Scientists find new ovarian cancer gene

[BDBoop]

Scientists find new ovarian cancer gene | Reuters

Aug 7 (Reuters) - Women who carry a faulty copy of a gene called RAD51D have an almost one in 11 chance of developing ovarian cancer, scientists said on Sunday in a finding they called the most significant ovarian cancer gene discovery for more than 10 years.

Tests to identify those at highest risk are expected to be available within a few years, according to Cancer Research UK, and may lead some women to decide to have their ovaries removed in order to beat the disease.

The finding should also speed the search for new drugs.

 

[waltky]

Usin' ecstacy to fight cancer...

Modified ecstasy 'attacks blood cancers'
18 August 2011 - Ecstasy was already known to kill some cancerous cells, but the doses needed were fatal

Modified ecstasy could one day have a role to play in fighting some blood cancers, according to scientists. Ecstasy is known to kill some cancer cells, but scientists have increased its effectiveness 100-fold, they said in Investigational New Drugs journal. Their early study showed all leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma cells could be killed in a test tube, but any treatment would be a decade away. A charity said the findings were a "significant step forward".

In 2006, a research team at the University of Birmingham showed that ecstasy and anti-depressants such as Prozac had the potential to stop cancers growing. The problem was that it needed doses so high they would have been fatal if given to people. The researchers, in collaboration with the University of Western Australia, have chemically re-engineered ecstasy by taking some atoms away and putting new ones in their place. One variant increased cancer-fighting effectiveness 100-fold. It means that if 100g of un-modified ecstasy was needed to get the desired effect, only 1g of the modified ecstasy would be needed to have the same effect.

Scientists say this also reduced the toxic effect on the brain. Lead researcher Professor John Gordon, from the University of Birmingham, told the BBC: "Against the cancers, particularly the leukaemia, the lymphoma and the myeloma, where we've tested these new compounds we can wipe out 100% of the cancer cells in some cases. "We would really need to pinpoint which are the most sensitive cases, but it has the potential to wipe out all the cancer cells in those examples. "This is in the test tube, it could be different in the patient, but for now it's quite exciting."

'Soapy' cells

See also:

Three cancers share genetic link
18 August 2011 - Chromosomes contain genetic information - too many or too few could lead to cancer.

A gene has been linked to at least three cancers in different tissues in the body, US researchers say. Their findings, reported in the journal Science, showed a fifth of melanomas (skin cancer), Ewing's sarcomas (bone) and glioblastomas (brain) had a defective copy of the gene STAG2. It controls the way genetic material is divided between cells. A cancer charity said the study provided researchers with new ways of tackling the disease. Human genetic information is bound up in 23 pairs of chromosomes. When a cell divides in two, there should be 23 pairs in each of the two cells produced. However, this does not always happen. Too many or too few chromosomes - known as aneuploidy - is common in cancer.

Chromosomes to cancer

Researchers at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, have found a gene which controls that separation of genetic material. Defective copies of STAG2 were found in 21% of Ewing's sarcoma tumours, 19% of glioblastoma and 19% of melanoma. Professor Todd Waldman said: "In the cancers we studied, mutations in STAG2 appear to be a first step in the transformation of a normal cell into a cancer cell. "We are now looking at whether STAG2 might be mutated in breast, colon, lung, and other common human cancers."

Researchers believe that if they can find a drug which targets cells with defective STAG2 they will be able to stop some cancers forming. A separate study, also published in Science, looked at the affect of aneuploidy in yeast. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created 13 strains of yeast with an extra chromosome. In all cases, the yeast's genetic code become less stable and more susceptible to mutation. The study's authors suggest the "instability could facilitate the development of genetic alternations that drive malignant growth in cancer."

Dr Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "Scientists have known for more than 100 years that having too many or too few chromosomes is linked to cancer and these results suggest that this is not just a characteristic but a cause of the disease. "Their discovery sheds light on how chromosome numbers can be altered when cells divide and presents researchers with new ways to tackle cancer by designing drugs to upset this chain of events."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14562054

 

[waltky]

The cost-effectiveness of minimally invasive robotic surgery is questioned...

Cancer cost 'crisis' warning from oncologists
26 September 2011 - The cost of treating cancer in the developed world is spiralling and is "heading towards a crisis", an international team of researchers says.

Their Lancet Oncology report says there is a "culture of excess" with insufficient evidence about the "value" of new treatments and technologies. It says the number of cancer patients and the cost of treating each one is increasing. It argues for reducing the use and analysing the cost of cancer services. About 12 million people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer each year. That figure is expected to reach 27 million by 2030. The cost of new cancer cases is already estimated to be about £185bn ($286bn) a year.

