer patients are alive five years after diagnosis. The pancreas is one of the most difficult areas to screen simply because of where it’s located. What’s more, pancreatic tumors are often surrounded by dense tissues that make conventional cancer drugs virtually useless. Right now, surgery is the only treatment known to cure pancreatic cancer, but less than 20% of cases are operable, which results in the extremely high mortality rate.
Currently, more research is being done on better methods of detecting pancreatic cancer. If further screening can be done, it will significantly lower the death toll from pancreatic cancer.
Source: CNN Report: Pancreatic Cancer Second Most Deadly by 2030