In new animal research done by investigators at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, scientists have discovered a treatment effective in mice at blocking the growth and shrinking the size of lung cancer tumors, one of the leading causes of cancer death in the world.

The genes that may contribute to drug resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be predicted. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Cancer found good correlation between genes believed to be involved in drug sensitivity and resistance and actual in vitro chemosensitivity.

Springer, one of the leading publishers in the fields of science, technology and medicine, has signed an agreement with The Endocrine Society to co-publish a new journal, Hormones & Cancer, starting in January 2010. Hormonal cancers include two of the most deadly cancer subtypes, cancers of the breast and prostate.

The racial disparity in prostate cancer stage at diagnosis has decreased statistically significantly over time, according to a brief communication published online August 27 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. By analyzing data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, Grace L. Lu-Yao, Ph.D.

Gen-Probe Incorporated (Nasdaq: GPRO) announced that the Company has begun a clinical trial intended to secure U.S. regulatory approval of its PROGENSA(R) PCA3 assay, a new molecular test that may help determine the need for a repeat prostate biopsy.

The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) is making experts available to discuss the risks, treatment and prevention options surrounding prostate cancer during September, which is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men, other than skin cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer death in men.

Investigators at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center have received a five-year, $11.5 million grant to translate research into treatments for women with ovarian cancer. Every year in the United States, more than 16,000 women die from the disease and another 22,000 are diagnosed, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The award from the NCI is called a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant.

Wyeth Europa Ltd., a division of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), announced today that the European Commission has approved the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) inhibitor TORISEL(R) (temsirolimus) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed and/or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In the European Union (EU), TORISEL is also indicated for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who have at least three of six prognostic risk factors.

IntroductionVitamin D status measured during adulthood has been inversely associated with breast cancer risk in some, but not all studies. Vitamin D has been hypothesized to prevent breast cancer through genomic and non-genomic actions in cell-cycle regulation.
Methods:
A subset (n=21,965) of female participants from the prospective Cancer Prevention Study-II (CPS-II) Nutrition Cohort provided a blood sample from 1998-2001 and were followed through 2005. We measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in 516 verified incident cases and 516 controls, matched on birth date (+/- 6 months), date of blood draw (+/- 6 months) and race. Information on medical history, risk factors and lifestyle was available from repeated questionnaires. We computed multi-variable odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association between 25(OH)D quintile and breast cancer risk using unconditional logistic regression, controlling for matching factors and additional confounders.
Results:
We observed no association between 25(OH)D and breast cancer (OR=1.09, 95% CI 0.70-1.68, P trend=0.60) for the top vs bottom quintile. Using a priori cut-points, the OR was 0.86 (95% CI 0.59-1.26), for [greater than or equal to]75 vs <50 nmol/L. Results were not different when the first two years of follow-up were excluded, or in analyses stratified by season, latitude, BMI, postmenopausal hormone use, or by tumor grade or estrogen receptor status.
Conclusions:
These results do not support an association between adulthood serum 25(OH)D and postmenopausal breast cancer. We cannot rule out an association with 25(OH)D status earlier in life.

The anti-HER2 agent trastuzumab has improved outcomes for breast cancer patients with HER2-overexpressing tumours. However, systemic treatment for patients with HER2-negative disease is still limited to endocrine and cytotoxic therapies. The increasing use of the anthracyclines and taxanes in early stage disease has reduced the available therapeutic options for patients with relapsed disease, and options are further limited for patients with triple-negative tumours, who typically have a poor prognosis. The novel agents bevacizumab and ixabepilone have recently been approved for metastatic breast cancer and numerous other agents are currently in clinical development that may contribute further valuable therapeutic options.