Best of Breast: news for week ending 8 August 2014

News development for Breast Cancer and Cancer, aggregated from Google Alerts, for the week ending 8 August 2014.

This week leads with an article on wasp venom.  Using venom is nothing new – I’ve heard of blue scorpion venom being used as a cancer treatment.  Apparently the main source of the blue scorpion venom is Cuba.  It’s not a cheap product (we’re talking hundreds of pounds for a month’s supply).  But the reason for the expense is it’s not easy to harvest the venom [and if I were a scorpion, I would make it very very hard if someone came after my venom!].  The harvesting of the venom is not pretty – it involves using an electric probe to get it to sting and release its venom.  It’s reached mainstream use too – Prof Nesslehut of dendritic cell vaccine fame uses blue scorpion venom.

This post could also be called the radiotherapy edition with some controversy surrounding the use of brachytherapy [i.e. radiotherapy that is administered intra-operatively, rather than post-surgery].

The material on flaxseed lignans and breast cancer is not new, and I apologise for including it.  The internet is full of information on flaxseed and cancer, in fact most cancer nutritionists recommend taking flaxseed.  As pointed out by one reader, JustOnePix, the lead author (Thomson LU) of the research article had written as early as 1995 on flaxseed:  www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Thompson%20LU[Author]&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=24869971 and also a trial in 2005:  www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15897583.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention – it is much appreciated as I want my readers to have accurate information.

Moooo … buzz. How scorpion venom is obtained: Each scorpion is milked once a month for two years,” explains Valdés, who says the average lifespan of R. junceus is ten years. “Then it’s released back into the wild to repopulate the species. Photo : Ferrán Pestaña

1.  Wasp Venom Targets Breast Cancer in New Therapy

Best of Breast: news for week ending 11 July 2014

New developments in Breast Cancer and Cancer, from Google Alerts, for the week ending 11 July 2014.

How to name a cancer protein/gene

I’ve often wondered how scientists come up with the names for these discoveries.  It’s not as if TARBP2 or alpha v beta 6 trip off the tongue.  I have a theory that scientists just dip their spoons into a can of alphabet soup, and whatever comes up is the name du jour … .

Something I’ve had to do this week is re-write a number of headlines.  Some of the tabloids seem to view every discovery of a new oncogene or signalling pathway as a !BREAKTHROUGH! in treatment.  Now that I’ve been scanning developments for more than a year, I’m more realistic.  Most of these “breakthroughs” have been realised only on rodents, and they’re also years away from commercial release, plus they’re only one bit in the jigsaw puzzle that is cancer.  I hate it when newspapers tout the latest cure for cancer, which is anything but.

Best of Breast: news for week ending 13 June 2014

The weekly round-up of news from the world of Breast Cancer and Cancer from Google Alerts, for the week ending 13 June 2014.

The ASCO 2014 may be over, but there’s still a glut of news.

I wanted to highlight the first item which suggests that breast cancer survivors don’t get enough exercise with a humorous cartoon showing what women with breast cancer are busy getting on with life and the housework and kids to set aside time for the gym.  In a previous post, there was an article which implied that housework counted as exercise – I think all researches should take this into consideration.

There’s an interesting study on limiting carbs to improve survival, which could be an argument for either a low-carb or even the more extreme ketogenic diet.

A lot of breast cancer research is done on mice and rats.  A study shows that this may not be the best method as there are similarities and differences between rodents and humans which may make rodent trials an ineffective way of testing treatments.

Breast cancer survivors do not exercise enough. (With thanks to KS for this!)

1.  Breast cancer survivors ‘do not exercise enough’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27740413

Best of Breast: news for week ending 6 June 2014

The weekly aggregation from Google Alerts, for articles on Breast Cancer and Cancer, for the week ending 6 June 2014.

Just some of the goodies at the American Society for Clinical Oncology conference 2014

It was a bit like Christmas morning unwrapping the presents that was the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s conference that was held 2 weeks’ ago.  It’s made for an extra-long Best of Breast (which is also a week late – sorry!).

There was fantastic new research into treatment-resistant breast cancer, HER-2 positive breast cancer and TNBC; however, what stands out is the first step to developing an immunotherapy approach to breast cancer by combining cryoablation and Ipilimumab (an immune stimulant that is already being used in melanomas).  Cryoablation breaks the tumour down and Ipilimumab allows the immune system to recognise the cancer cells.

The irony is that cryoablation is something I looked into shortly after my diagnosis, but I was told by my surgeon that it wouldn’t guarantee clean margins.  Well … what surgeons also don’t tell you is that clean margins will not guarantee the cancer won’t come back.  I’ve seen people who’ve had mastectomies who’ve had with recurrences (even with radiotherapy and chemotherapy to mop up) in the scar tissue.  So clean margins my foot.  There are no guarantees with surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.  The medical establishment is conservative and playing a numbers game and it’s us patients who are being kept in the dark.

I think one of the drawbacks of doing Best of Breast is that I read about all these wonderful new developments and all I can think is:  why didn’t they come up with this 2 years’ ago, or why didn’t I do this 2 years ago?  Why are my clinicians stuck in the dark ages?  And I think of all my friends who’ve passed on, and I hope that a cure comes soon for all of us with cancer.

To cheer myself up, the lead article is about the blind mole rat.  I’d posted previously about the naked mole rat which is cancer-resistant, now there’s the blind mole rat (not related!) which has the same superhuman anti-cancer properties.  Scientists have decoded its genes and discovered the secret of how it never gets cancer.  The next step is to work out how to turn us all into blind mole rats … .

