Acupuncture Proven to Combat Side Effects of Breast Cancer Treatments

New research reveals that acupuncture is more effective for treating hot flashes than venlafaxine (Effexor) for patients receiving conventional antiestrogen hormone treatment for the treatment of breast cancer. The Department of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan published its finding in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study cites research proving the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of hot flashes during menopause and therefore investigates the effects of acupuncture during breast cancer treatment. Results showed that acupuncture had successfully eliminated all cases of hot flashes and benefitted patients suffering from mental depression. The study also documents that there were no side effects due to the acupuncture treatments but that venlafaxine caused adverse effects including nausea, dry mouth, dizziness, and anxiety. The study further documents that acupuncture increased sex drive, mental clarity, and the overall energy levels in the patients.

Out of a study group of 50 patients, 25 were randomly given 12 weeks of acupuncture and the other 25 were given 12 weeks of venlafaxine. After two weeks, the venlafaxine group continued to experience hot flashes but, like the acupuncture group, had less mental depression. The study concluded that acupuncture “appears to be equivalent to drug therapy” and is “a safe, effective, and durable treatment.”

Source: HealthCMI

African Ancestry Shows Link to Breast Cancer

African ancestry has been understood as a risk factor, but a recent study shows support for this notion. A new study finds that African ancestry is linked to triple-negative breast cancer, a more aggressive type of cancer that has fewer treatment options. Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that, among women with breast cancer, 82 percent of African women were triple negative, 26 percent of African-Americans were and 16 percent of white Americans were. Triple negative breast cancer is negative for three specific markers that are used to determine treatment: the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor and HER-2/neu.

The study, published online in the journal Cancer, looked at 581 African American women and 1,008 white women diagnosed with breast cancer at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, plus 75 African women diagnosed at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana.

Researchers found that Ghanaian women were diagnosed at a younger age than American women, and with larger tumors and more advanced cancer. In addition, the Ghanaian women were more likely to test negative for each of the three markers.

Prior studies have shown that while African-American women are less likely than white women to develop breast cancer, those who are diagnosed are usually younger and are more likely to die from the disease. These characteristics, including the triple negative disease, are also more common among women with a known hereditary predisposition for breast cancer related to BRCA1 gene mutations. Other studies have also shown a hereditary breast cancer risk associated with racial-ethnic identity -- most commonly among Ashkenazi Jewish women.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/195623.php

Breast Cancer Detection: Mathematical Models With Microwave Tomography Are Cheaper And Less Risky

Currently, X-ray mammography, taking images of the breasts using low-dose ionizing radiation, is the most popular way to detect breast cancer. However, there are several disadvantages to using X-rays for breast cancer screening, chief among them being the invasivity of radiation and the high costs, which limit their wide use and can deter women from getting them. In addition, depending on the age of the patient and tissue density, X-ray mammograms often result in false positives and negatives.

Microwave tomography can provide a cheaper and less risky alternative to X-ray mammography. It detects cancers by measuring inhomogeneities in the electrical conductivity of breast tissue. An array of low-power microwaves are transmitted into the breast from different positions and the resulting scattered signals are collected by antennas surrounding it. The malignant-to-normal tissue contrast arises because cancerous cells have higher water content, and are hence stronger scatterers than normal tissue.

There is room for improvement in the mathematical method that currently exists for image reconstruction in microwave tomography. The problem to be solved is an inverse scattering problem. At microwave frequencies, the inverse problem is difficult to solve accurately because it is highly nonlinear. In addition, it is an ill-posed problem, which means that it does not have a solution in the strict sense, the solutions are not usually unique, and may not depend continuously on the data.

Source:
Karthika Muthukumaraswamy
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
MedicalNewsToday

Bone Drug Suppresses Wandering Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer

The bone-strengthening drug zoledronic acid (Zometa) can help fight metastatic breast cancer when given before surgery, suggests research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Every day, tumors shed thousands of cells, which spread throughout the body and are referred to as disseminated tumor cells (DTCs). Breast cancer DTCs often lodge in bone marrow where bone growth factors help them survive.

Chemotherapy can increase bone turnover and bone growth factors, potentially exacerbating the problem of DTCs in the bone, which can resurface later to cause metastatic disease in cancer patients.

Zoledronic acid is generally prescribed to reduce and delay bone complications due to multiple myeloma and bone metastases from solid tumors. Two recent studies showed that zoledronic acid improves disease-free survival when used along with estrogen-lowering therapy before breast cancer surgery. Estrogen-lowering therapy, like chemotherapy, potentially increases bone loss.

