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October 2006 Issue

• Cancer Death Rates Continue Decline
• Altering Immune Cells May Help Cancer
• Post-Menopausal Weight Gain May Increase Breast Cancer

Cancer Death Rates Continue Decline

By Ilene Raymond Rush
Editor-in-Chief
October 1, 2006

Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to drop, however, the rate of new cancers remains stable, according to The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2003, Featuring Cancer among U.S. Hispanic/ Latino Populations published in the October 15, 2006, issue of Cancer.

The authors attribute the decrease to successful efforts against tobacco, improved screening, and more effective treatment, all of which must be continued to keep rates stable.

Declines were greater among men (1.6 percent per year from 1993 through 2003) than women (0.8 percent per year from 1992 through 2003), although rates for men remain 46 percent higher than for women.

Death rates decreased for 11 of the 15 most common cancers in men and for 10 of the 15 most common cancers in women.

"The greater decline in cancer death rates among men is due in large part to their substantial decrease in tobacco use. We need to enhance efforts to reduce tobacco use in women so that the rate of decline in cancer death rates becomes comparable to that of men," said Betsy A. Kohler, President of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, Inc. (NAACCR).

Notably, incidence rates for female breast cancer stabilized from 2001 through 2003, ending increases that began in the 1980s. Whether this first indication of a changing trend is real or a random fluctuation cannot be determined until data reporting in the next few years is complete. Other findings:

• Overall cancer incidence rates (the rate at which new cancers are diagnosed) for both sexes and all races combined have been stable from 1992 through 2003.

• Data suggest a small increase in the female lung cancer incidence rate from 1991 through 2003, which is a much slower rate of increase than in prior years.

• Overall rates for men remained stable from 1995 through 2003, while rates for women increased from 1979 through 2003.

To view the full report, go to:
www.interscience.wiley.com.

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October 2006 Issue

Altering Immune Cells May Help Cancer

By Ilene Raymond Rush
Editor-in-Chief
October 1, 2006

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute have successfully treated advanced melanoma patients using a genetically enhanced version of a person's own immune cells. Results of the study appeared in an early online publication in Science.

Twenty-one years ago, Steven A Rosenberg, M.D., PhD., the leader of the study, showed that a person's own T-cells can be employed to fight advanced melanoma. But for that to work, a person needs to already have a type of T-cell in their immune system that fights off cancer cells. And not everyone has those warriors.

The new approach works to solve that problem by boosting a patient's own immune cells to turn them into tumor fighters. To achieve this, researchers removed blood samples that contained normal lymphocytes - white blood cells -- from a patient, and then injected the cells with a retrovirus that delivered a genetic punch to the T-cell's tumor fighting ability.

These newly powerful lymphocytes are then reinjected into patients in the hopes that they will remain in the blood stream and kill off cancer cells.

Rosenberg has high hopes for the work, and is working on other lymphocytes for treatment of breast, lung and other cancers.

Pierpaolo Claudio, M.D., PhD, a professor of biotechnology at Temple University's Center for Biotechnology and at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine calls the results of the study "promising."

"The novelty and clinical importance of this report is that this method could improve the dismal prognosis of patients in which modification and infusion of tumor fighting lymphocytes is not available. However, more studies are needed."

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October 2006 Issue

Post-Menopausal Weight Gain May Increase Breast Cancer

By Ilene Raymond Rush
Editor-in-Chief
October 1, 2006

Women who gained 22 pounds or more after menopause had an 18% increase in their relative risk of breast cancer, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers analyzed information from a group of post-menopausal women participating in the Nurses' Health Study. Every two years, the 121,700 registered nurses in the study, who were 30-55 when they survey started in 1976, fill out questionnaires on lifestyle factors, including many factors that affect breast cancer risk, such as weight.

Based on these answers, there were 2,376 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in women whose weight had increased since menopause, compared to 621 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in women who maintained their weight since menopause.

Experts have several theories why weight gain is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Extra fat cells that produce extra estrogen and other hormones might stimulate breast cell growth. Women at higher weight also tend to exercise less and eat higher-fat foods.

"What remains more controversial is weight gain before menopause, with some studies suggesting that it might add to postmenopausal breast cancer risk, especially if it occurred after age 35," notes Eva Surmacz, associate professor of biology at Temple University's Center for Biotechnology and the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine.

Surmacz notes that weight changes assessed by most authors on pre-menopausal weight gain are as little as five percent of body weight.

"This indicates that small increases (2.5-3kg) of weight can elevate the chances of breast cancer development. On the other hand, it also shows that small reductions of weight can be very beneficial."

"All this indicates that prevention of weight gain, or even better, losing weight after menopause can reduce breast cancer risk. Many risk factors for breast cancer, such as being a woman, having genetic predispositions, or being tall cannot be prevented, but weight can be managed. And responsible women should take every advantage of this knowledge."

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