See how they run … (The furry-but-blind blind mole rat (Spalax) is a close cousin to the common house mouse.) Image credit: bbc

1.  Cancer-resistant blind mole rat gets genome sequence

Best of Breast: news for week ending 23 May 2014

News from the world of breast cancer and cancer, as highlighlighted by Google Alerts, for the week ending 23 May 2014.

It seems there’s been a rise in the number of women opting for double mastectomies, because of fear of recurrence, even when there is no genetic basis for breast cancer (i.e. no BRCA1/2 gene mutation].

I can understand and sympathise:  After all, who wants to go through the rollercoaster of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment again if it recurs in the other breast?  Why not get it all out in one go, with an increased chance that it won’t ever return?  There are other reasons women opt for contralateral mastectomies:  the need for symmetry is one.

But mastectomies carry risks and psychological consequences.  Furthermore, what the surgeons don’t tell patients is that the cancer can still return, mastectomy or no double mastectomy, in the same breast with the tumour.  The cancer cells lurk in the scar tissue, which is often the site of a recurrence.  This can happen even if patients have had radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Best of Breast: news for week ending 31 January 2014

A summary of the Google news alerts for breast cancer and cancer, for the week ending 31 January 2014.

The latest tool in cancer detection …

In previous weeks, we’ve had mice and rats, naked mole rats and even sloths as vectors for cancer cures – they make for cute photos.  I tried hard this week but the only creature that turned up to save the world from cancer was a fruit fly.  As the eeurgh factor of the fruit fly is 100% there is no photo – sorry!

The lead item is a drug that supposedly stops breast cancer metastasis.  It’s not the only drug in the pipeline that is supposed to do this, and unfortunately, it’s still at the mice-and-rat-testing stage.  I hate getting all excited and then disappointed.

Another study this week shows how stem cells and the daughters of stem cells live for a long time, often leading to recurrences.  What the study doesn’t mention is the unfortunate fact that stem cells are not killed by chemotherapy.  It’s something that a lot of cancer patients who are in remission haven’t been told – they think chemotherapy is the be-all-and-end-all (or in the words of my breast surgeon:  “disinfectant”), and it isn’t (disinfectant implies total cleansing) there are still stem cells there.  That’s why we need more research needs to be done in how to deal with these Frankenstein cells, and take away this uncertainty and fear in the cancer journey.

Fruit and veg feature this week.  Tomatoes:  scientists have genetically-modified tomatoes to contain more anthocyanins, substances that can fight cancer.  There’s a trial using olive oil for breast density to see if it can prevent breast cancer.

Two more must read articles:  one on melatonin, showing it has the potential to slow down the growth of tumours in triple-negative breast cancer.  That’s great news for this very challenging type of breast cancer.  Another on how some chemotherapy can be toxic to the heart – hmm … isn’t this stating the obvious?

Another use for tamoxifen [Nolvadex] and it’s not breast cancer

Finally, there’s some bizarre news (not new, apparently it’s been around for some time) – bodybuilders are using Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) and Arimidex to suppress estrogen in their body and negate the effects of steroids in their bodies.  Why, God, why?

Best of Breast: news for week ending 13 December 2013

A weekly round-up of Google Alerts on the latest medical developments in Breast Cancer.  I was puzzled as to why there was such a surge this week, and realised that it was due to studies being released at the San Antonio Breast Cancer symposium 2013 (http://www.sabcs.org/PressReleases/Documents/2013/b3c6acef3fe26baa.pdf)

There’s fantastic news that the aromatase inhibitor, anastrazole (aka Arimidex), can cut the risk of breast cancer in women by 50% and with fewer side-effects than drugs like tamoxifen.  But please note (and this is not being made clear in newspaper headlines), anastrozole is usually only used in post-menopausal women (because the ovaries in premenopausal women produce too much aromatase for the inhibitors to block effectively).  There’s also little discussion on the side-effects which may make it difficult for women to comply with taking the medication.

The FDA has issued a warning about nipple aspirate tests being used as a substitute for mammograms.  The message is:  they’re not reliable, and don’t.  They sound awfully like thermograms to me – I had a thermogram done about 3 days’ after my initial diagnosis, and the practitioner who conducted the test told me that without the mammogram, he wouldn’t have diagnosed breast cancer from my thermogram. (part of the issue is that the thermogram machines in the UK are not sophisticated enough to give the detailed results required for such diagnosis).

404 error … Windows cannot recognise the software … one or both servers is not working … please reinstall drivers … image credit: nytimes.com

1A.  Microsoft working on a smart bra that detects breast cancer and measures moods

Best of Breast: news for week ending 27 Sept 2013

A compilation of the research developments in breast cancer research from Google Alerts for the week ending 27 September 2013.

[Google Alerts doesn’t always have the most up-to-date research developments, and is heavy on the first-person stories, fund-raising and charity events, so if I’ve missed something out, my apologies.  You are always welcome to post any new developments that I’ve missed out in the comments box and I’ll include them in the compilation, with grateful thanks and an acknowledgement.]

This week seems to be radiotherapy week.  But it’s also shark week:

Photo credit: National Geographic wallpaper

1.  Breast Cancer: Sharks’ Antibodies Could Hold Key

First it was shark’s fin soup, then shark cartilage, now it’s shark antibodies as a cure-all.  Not a good time to be a shark.

http://news.sky.com/story/1146728/breast-cancer-sharks-antibodies-could-hold-key

Scientists at Aberdeen University believe that antibodies which help sharks fight off cancerous cells could do the same job in the human body.

They are beginning a three-year study to monitor how the antibody, called IgNAR, might be used to inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

The researchers believe it could be useful in targeting HER-2 positive breast cancer, a common form of the disease suffered by one in four breast cancer sufferers.

2.  The test that could spare HALF of breast cancer patients from chemotherapy – by judging how far the tumour may spread