Category: Breast Cancer

ASA404 to be developed in breast cancer

London, UK, and Cambridge, MA, 12 February 2009 – Antisoma plc (LSE: ASM; USOTC:ATSMY) announces that its Tumour-Vascular Disrupting Agent, ASA404, will be evaluated by Novartis as a treatment for HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. This indication is being prioritised ahead of prostate cancer, in which a phase II trial has been completed. Details of the plans for trials in breast cancer will be available later this year.

Bone Drugs May Help Fight Breast Cancer

A drug of a class commonly used to combat bone loss may reduce by a third the chance that some breast cancers will spread or recur, a large study has found.

While it may sound odd to treat cancer with a drug that acts on bone, evidence is accumulating that such drugs may do more than just prevent the loss of bone. Other studies are testing the drugs in patients with prostate or lung cancer.

What is inflammatory breast cancer and is it worse than regular breast cancer?

While treatment for inflammatory breast cancer has improved in recent years, it still carries a worse prognosis than many other forms of breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the 5-year survival rate for inflammatory breast cancer is 40 percent, compared with 87 percent for all breast cancers.

In typical breast cancers, the tumor forms a lump that a person can feel or see on a mammogram. In the inflammatory kind, which makes up 1 to 2 percent of the roughly 180,000 new breast cancer cases per year, the cancer “is often not a mass,” says Dr. Eric Winer, chief of the Division of Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “Instead, the breast is often warm, red, swollen and tender.” The cancer is often misdiagnosed as an infection treatable by antibiotics.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil vs. Breast Cancer

Can EVOO — extra-virgin olive oil — cut the risk of breast cancer?

Yes — but only the 20% to 30% of breast cancers that express the HER2 molecules, suggest studies by Javier A. Menendez, PhD, at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Girona, Spain, and colleagues.

The Spanish researchers wondered why some studies show that the olive-oil-rich Mediterranean diet cuts breast cancer risk while other studies do not. They theorized that the active compounds in olive oil only affect certain cancers.

Many Childhood Cancer Survivors Skip Breast Cancer Screenings

Women who underwent chest radiation therapy for a childhood cancer have a significantly higher risk for developing breast cancer at a younger age. Yet a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that many of them do not undergo the recommended screenings.

“Most young women at risk of breast cancer following chest radiation for a pediatric cancer, including women at highest risk (Hodgkin lymphoma survivors), are not being appropriately screened,” Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and colleagues write.