Cancer, Cancer Treatment

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22 — A new study suggests that people with advanced colon cancer who have a particular gene mutation won’t benefit from the medication cetuximab (Erbitux).

While the drug can add months to the lives of people without a mutation in a gene called K-ras, those who have the mutation won’t see any benefit from this additional therapy, reports the study, which is published in the Oct. 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Read the rest of this entry »

SUNDAY, Nov. 16 — Coming on the heels of two studies discounting the usefulness of vitamin B, folic acid, vitamin D and calcium supplements for cancer prevention, U.S. researchers report that vitamins C and E supplements won’t help prevent cancer, either.

The same team also recently reported that vitamin C and E supplements weren’t helpful in protecting users against heart disease.

“At least in the context of two very common outcomes — cardioprotection and chemoprevention — we see no compelling evidence to take vitamin E or C supplements,” said one of the study’s authors, Dr. Howard Sesso, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Read the rest of this entry »

TUESDAY, Nov. 4 — Taking folic acid or other B vitamin supplements won’t lower your risk of cancer, new research shows.

However, the good news is that it won’t increase your risk either, according to the study, which was published in the Nov. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“In women at risk of cardiovascular disease, we found that folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 had no beneficial or harmful effects on the risk of invasive cancer or breast cancer,” said study author Dr. Shumin Zhang, an associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston.

Read the rest of this entry »

TUESDAY, Nov. 4 — Taking folic acid or other B vitamin supplements won’t lower your risk of cancer, new research shows.

However, the good news is that it won’t increase your risk either, according to the study, which was published in the Nov. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“In women at risk of cardiovascular disease, we found that folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 had no beneficial or harmful effects on the risk of invasive cancer or breast cancer,” said study author Dr. Shumin Zhang, an associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston.

Read the rest of this entry »