After several years of stagnating research funds, President Obama’s stimulus package has resulted in an influx of cancer research resources. Of the $10.4 billion approved for the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) will receive $1.3 billion dollars from now through 2010.

As a result of this critical funding, Dr. John Niederhuber (director for NCI) told participants at an American Association for Cancer meeting in Denver that the number of research projects funded by NCI will increase by a third.

Presently, the NCI funds the top 12 percent of all research grant applications that the organization receives. With both a larger budget and the money provided through the stimulus package, the top 25 percent of future grant applications are expected to receive funding.

Dr. Niederhuber and the rest of the National Cancer Institute are intent on maximizing the results gleaned from funded programs. In accordance with this goal, priority funding will likely be given to programs that seek to prevent cancer or diagnose it earlier. Additionally, programs that seek to reduce side effects of cancer treatment will also be emphasized.

Specifically, Dr. Niederhumber outlined three initiatives that he believes will lead to crucial new cancer discoveries. The first is The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a program that seeks to identify all genes correlated to malignant cancer tumors.

The second signature initiative will build on findings culled from the TCGA program to create new, more effective cancer-fighting drugs. The program will focus on personalized cancer care that is based on the unique characteristics and genetic makeup of a patient’s tumor.

Finally, NCI is intent on using new funds to promote the expansion and applicability of cancer research beyond the realm of fighting and treating cancer. Potential areas of science where cancer research may be helpful include thermodynamics and energy flows.

Resources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE53J61O20090421
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AACR/13811

Nausea is an adverse side effect that afflicts more than 75 percent of all cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy. Along with vomiting, this nausea can severely impact a patient’s daily quality of life by hindering the ability to eat and feel healthy. In many cases, doctors may recommend medications as a way to minimize nausea.

However, an effective non-drug nausea treatment may be as simple as slipping a pair of acupuncture bands onto the wrists. These bands, known as BioBands, have been proven to reduce nausea felt during travel sickness by applying pressure to the Nei Kuan pressure point located on the underside of each wrist. According to Carl Nicholson, a spokesperson for BioBands, several studies have also been conducted which show “that BioBands are an effective, natural remedy for chemotherapy nausea.”

To validate these claims, the University of Liverpool plans to initiate the largest study pertaining to the effectiveness BioBands as a treatment option for chemotherapy-induced nausea. The study will include more than 700 participants at nine NHS cancer centers. Participants will include a varying group of cancer patients from all walks of life who suffer from differing types of cancers. The goal is to determine which patient groups are most receptive to the non-drug therapy.

The new study is the first BioBands-related trial initiated by the NHS. Additional funding is provided by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment program. The University of Manchester, Salford University and the University of Plymouth will aid in the research process.

Until the research is complete, current cancer patients can safely try BioBands as a home remedy for chemotherapy-induced nausea. For more information or to purchase BioBands, please visit the company’s official website: http://www.biobands.com/.

Resources:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/news/press_releases/2009/03/chemotherapy-related-nausea.htm
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2224754.htm

The Smithsonian is one of our nation’s most treasured museums. It is also one of the countless buildings in the country that was built with asbestos-containing materials. And though the presence of such hazardous materials has been known for more than 17 years, upper management has been accused of failing to raise awareness and follow proper maintenance procedures in accordance with OSHA regulations.

The accusations come largely from Richard Pullman, a maintenance worker and lighting specialist who has worked at the museum for more than 27 years. In a 2008 employee safety meeting, Pullman was shocked to learn that asbestos was present in walls throughout the museum. These walls are the same ones that Pullman has been drilling into, cutting and sanding for more than two decades.

This was alarming to Pullman, and rightly so. Acts such as these that cause asbestos particles to become airborne and inhaled dramatically increase the risk of lung diseases such as mesothelioma. Following the meeting, Pullman visited a lung specialist (he had already been experiencing shortness of breath) and the doctor diagnosed him with asbestosis.

Shortly after the safety meeting, Pullman also filed federal workplace safety complaints with OSHA regarding failures of the museum to notify, train and monitor employees regarding the risks of asbestos at the museum. In a response sent to The Washington Post, OSHA indicated that the museum should have “cordoned off the area, posted warning signs, and used an impermeable dropcloth, wet methods and local ventilation when working on the walls.”

