Less invasive treatment associated with improved survival in early stage breast cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/29/2013) - Patients with early stage breast cancer who were treated with lumpectomy plus radiation may have a better chance of survival compared with those who underwent mastectomy, according to a study from Duke Medicine and the Duke Cancer Institute. The study, which appears online Jan. 28, 2013, in the journal CANCER, raises new questions as to the comparative effectiveness of breast-conserving therapies such as lumpectomy, where only the tumor and surrounding tissue is surgically removed.

Yale researchers find genes behind aggressive endometrial cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/29/2013) - Yale and Yale Cancer Center researchers have defined the genetic landscape of uterine serous carcinoma (USC) tumors, a chemo-resistant, aggressive form of endometrial cancer, findings that point to new treatment opportunities. The collaborative team—which included researchers with expertise in gynecological cancer, genomics, and computational biology— identified a number of new genes that are frequently mutated in USC.

MD Anderson study finds qigong improves quality of life for breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/28/2013) - Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found qigong, an ancient mind-body practice, reduces depressive symptoms and improves quality of life in women undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer. The study, published in the journal Cancer, is the first to examine qigong in patients actively receiving radiation therapy and includes a follow-up period to assess benefits over time.

Emotional stress reduces effectiveness of prostate cancer therapies in animal model
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/28/2013) - Not surprisingly, a cancer diagnosis creates stress. And patients with prostate cancer show higher levels of anxiety compared to other cancer patients. A new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center indicates that stress is not just an emotional side effect of the diagnosis; it also can reduce the effectiveness of prostate cancer drugs and accelerate the development of prostate cancer. The researchers tested the effects of behavioral stress in two different mouse models of prostate cancer. Wake Forest is home to the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Northwestern researchers develop new way to treat lymphoma without chemotherapy
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/25/2013) - A new study by Northwestern Medicine researchers shows that synthetic HDL nanoparticles killed B-cell lymphoma, the most common form of the disease, in cultured human cells, and inhibited human B-cell lymphoma tumor growth in mice. The nanoparticle appears to the cancerous lymphoma cell like a preferred meal -- natural HDL. But when the particle engages the cell, it actually plugs it up and blocks cholesterol from entering. Deprived of an essential nutrient, the cell eventually dies. Northwestern is home to the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Fruit and vegetable intake is associated with lower risk of ER-negative breast cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/25/2013) - There is no association between total fruit and vegetable intake and risk of overall breast cancer, but vegetable consumption is associated with a lower risk of estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) breast cancer, according to a study from Brigham and Women's Hospital (a component of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) published January 24 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Researchers discover new mutations driving malignant melanoma
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/25/2013) - Two new mutations that collectively occur in 71 percent of malignant melanoma tumors have been discovered in what scientists call the "dark matter" of the cancer genome, where cancer-related mutations haven't been previously found. Reporting their findings in the Jan. 24 issue of Science Express, the researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute said the highly "recurrent" mutations – occurring in the tumors of many people – may be the most common mutations in melanoma cells found to date.

DNA breaks early in replication process associated with B cell cancers
NCI News Note
(Posted: 01/24/2013) - Research by scientists at the NCI has identified a new class of DNA sites in cells that break early in the replication process. They found that these break sites correlate with damage often seen in B cell cancers, such as diffuse large B cell lymphoma.

Johns Hopkins study finds personal epigenetic 'signatures' consistent in prostate cancer patients' metastases
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/24/2013) - In a genome-wide analysis of 13 metastatic prostate cancers, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center found consistent epigenetic "signatures" across all metastatic tumors in each patient. The discovery of the stable, epigenetic "marks" that sit on the nuclear DNA of cancer cells and alter gene expression, defies a prevailing belief that the marks vary so much within each individual's widespread cancers that they have little or no value as targets for therapy or as biomarkers for treatment response and predicting disease severity.

Researchers discover promising prognostic marker for aggressive breast cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 01/24/2013) - A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and collaborators at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Erasmus Medical Center, have discovered a gene variant that drives the spread of breast cancer. Published in Science Translational Medicine, the study lays the early foundation for predicting which breast cancer patients may develop more aggressive disease and for designing more effective treatments. Case Western is home to the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.