In this randomized phase II clinical trial, researchers split 109 women with newly diagnosed stage II or stage III breast cancer into two groups. The control group received chemotherapy alone, while the other received a combination treatment of chemotherapy and zoledronic acid.

After three months of therapy, patients with DTCs in their bone marrow decreased from 43 percent to 30 percent in the combination group, compared with a decrease from 48 percent to 47 percent in the control group. This result approached statistical significance.

The researchers also found that of those patients who had no DTCs in their bone marrow at the start of the study, 87 percent remained negative after three months of combination treatment compared to 60 percent of those who received chemotherapy alone, a result that was statistically significant.

Washington University School of Medicine. "Bone Drug Suppresses Wandering Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer Patients; May Reduce Metastatic Disease." ScienceDaily 3 June 2010. 19 June 2010 /releases/2010/06/100602152418.htm>.

Breast Cancer Cells: Death By Peaches and Plums

Breast cancer cells - even the most aggressive type - died after treatments with peach and plum extracts in lab tests at Texas AgriLife Research recently, and scientists say the results are deliciously promising. Not only did the cancerous cells keel over, but the normal cells were not harmed in the process.

AgriLife Research scientists say two phenolic compounds are responsible for the cancer cell deaths in the study, which was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. The phenols are organic compounds that occur in fruits. They are slightly acidic and may be associated with traits such as aroma, taste or color.

"It was a differential effect which is what you're looking for because in current cancer treatment with chemotherapy, the substance kills all cells, so it is really tough on the body," said Dr. David Byrne, AgriLife Research plant breeder who studies stone fruit. "Here, there is a five-fold difference in the toxic intensity. You can put it at a level where it will kill the cancer cells - the very aggressive ones - and not the normal ones."

Byrne and Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallos originally studied the antioxidants and phytonutrients in plums and found them to match or exceed the blueberry which had been considered superior to other fruits in those categories.

Byrne plans to examine more fully the lines of the varieties that were tested to see how these compounds might be incorporated into his research of breeding plums and peaches. Cisneros-Zevallos will continue testing these extracts and compounds in different types of cancer and conduct further studies of the molecular mechanisms involved.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/190800.php

Prenatal Exposure To Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals May Increase Risk for Breast Cancer

Fetuses exposed to chemicals like Bisphenol-A (BPA) and Diethylstilbestrol (DES) in the womb may have a higher risk of developing breast cancer in their adulthood, according to a study published in the current issue of Hormones and Cancer.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are substances in the environment that interfere with hormone biosynthesis, metabolism or action resulting in adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects in both humans and wildlife. These chemicals are designed, produced and marketed largely for specific industrial purposes.

The study, led by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, showed exposure of pregnant mice to BPA or DES led to an increase in the level of a protein called EZH2 in their offspring. The protein controls the expression of all genes; higher EZH2 levels are associated with an increased risk of breast canccer in humans.

"We have demonstrated a novel mechanism by which endocrine-disrupting chemicals regulate developmental programming in the breast," said Taylor. "This study generates important safety concerns about exposures to environmental endocrine disruptors such as BPA and suggests a potential need to monitor women exposed to these chemicals for the development of breast lesions as adults."

Other researchers working on the study include Leo Doherty, Jason Bromer, Yuping Zhou and Tamir Aldad of the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

Eatiing Broccoli Can Help Prevent Breast Cancer

According to the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, A compound derived from broccoli could help prevent or treat breast cancer by targeting cancer stem cells. Sulfurophane is a compound in broccoli that has been found to target and kill cancer stem cells and prevented new tumors from growing.

"Sulforaphane has been studied previously for its effects on cancer, but this study shows that its benefit is in inhibiting the breast cancer stem cells. This new insight suggests the potential of sulforaphane or broccoli extract to prevent or treat cancer by targeting the critical cancer stem cells," says study author Duxin Sun, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the U-M College of Pharmacy and a researcher with the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In the current study, mice were injected with varying concentrations of sulforaphane from the broccoli extract. Measures showed a marked decrease in the cancer stem cell population after treatment with sulforaphane, with little effect on the normal cells. Further, cancer cells from mice treated with sulforaphane were unable to generate new tumors.

The concentrations of sulforaphane used in the study were higher than what can be achieved by eating broccoli or broccoli sprouts. Prior research suggests the concentrations needed to impact cancer can be absorbed by the body from the broccoli extract, but side effects are not known. While the extract is available in capsule form as a supplement, concentrations are unregulated and will vary.

Researchers are currently developing a method to extract and preserve sulforaphane and will be developing a clinical trial to test sulforaphane as a prevention and treatment for breast cancer.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/187475.php