Cancer, Cancer Treatment

The combination of estrogen plus progestin, which women stopped taking in droves following the news that it may increase their risk of breast cancer, may decrease their risk of colorectal cancer, according to a report published in the January issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

“Compared to women who had never taken these hormones, the use of estrogen plus progestin was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer,” said Jill R. Johnson, M.P.H., a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Patients with locally advanced lung cancer who receive chemotherapy and proton therapy, a specialized form a radiation therapy only available in a few centers in the United States, have fewer instances of a serious side effect called bone marrow toxicity than patients who receive chemotherapy and another type of radiation therapy called intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), according to a study presented at the 2008 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology, sponsored by ASTRO, ASCO, IASLC and the University of Chicago.

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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.

New data show that CAPHOSOL, an advanced electrolyte solution, results in low rates of oral mucositis and pain in patients with head and neck (HN) cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

The data, which were presented at the Advanced Practice Nursing Conference of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), demonstrate that use of CAPHOSOL from the initiation of cancer treatment results in a low incidence of oral mucositis (OM) and is associated with high levels of patient and physician satisfaction and medication compliance.