Rising costs

A group of 37 leading experts from around the world say the burden of cancer is growing and becoming a major financial issue. Their report says most developed countries dedicate between 4% and 7% of their healthcare budgets to dealing with cancer. "The issue that concerns economists and policymakers is not just the amount of money spent on healthcare, but also the rate of increase in healthcare spending or what has become known as the cost curve." It says the UK's total spend on breast cancer has increased by about 10% in each of the past four years. "In general, increases in the cost of healthcare are driven by innovation. We spend more because we can do more to help patients."

For example, the number of cancer drugs available in the UK has risen from 35 in the 1970s to nearly 100, but the report warns they can be "exceedingly expensive". It adds: "Few treatments or tests are clear clinical winners, with many falling into the category of substantial cost for limited benefit." The cost of drugs is not the only target for criticism. Lead author Prof Richard Sullivan told the BBC: "It's not just pharmaceuticals. Biomarkers, imaging and surgery are all getting through with very low levels of evidence - the hurdles are set too low." The report calls for a proper evaluation of the relative merits of conventional surgery and less invasive robotic surgery.

Too much

Another criticism is "overusing" treatments and technologies. "It is often easier to order a scan than to reassure the patient or physician on the basis of a careful history and a physical examination," the report claims. There is also criticism of "futile care" - providing expensive chemotherapy which gives no medical benefit in the last few weeks of a patient's life. Prof Sullivan said: "We're on an unaffordable trajectory. We either need to manage and reduce the costs or the cost will increase and then inequality rises between rich and poor." He said failure to manage costs could result in a "train crash". The report says solutions fall into two categories: reducing the cost of services or reducing the number of people using them.

Personalised Medicine

 

[waltky]

Metformin Improves Survival Chances for Ovarian Cancer...

Diabetes Drug Improves Survival Chances for Ovarian Cancer Patients
December 07, 2012 - Researchers compared the survival of 61 ovarian cancer patients taking Metformin to that of 178 women with cancer who were not on the drug and found women taking the drug were nearly four times more likely to survive at least five more years.

The prognosis for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer is not very good. Only about 50 percent can expect to survive the disease for five years. But researchers say that the odds of making it to that five-year mark are significantly improved if women with ovarian cancer are also taking a common diabetes drug. Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota found that 67 percent of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer who were also taking the diabetes drug metformin lived five years or more after their cancer diagnosis. That's significantly better than the 50 percent of women who survived at least five years with cancer who were not taking the diabetes drug.

Sanjeey Kumar, a gynecologic oncologist at Mayo Clinic, says researchers are not sure how metformin extends the life expectancy of some ovarian cancer patients, but he says they have a number of theories. “Such as acting through stem cells, cancer stem cells, or depriving the cancer cells of energy supply or glucose,” he explained. Stem cells are master cells that can transform into any tissue in the body. In the ovaries, the stem cells produce normal ovarian cells. But the influence of certain genes, which researchers are just now starting to identify, can turn the master cells into deadly cancer.

Metformin, an oral medication, reduces harmful levels of so-called bad cholesterol and blood fats known as triglycerides in type 2 diabetics. The drug also has been shown to prevent heart disease in people with diabetes, and is used occasionally to treat a condition known as polycystic ovarian disease, which causes small cysts on the ovaries and abnormal reproductive hormone levels. In the Mayo Clinic study, researchers compared the survival of 61 ovarian cancer patients taking metformin to that of 178 women with cancer who were not on the drug. After accounting for factors such as the patient’s weight, cancer severity and their chemotherapy regimens, they found that women on metformin were nearly four times more likely to survive at least five more years than women not on the drug.

There are very few treatment options available for ovarian cancer, which tends to be resistant to chemotherapy. So Kumar envisions - after larger clinical trials are conducted - eventually giving women with the disease metformin to improve their prognosis. “And if the trials validate the findings of our study, then we would say that would say 'yeah,' that would be the time to change our practice and start recommending metformin for people who do not have diabetes,” Kumar stated. The results of the study on the effectiveness of the diabetes drug metformin in treating ovarian cancer are published in the journal Cancer.

Source

 

[whitehall]

Is it a "new" cancer gene or just a cancer gene they never saw before?

 

[waltky]

Retooling the Pap test to spot ovarian cancer earlier...

Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer
9 Jan.`13 WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported encouraging signs that one day, there might be.

Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too. How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in the ovaries or the lining of the uterus, and float down to rest in the cervix, where Pap tests are performed. These cells are too rare to recognize under the microscope. But researchers from Johns Hopkins University used some sophisticated DNA testing on the Pap samples to uncover the evidence — gene mutations that show cancer is present. In a pilot study, they analyzed Pap smears from 46 women who already were diagnosed with either ovarian or endometrial cancer. The new technique found all the endometrial cancers and 41 percent of the ovarian tumors, the team reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

This is very early-stage research, and women shouldn't expect any change in their routine Paps. It will take years of additional testing to prove if the so-called PapGene technique really could work as a screening tool, used to spot cancer in women who thought they were healthy. "Now the hard work begins," said Hopkins oncologist Dr. Luis Diaz, whose team is collecting hundreds of additional Pap samples for more study and is exploring ways to enhance the detection of ovarian cancer. But if it ultimately pans out, "the neat part about this is, the patient won't feel anything different," and the Pap wouldn't be performed differently, Diaz added. The extra work would come in a lab.

The gene-based technique marks a new approach toward cancer screening, and specialists are watching closely. "This is very encouraging, and it shows great potential," said American Cancer Society genetics expert Michael Melner. "We are a long way from being able to see any impact on our patients," cautioned Dr. Shannon Westin of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She reviewed the research in an accompanying editorial, and said the ovarian cancer detection would need improvement if the test is to work. But she noted that ovarian cancer has poor survival rates because it's rarely caught early. "If this screening test could identify ovarian cancer at an early stage, there would be a profound impact on patient outcomes and mortality," Westin said.

More than 22,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and more than 15,000 die. Symptoms such as pain and bloating seldom are obvious until the cancer is more advanced, and numerous attempts at screening tests have failed. Endometrial cancer affects about 47,000 women a year, and kills about 8,000. There is no screening test for it either, but most women are diagnosed early because of postmenopausal bleeding. The Hopkins research piggybacks on one of the most successful cancer screening tools, the Pap, and a newer technology used along with it. With a standard Pap, a little brush scrapes off cells from the cervix, which are stored in a vial to examine for signs of cervical cancer. Today, many women's Paps undergo an additional DNA-based test to see if they harbor the HPV virus, which can spur cervical cancer.

So the Hopkins team, funded largely by cancer advocacy groups, decided to look for DNA evidence of other gynecologic tumors. It developed a method to rapidly screen the Pap samples for those mutations using standard genetics equipment that Diaz said wouldn't add much to the cost of a Pap-plus-HPV test. He said the technique could detect both early-stage and more advanced tumors. Importantly, tests of Paps from 14 healthy women turned up no false alarms. The endometrial cancers may have been easier to find because cells from those tumors don't have as far to travel as ovarian cancer cells, Diaz said. Researchers will study whether inserting the Pap brush deeper, testing during different times of the menstrual cycle, or other factors might improve detection of ovarian cancer.

Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer - Yahoo! News

 

[waltky]

Angelina Jolie stumpin' for ovarian cancer...

Ovarian Cancer Gets Congress’ Attention
October 01, 2015 - The bipartisan Congressional Ovarian Cancer Caucus was launched Tuesday in Washington to bring more awareness of and research into a disease that kills more than 14,000 women each year.

Representatives Sean Duffy of Wisconsin and Rosa DeLaura of Connecticut came together after both were personally touched by ovarian cancer. DeLaura and Duffy’s sister are survivors of the disease, and Duffy lost a very good friend to the cancer.

Actor Angelina Jolie announced in March 2015 that she'd had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to prevent cancer. She also underwent a preventive double mastectomy.

Calaneet Balas, Ovarian Cancer National Alliance chief executive, said the caucus would will remind Congress of the need for funding. “The alliance has been working for nearly 18 years now, and with a lot of champions on [Capitol Hill],” Balas said. “We’ve been able to raise about $2.2 billion for research and awareness, but this caucus is going to be really focused on continuing that awareness all year round on the Hill through members, as well as focusing on increasing some of those appropriations for research and education.”

The alliance says that the survival rate for ovarian cancer has improved, but that there is no test for early detection; symptoms are often confused with those of other diseases, leaving 85 percent of women diagnosed when the disease is in its later stages. More than 50 percent of these women will not live more than five years after being diagnosed.

Genetic mutation

 

[waltky]

Cause of ovarian cancer resistance to chemotherapy discovered...

Protein found that causes ovarian cancer resistance to chemotherapy
Oct. 26, 2015 - If researchers can prevent cancer cells from switching off a gene that promotes the protein, chemotherapy could be more effective for the disease.

Ovarian cancer can become more difficult to treat because of resistance to chemotherapy, however researchers at the University of Georgia have found the gene and protein it helps express that cause resistance, which may lead to better methods of treatment. Most women treated for ovarian cancer have tumors come back, 85 percent are more aggressive and chemoresistant, because of a genetic change in their cancer's cells.

