Cancer, Cancer Treatment

A colon cancer cell isn’t a lost cause. Vitamin D can tame the rogue cell by adjusting everything from its gene expression to its cytoskeleton.

In the Nov. 17 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, Ordonez-Morn et al. show that one pathway governs the vitamin’s diverse effects. The results help clarify the actions of a molecule that is undergoing clinical trials as a cancer therapy.

Vitamin D stymies colon cancer cells in two ways. It switches on genes such as the one that encodes E-cadherin, a component of the adherens junctions that anchor cells in epithelial layers. The vitamin also induces effects on the cytoskeleton that are required for gene regulation and short-circuiting the Wnt/b-catenin pathway, which is overactive in most colon tumors. The net result is to curb division and prod colon cancer cells to differentiate into epithelial cells that settle down instead of spreading.

Thousands of people turned out for the walk to promote breast cancer awareness and to provide hope and help to people facing the disease.

The Sunday walk was the second annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, held at WhiteMemorialConservationCenter. The event was intended to help raise money for breast cancer research, education and patient service programs in Connecticut. Organizers said they hoped to raise more than $85,000 from the Litchfield walk alone.

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By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Combining two chemotherapy drugs with two targeted therapies was safe and appeared to help patients with advanced lung cancer live longer, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

The combination of Roche and Co’s Avastin, ImClone’s Erbitux, carboplatin and paclitaxel appeared to add an average of two months to the lives of patients, from 12 months on average to 14 months, the team at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center said.

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TUESDAY, Oct. 21 — Radiologists can now better distinguish malignant and benign breast masses by using three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound, a new report says.

Blood flow through malignant breast masses is often higher compared with normal tissue or benign masses. The Doppler ultrasound allows radiologists to detect vessels with higher flow speeds, which likely indicate cancer.

The study will be published in the November issue of Radiology.

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