http://www.cancercompass.comCancerCompass is an online community committed to offering people living with cancer a place to receive cancer information and news, share knowledge, and share cancer treatment experiences. To learn more, visit our site today.en-us@copy; Copyright 2008, International Capital & Management Company, LLLP. All Rights Reserved.Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:19:39 CDTThu, 24 Jul 2008 17:19:39 CDTCancercompass.com: breast cancer60http://www.cancercompass.com/graphics/mini-logo.gifhttp://www.cancercompass.comhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14503,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14503,00.htm?rss=y Scientists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have made a key discovery about the mechanism of breast cancer metastasis, the process by which cancer spreads. Focusing on a gene dubbed "Dachshund," or DACH1, they are beginning to pinpoint new therapeutic targets to halt the spread of cancer.Reporting their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers led by Richard Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson and professor and chair of Cancer Biology at Jefferson Medical College, showed that breast cancer cells secrete a common inflammatory protein, IL-8. When the scientists blocked the protein in mice with an antibody, they found that it comp...Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14491,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14491,00.htm?rss=y Something felt wrong in Leila Sadat's right breast. The Washington University law professor tried to ignore the nagging worry about a hard spot that mammograms did not detect. Doctors thought it was nothing more serious than a blocked milk duct. It couldn't be cancer. Sadat was pregnant. As many as one in 1,000 pregnant women will be diagnosed with cancer. Doctors expect that number to rise as more women delay childbirth into their 30s and 40s, because cancer risk increases with age. Pregnant women with cancer must make life-and-death decisions times two. "That tension is more poignant because here it's my life versus my baby's life," said Dr. James Bartelsmeyer, director of maternal-fetal medicine at St. John's Mercy M...Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14490,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14490,00.htm?rss=y SAN DIEGO -- Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) is more accurate and reliable than other methods of subclinical assessment of lymphedema in breast cancer patients, according to a paper published in the July 20 issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology (2008; Vol. 26, Issue 21: 3536- 3542). Titled "Lymphedema After Breast Cancer: Incidence, Risk Factors, and Effect on Upper Body Function," the paper, authored by Sandra Hayes, PhD., and colleagues from Queensland University of Technology in Australia, is based on a study that involved 265 breast cancer patients. Approximately 87 percent of the patients had undergone lymph node dissection, 70 percent had received radiation therapy and 40 percent had received chemotherapy and/or h...Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14476,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14476,00.htm?rss=y Most women with breast cancer assume that surgery to preserve their breast will be less disfiguring than a mastectomy that removes the entire breast. But nearly one-third of women reported pronounced asymmetry between their breasts, and that perceived disfigurement greatly affects a woman's quality of life after treatment, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The researchers found that compared to women with little to no breast asymmetry, women whose affected breast looked significantly different were twice as likely to fear their cancer recurring and to have symptoms of depression. These women were also more likely to perceive themselves as less healthy and to feel stigmat...Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14477,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14477,00.htm?rss=y Women who have risk factors commonly associated with Type 2 diabetes also have much greater odds of being diagnosed with an advanced breast cancer, according to research to be presented today (Tuesday 8 July 2008). University of Melbourne researcher Dr Anne Cust was a key collaborator on an international study which will today be presented to the Population Health 2008 Conference in Brisbane. The study found that women who were overweight or had signs of insulin resistance such as elevated blood glucose or insulin levels were about 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed with an advanced breast cancer tumor. Researchers tracked more than 60,000 Swedish women over a 20-year-period from 1985 to 2005. All were cancer free when recrui...Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14478,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14478,00.htm?rss=y NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA -- "New guidelines recommending that women not perform breast self-examinations (BSEs) could seriously endanger women's health and lead to later detection of cancers in some women," says Marisa Weiss, M.D., president and founder of Breastcancer.org and a leading breast cancer oncologist. "These guidelines do not reflect a new point of view, but they are still very bad advice." New Danish guidelines advising the population not to perform BSEs are supported by a review -- released today -- of BSE studies previously conducted in Russia and China. The review, co-authored by Dr. Peter Gotzsche, suggests that breast self-exams do not reduce deaths from cancer and "cannot be recommended." Early Detecti...Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14475,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14475,00.htm?rss=y Young women's breast cancers tend to be more aggressive and less responsive to treatment than the cancers that arise in older women, and researchers at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy may have discovered part of the reason why: young women's breast cancers share unique genomic traits that the cancers in older women do not exhibit. "Clinicians have long noted that the breast cancers we see in women under the age of 45 tend to respond less well to treatment and have higher recurrence rates than the disease we see in older women, particularly those over the age of 65," said Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., a breast oncologist at Duke and senior investigator on the study. "Now we're really un...Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14468,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14468,00.htm?rss=y Researchers have discovered a new family of agents that inhibit the growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells. The finding, described today at a meeting of the Endocrine Society, has opened an avenue of research into new drugs to combat estrogen-dependent breast cancers."This cell-based study is exciting because it suggests these compounds are likely to be effective in tumors that remain dependent on estrogen for growth but are resistant to current therapies," said principal investigator David J. Shapiro, a professor of biochemistry in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois. Although multiple factors contribute to the development of breast cancer, estrogens play a key role in the growth of many...Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14466,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14466,00.htm?rss=y BOSTON -- The DNA Repair Company (DNAR), an emerging company focused on personalized approaches to cancer treatment, announced today the licensing of the exclusive rights in North America for the use of a newly discovered diagnostic test that strongly predicts how women with breast cancer will respond to a common form of chemotherapy. The rights to the test were acquired from Helsinki University Central Hospital through Licentia Ltd. The discovery, published in this month's edition of Nature Genetics, marks an important step toward the development of the first tests capable of identifying the breast cancer patients who should be given an alternative to standard anthracycline-containing chemotherapy regimens. The researc...Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14463,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14463,00.htm?rss=y Using mouse embryonic stem cells, researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have developed a new method to evaluate which mutations, or changes, in a gene known to increase breast cancer susceptibility, may lead to cancer. The new test, called a functional assay, is more comprehensive and reliable than most current methods. This new test could become a useful and viable tool for genetic counselors, and may have implications beyond cancer. The researchers believe that this test could also be useful for analyzing mutations found in other human disease-related genes. The results of this research will be published in the August 2008 issue of "Nature Medicine" and appear o...Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14456,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14456,00.htm?rss=y TONY EASTLEY: An international study has established a link between Type-2 Diabetes and advanced breast cancer. It's been known for a while that being overweight puts post-menopausal women at greater risk of breast cancer, but now it's been found that women who are resistant to insulin, or who are overweight, are 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed with the cancer and only when it's in its advanced stages. The finding comes after an international research team followed more than 60,000 Swedish women over 20 years. Dr Anne Cust from the University of Melbourne is a collaborator in the study and she is preparing to present the findings at a medical conference in Brisbane today. Dr Cust is speaking here with AM's Simon Lauder....Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14457,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14457,00.htm?rss=y ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- Women who have breast reconstruction after an elective mastectomy are satisfied with their decision, have low complication rates and 98 percent would do it again, reports a study in July's Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery(R), the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). In addition, breast reconstruction after preventive mastectomy was as safe as or safer than reconstruction in women with breast cancer and had excellent cosmetic results. "Breast cancer is a terrible diagnosis and decisions regarding treatment are never easy. This study shows that women with cancer in one breast who choose to have their other breast removed as a preventive measure are happy w...Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14458,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14458,00.htm?rss=y It took only an instant for 58-year-old Gailanne Reeh to go from the picture of health to death's door. By chance, her doctor noticed a lump under her arm during a routine exam. It turned out to be advanced breast cancer. Soon she was having tests to reveal the extent of the cancer and hearing the grim results. The surgeon, she recalled, "looked at me and said: 'This is not a conversation I like to have. But I can't do anything for you. You can't be cured. You can't be treated. All we can do is manage your cancer.'" On scans to detect tumors, the doctor told Reeh, "you light up like a Christmas tree." And so, like many others in that situation, Reeh, the vivacious owner of a staffing agency in Boston, was given be...Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14449,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14449,00.htm?rss=y The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a novel genetic test for determining whether patients with breast cancer are good candidates for treatment with the drug Herceptin (trastuzumab). The SPOT-Light HER2 CISH kit is a test that measures the number of copies of the HER2 gene in tumor tissue. This gene regulates the growth of cancer cells. A healthy breast cell has two copies of the HER2 gene, which sends a signal to cells, telling them when to grow, divide and make repairs. Patients with breast cancer may have more copies of this HER2 gene, prompting them to overproduce HER2 protein so that more signals are sent to breast cells. As a result, the cells grow and divide much too quickly. "When used with other clinical info...Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 CDThttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14390,00.htm?rss=yhttp://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/1,14390,00.htm?rss=y CLEVELAND -- The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) has just released a supplement to its official journal Menopause to meet the need for current clinical recommendations for managing breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, except for nonmelanoma skin cancers, and is the second leading cause of cancer death for women worldwide. According to the American Cancer Society, 182,460 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in US women in 2008 with 40,930 deaths anticipated. Women living in North America have the highest rate of breast cancer in the world. "The single most important risk factor for breast cancer is age. The risk of breast cancer incr...Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 CDT