Stand Up To Cancer

This week brings news of a new genetic test for cancer patients - one that can predict whether colon cancer will recur. The test, made by the same company that makes a genetic test for breast cancer, has done well in early trials, although it has not been able to predict a patient's response to chemotherapy, as researchers originally hoped. It could be available as early as 2010.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1341664220090514

As a longtime motion sickness sufferer, I already knew ginger pills had the potential to ease nausea . . . and now research confirms that the natural remedy works for the nausea caused by cancer drugs as well. In a study of 614 people with cancer, a low dose of ginger was found effective at quelling the stomach upset that often accompanies cancer treatment - and it did so without any side effects or drug interations.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE54D68I20090514

A new implantable device could one day replace biopsies as the standard method of monitoring cancer growth. According to a study in this month's Biosensors and Bioelectronics, someday implants, which have been used successfully in mice, could provide up-to-the-minute updates on what a tumor is doing, including whether it's growing, how it's responding to treatment and whether it has metastasized. "What this does is basically take the lab and put it in the patient," said the doc who developed the device.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090513173501.htm

I really enjoyed this helpful article from the New York Times, which looks at the sunscreen "arms race" - the process by which manufacturers up the SPFs on their sunscreen bottles in hopes of attracting more buyers. "If adequately applied, sunscreens with sky-high SPFs offer slightly better protection against lobster-red burns than an SPF 30," the article clarifies. "But they don't necessarily offer stellar protection against the more deeply penetrating ultraviolet A radiation, or so-called aging rays." Keep that in mind when you head to the beach this summer. And remember: "Dermatologists now advise using sunscreens with an SPF of at least 15 and UVA-fighting ingredients like an avobenzone that doesn't degrade in light or Mexoryl SX."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/fashion/14SKIN.html?_r=1

A new therapy developed in Canada could help treat 30% of all cancers, according to researchers from the University of Montreal. The technique involves the common anti-viral drug ribavirin, which, it turns out, suppresses the activities of a certain cancer-causing gene. "Our results are the first to show that targeting eIF4E in humans is clinically beneficial," the study's lead author said. "We also found that ribavirin not only blocks eIF4E, it has no side effect on patients."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090513173503.htm

Finally, I loved this story out of New Jersey about 13-year-old Piotr Kolodziej, who paints beautiful landscapes, auctions them off and donates the proceeds to pediatric cancer research. Kolodziej himself learned to paint while in the hospital being treated for leukemia.
http://www.nj.com/parenting/carrie_stetler/index.ssf/2009/05/_thirteenyear_old_piotr_kolodz.html

That's all for this week, but I'll be back next Thursday with more!

--Cat