Despite these incriminating facts, the Smithsonian claims no wrongdoing. Several tests performed at the museum have indicated that asbestos levels at the museum are well below legal limits. However, a 1992 asbestos testing commissioned by the Smithsonian found between 1 and 5 percent asbestos in several walls – a level that mandates notification and complex cleanup requirements under OSHA regulations. A recent independent study commissioned by Pullman himself seems to confirm this test, resulting in chrysolite levels of as much as 13.7 percent.

The employee and the museum are now embittered over the matter. Pullman has filed several worker compensation claims, but has so far been denied. And though the Smithsonian has taken great strides in removing asbestos dust and other hazardous products from the museum, they continue to deny the fact that regulations were broken or Pullman was unnecessarily placed at risk.

It should be noted that visitors to the museum are likely in no danger of unhealthy asbestos exposure. The material is only toxic when airborne, making maintenance workers the most likely to be affected. For more information on the story, please refer to the in-depth article at the Washington Post.

Mesothelioma, a cancer that invades the wall lining of the lungs and other internal organs, is a particularly difficult type of cancer to treat. Almost universally related to the inhalation of asbestos particles, treatment of advanced stages of the disease is largely palliative. Palliative health care refers to the focus of relieving symptoms and pain as opposed to taking steps to eliminate the illness.

In many advanced cases of mesothelioma, patients experience a difficulty swallowing. The medical term for such a symptom is dysphagia. As the mesothelioma tumor spreads from the lungs to the esophagus, the tumor can reduce the diameter of the air pathway. In some cases, this reduced ability to breath and swallow is the direct cause of death.

In an effort to assuage dysphagia, prolong survival and reduce discomfort, a recent study performed at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Derriford Hospital points to esophageal stents as a potential treatment.

A case report published in the January 25, 2008 Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery details the success of self-expanding esophageal stents on patience with mesothelioma. In the three patient cases discussed in the report, all three patients achieved immediate satisfactory reduction in dysphagia. However, progressive dysphagia resurfaced 1 to 6 months later. In such cases further stenting is required to open up a larger portion of the esophagus.

As dysphagia is usually an end-case symptom, patients are not expected to survive a considerable length of time as a result of the stents. However, the primary goal of the procedure is to relieve pain and improve quality of life for the patient.

Resource:
http://www.cardiothoracicsurgery.org/content/3/1/3

It’s clear that the human immune system is really no match for cancer. At least, this has been the conventional wisdom for quite some time. Yet, scientists know the immune system fights cancer, and therefore have hypothesized that if we can optimize our body’s defense system it could potentially be able to fight tumors. In order to do this, some researchers have suggested using infection to fight cancer.

It certainly sounds risky – infecting a cancer patient with an unrelated illness. However, studies have shown that when our bodies attack pathogens, the immune system goes into overdrive. In fact, infectious diseases, especially those that cause high fever, have been shown to successfully reduce tumor size or result in full-on remission since as early as the 1890s. During that time, a physician by the name of William B. Coley used a high-fever inducing infection called erysipelas to varying degrees of success on sarcoma patients.

Unfortunately, due to the high death risk and unstable results, Dr. Coley could never adapt the practice for wide spread use. This very problem is what stands in the way of applying infection treatment to cancer patients in the modern world.

Resource:

Healing Heat: Harnessing Infection to Fight Cancer

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2009/1/healing-heat/1

Personalizing cancer treatments has long been heralded as a way to improve survivor rates and limit detrimental side effects. This is largely due to a particular patient’s level of sensitivity to the drugs prescribed. In an effort to better predict this sensitivity, researchers at MIT went digging through our DNA.

Presently, there are two tactics used for predicting the effectiveness of a particular cancer treatment. The first is done by performing laboratory tests on the tumor cells. The second involves screening for genetic mutations and gene activity levels related to drug sensitivity.

In an effort to provide more accurate and faster genetic information, the team at MIT used microarray analysis to simultaneously look at 20,000 genes in our DNA. Then, through the use of a computer algorithm, the genes most related to drug sensitivity were identified. In total, 48 genes were found to significantly effect a patient’s receptiveness to chemotherapy.

The research indicates that these 48 genes can be used to better predict the effectiveness of cancer treatments on specific patients. The process also benefits from being remarkably fast and easy to obtain. More importantly, the procedure improves the accuracy of sensitivity to 94 percent. Current practices are estimated to offer an accuracy of about 60 percent.