Ovarian cancer often comes back, generally more aggressive and less respondent to chemotherapy.​

The researchers found a protein called RGS10, when activated by mTOR gene causes the drugs to ineffective. They think that keeping this protein from being turned off -- which is what causes chemotherapy to be ineffective -- could help the drugs work better. "Depending on the expression levels of RGS10, the chemotherapy for ovarian cancer is more or less effective," said Shelley Hooks, an associate professor at UGA, in a press release. "If there were a way to reverse silencing of the RGS10 protein, then we could potentially restore sensitivity to drugs," she explained. "It would mean a better chance of survival for women with ovarian cancer." RGS proteins are involved with cancer initiation and progression. While studying this, Hooks and Mandi Murph, also an associate professor at UGA, found RGS10 is "basically an off switch." When the protein is deactivated by the mTOR gene in cancer cells, they can survive chemotherapy.

The researchers manipulated levels of RGS10 in ovarian cancer cells and tested several common chemotherapy drugs, finding they were more effective the more RGS10 had been expressed in cells. RGS10 is epigenetically silenced, the researchers said, so external or environmental factors, rather than genetics, can turn the protein off. "If there were a way to reverse silencing of the RGS10 protein, then we could potentially restore sensitivity to drugs," Hooks said. "It would mean a better chance of survival for women with ovarian cancer." The study is published in Future Medicinal Chemistry.

Protein found that causes ovarian cancer resistance to chemotherapy

 

[waltky]

Glowing substance kills cancer cells...

New Treatment Makes Cancer Cells Glow
October 30, 2015: A new substance that makes cancer cells glow could make cancer surgeries much more effective, according to a new study.

Writing in the journal Chemistry of Materials, researchers at Oregon State University say silicon naphthalocyanine makes cancer cells glow in near-infrared light and “creates heat and reactive oxygen species within any remaining cancer cells, killing them.” “This system that can make cancer cells glow is like giving the surgeon an extra pair of eyes,” said Olena Taratula, a research assistant professor in the Oregon State University/Oregon Health & Science University College of Pharmacy, and lead author on the published study. “And the compound we’re working with now is inexpensive and appears effective at killing any cancer cells that remain.”

Doctors are seen operating on a cancer patient at a Nairobi hospital. According to health officials, most cancer cases in Kenya are diagnosed only at an advanced stage.​

Once injected, the substance was completely absorbed by tumors within 24 hours and had disappeared from the rest of the body. In laboratory tests involving animals, the researchers say ovarian tumors were “completely eradicated” with no side effects.

Researchers added that silicon naphthalocyanine, which is non-toxic and biodegradable, could be used for other solid tumors. The next step, researchers said, will be to test the substance on dogs with cancerous tumors and then possible human clinical trials.

New Treatment Makes Cancer Cells Glow

 

[waltky]

Birth control pill reduces ovarian cancer deaths...

Birth pill cutting ovary cancer deaths: Study
Wednesday 7th September, 2016: Deaths from ovarian cancer fell significantly in Western countries from 2002 to 2012 and should continue declining largely thanks to widespread contraceptive pill use, researchers said Tuesday (Sep 6).

Deaths fell 16 per cent in the United States, 10 per cent in the 28 European Union nations excluding Cyprus, for which there was no data, and eight per cent in Canada. In Japan, which has a lower ovarian cancer rate than many other countries, the death rate fell two per cent, said a study published in the Annals of Oncology. In Australia and New Zealand, deaths declined 12 per cent from 2002 to 2011 - the most recent year for which data was available. "The main reason for the favourable trends is the use of oral contraceptives," the authors wrote. "The falls were greater in young and middle-aged women than in the elderly, and earlier and larger in the USA, the UK and northern Europe," they said. "These are the countries where oral contraceptives (OCs) - which have a long-term protective effect on ovarian cancer risk - were introduced earlier and used more frequently."

A decline in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to manage menopausal symptoms, as well as better cancer diagnosis and treatment, may also have played a role. HRT, which uses oestrogen or progestogen to ease menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, vaginal dryness and a low sex drive, is thought to increase the risk of ovarian cancer - by as much as 40 percent according to a 2015 study. The pill, on the other hand, is generally accepted to protect against the disease, dubbed a "silent killer" as it is often spotted too late. Other research, though, has linked the contraceptive to an elevated risk of cancer of the breast, as well as heart attack and stroke.

The latest study, which had no numbers on Africa, said the pattern of decrease was inconsistent between countries. Among European nations, the fall ranged from 0.6 per cent in Hungary to over 28 per cent in Estonia, with Bulgaria showing an increase. In Latin America, deaths decreased in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, but rose in Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela. Based on data from the World Health Organization, the team projected that ovary cancer deaths will decline by another 15 per cent in the United States until 2020, and by 10 per cent in the EU and Japan.

Birth pill cutting ovary cancer deaths: Study