Weekly Links - 6/4/09
There's lots of exciting news this week, so let's dive right in. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have created a new, experimental class of drugs called PARP inhibitors. The drugs block the ability of damaged cells to repair themselves, making cancer cells more susceptible to chemotherapy. The drugs could help with two types of breast cancer that have traditionally been difficult to treat. "While preliminary, these are some of most exciting results we've seen in a long time," said Eric P. Winer, MD, director of the breast oncology center at Dana-Farber.
http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20090602/new-drug-for-hard-to-treat-breast-cancer
Meanwhile, another great research site, the Mayo Clinic, has developed a new test that will make it easier to diagnose pancreatic cancer, according to this month's issue of Gastroenterology. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal forms of the disease, largely owing to how long it usually remains undetected. Now, a new kind of endoscopic exam can more than double the detection rate both of this cancer and of cancer of the bile duct.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/06/03/hscout627542.html
I really enjoyed this piece by Dr. Marc Siegel in which he talks about "a new approach to cancer" - the new approach being an emphasis on targeted therapies. Looking at news from this week's American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, including the introduction of three new potential targeted therapies, Siegel sees a lot of promise. "These treatments, which are less toxic and more focused, are generally better tolerated and cause less side effects," he writes. "Once you convince the body that cancer is foreign, you can then provoke the immune system to fight it."
http://health.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/06/03/a-new-approach-to-cancer/
There's more bad news on red meat this week. Steak, burgers and other mainstays of the delicious, morbidly unhealthy American diet have already been shown to increase the risk of developing colorectal cancer. Now Australian researchers have found that you can reduce your risk of developing prostate cancer via a low-fat diet with little red meat and lots of fresh produce. Specifically, tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and green tea were all shown to have a positive effect; red meat, dairy products and fats didn't come off looking so good.
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/06/04/Diet-may-help-reduce-prostate-cancer-risk/UPI-36321244095281/
Finally, I enjoyed this piece about how to prevent cancer. The American Institute for Cancer Research has identified three things people can do to "dramatically affect" their chances of developing cancer. None of them will come as a shock to regular Weekly Links readers, and they're all pretty easy to implement: eat a mostly plant-based diet, maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly. "The data is pretty clear that we can make a significant drop in the cancer rate with these three changes," said an AICR nutrition adviser. "We can prevent about one-third of cancers with these changes. And if you add tobacco prevention, which reduces about 30 percent of cancers, over half of today's cancers could be prevented."
http://health.yahoo.com/news/healthday/wanttostopcanceryoucanexpertssay.html
That's all I've got this week, but check in again next Thursday for more news you can use!
--Cat
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