These results were taken by studying the blood samples of 24 diverse cancer patients. The team at MIT now hopes to expand the research to include hundreds of participants. Eventually, the procedure may lead to clinical trials.

Resource:

Chemotherapy Gets Personal

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/21406/

A recent study sheds some insight into the background rates of mesothelioma over the past several decades in the United States. The study looked at patterns for males and females in five age groups.

According to the study performed by Exponent Inc., a health sciences practice in New York City, mesothelioma rates remained relatively constant for young individuals. Rates of older age groups declined overtime and male rates were about five times greater than female rates for individuals 60 years of age and older. Overall rates of mesothelioma were higher among large shipyard areas located on the West Coast. In total, the background rate of the deadly cancer was found to be around one individual per million for the American citizens below the age of 50. Estimations for older ages will require additional studies.

The data for the study was collected via the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry and pertains to data collected between 1973 and 2002. SEER is a program dedicated to collecting and publishing cancer cases and survival data. The data they collect is exhaustive, and encompasses 26 percent of the United States population. The program has also taken considerable measures to unify the network of cancer registry systems so that population-based data may be more easily accessible. It is this accessibility that allowed the researchers to investigate these mesothelioma trends.

Sources:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18941374?dopt=Abstract

http://seer.cancer.gov/about/

The International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG) meets on a yearly basis to discuss cutting-edge news related to the deadly cancer known as malignant mesothelioma. Over the past few years, the IMIG has become increasingly confident and optimistic about current and upcoming mesothelioma treatment processes.

Key factors related to effective treatment of mesothelioma that the IMIG sites as important include early detection, reliable diagnosis, initiating proper staging procedures and effective post-treatment monitoring. Many recent advances have become accessible that assist these key aspects of treatment.

One such step is a procedure known as immunohistochemistry (IHC). This relatively new procedure greatly improves the accuracy of malignant mesothelioma diagnosis and has become a standardized step in the process. Imaging tactics have also improved. Researchers are particularly optimistic about CT scan imaging and its ability to deliver more accurate data about tumor size.

The IMIG is also excited about the prospects of screening biological markers. Recent studies have linked certain proteins – such as serum mesothelin-related protein (SMRP) – to an elevated risk for mesothelioma. Using biological markers to search for such proteins is expected to facilitate early detection and monitoring.

As new research findings continue to pour in, doctors and researchers continue to craft more effective ways to identify, treat and monitor malignant mesothelioma. These new tactics are leading the way towards improved survival rates and decreased chemotherapy side effects.

Source: http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v23/n57/full/1208180a.html

Researchers have published two studies that show Alimta and Paraplatin form a promising combination for patients with mesothelioma.

In September 2007 at the 12th World Conference on Lung Cancer, scientists presented a study on the combination of Alimta and Paraplatin as a treatment option for patients with malignant mesothelioma. The first study had an overall response rate of 22 percent with a disease control rate of 76 percent and a one-year survival rate of 64 percent. The median time to disease progression was seven months.

A second study by Italian researchers evaluated Alimta and Paraplatin as a palliative treatment for 178 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. The median patient age was 65 years and 48 patients were older than 70.

The disease control rate was 67 percent in younger patients compared to 60 percent in older patients. Time to disease progression was 7.2 months for older patients compared with 7.5 months for younger patients. The median survival time was 10.7 months for older patients compared to 13.9 for younger ones. The authors of the study concluded that Alimta and Paraplatin form an effective palliative treatment option for patients but with slightly more hematological toxicity in older patients.

A French aircraft carrier containing more than 700 tons of asbestos could be dismantled in England after more than four years of legal controversy.

Once the pride of the French Navy, Clemenceau is set to be scrapped by Able UK an English firm that specializes in ship and offshore structure recycling.

The 33,000 ton carrier sailed more than one million nautical miles and saw action around the world that included protecting shipping lanes during the Iran-Iraq War and a support role during Operation Desert Storm.

The ship was originally set to be demolished in India’s notorious Alang shipyard but protests by Greenpeace and members of the socialist opposition halted the project as they called attention to working conditions and the ships toxic material that includes lead, PCBs, asbestos and other contaminants.

The ship was then returned to French waters and has sat idle while negotiations continue. Able UK indicated it has received the initial permits from the Health Safety Executive required for dismantling and will bring jobs to the Teesside area in northeastern England. The only major hurdle is that the company needs a transfrontier shipment permit to transfer the vessel from France to England.