Ok – we’re back at the "XX is good for you, no it’s not" debate and, once again, it involves coffee. Let’s see what the experts are saying today:
According to a study published in the journal American Journal of Epidemiology, people in the study who drank one or more cups of coffee per day cut their risk of developing oral cancers (mouth, pharynx esophagus) by half, compared with those who didn’t drink coffee regularly. Even more interesting is that this drop in risk also occurred in high-risk people whose smoking and alcohol consumption raised their risk of developing oral cancers.
This …read more

A blog about cancer does, sadly, have to include some sad news from time to time – and this is one of those times.
In December 2007, journalist, teacher, technical writer and website designer, Emru Townsend was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of leukemia. His only chance was getting bone marrow and the chance of finding a matching donor were very slim. Emru was of Caribbean descent and that ethnic group is sorely under-represented in the bone marrow registries of North America.
Against all odds, a match was found and in early September 2008, Emru received a stem cell …read more

Patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) who have been treated with rituximab but whose lymphoma still progresses, may have hope with another treatment called Treanda (bendamustine hydrochloride). Indolent lymphoma, or lymphoma that resists treatment, is difficult to treat and is not currently curable. Treanda, while not a cure, may help slow down its progress.
The United States FDA had already approved use of Treanda for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). CLL is the most common form of leukemia in the United States.
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Tags: cancer blog, lymphoma, non hodgkin’s lymphoma, treanda, bendamustine

Scientists at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy found a marine compound that inhibits cancer cell growth in lab tests which they hope can lead to new anti-cancer drugs with fewer sides effects.
The said UF-patented compound, called largazole was made from cyanobacteria that grow on coral reefs.
Researchers, who described results from early studies today (Aug. 7) at an international natural products scientific meeting in Athens, Greece, say it is one of the most promising they’ve found since the college’s marine natural products laboratory was established three years ago.
Largazole, discovered and named by Luesch for its Florida location and structural …read more

Tumor weight and growth rate has been reduced by about 50 percent in mouse models of brain, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers with injections of high-dose Vitamin C (ascorbate or ascorbic acid).
Such were the results reported by the NIH study at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS):
The NIH researchers, however, tested the idea that ascorbate, when injected at high doses, may have prooxidant instead of antioxidant activity. Prooxidants would generate free radicals and the formation of hydrogen peroxide, which, the scientists hypothesized, might kill tumor cells.
In their laboratory experiments on 43 cancer and 5 normal cell lines, the …read more

A research team from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine have showed that combining a dietary agent with a gene-delivered cytokine effectively eliminates human pancreatic cancer cells in mice displaying sensitivity to these highly aggressive and lethal cancer cells.
The cytokine used in this study was melanoma differentiation associated gene-7/interleukin-24, known as mda-7/IL-24.
The dietary agent, perillyl alcohol (POH), was combined with mda-7/IL-24, which is already used in other cancer treatments. POH is found in a variety of plants, including citrus plants, and has been well-tolerated by patients who have received it in clinical …read more

Methadone – the agent used against opioid addiction – has been found by German researchers to have surprising killing powers against treatment-resistant forms of leukemia cells.
Methadone, developed in Germany in the 1930s, is a low cost agent that acts on opioid receptors, and thus is used as an opioid substitute to treat addiction. Scientists have found that opioid receptors also exist on the surface of some cancer cells for reasons that are not understood. One research group tested the agent in human lung cancer cell lines and found that it can induce cell death.
Thus suggesting that methadone has the potential …read more

Amgen has recently been told by the FDA to reword the labeling of its flagship anemia drugs – Aranesp and Procrit – to further restrict their use in treating cancer patients.
The move, which the F.D.A. announced on Wednesday, represents the first time the agency has invoked authority under a 2007 law that empowered it to order changes in a drug’s prescribing information. Previously, the F.D.A. could only negotiate with a drug’s manufacturer to change the label.
Sales of the drugs, Aranesp and Procrit, have already plummeted in the last year because of studies suggesting that their use to treat the …read more

I found a very nice read today, pointed out to me by Mike Street of Reader’s Digest Online: an article entitled 31 Simple Ways to Prevent Cancer. Some very practical tips presented in a sorta funny way but with a big ring of truth into it.
Besides, before we all get rattled by the recent cancer scare on cellphone use and other stuff, really the prevention (or at least reducing our risk of developing any cancer later in life) all boils down to the dietary and lifetsyle changes each of us are willing to take, IMHO.
Anyways, here goes in bullets only:

…read more

This report has been causing a stir earlier this week. The good in the evil tobacco? So reports are saying. Okay before we all get too excited…the tobacco plants used are genetically engineered.
To make the vaccine, researchers took a sample of a patient’s tumors, which in this trial were made up of B cells (white blood cells that help the body battle disease and infection). They then extracted the gene from the cells that coded for the antigen they needed (to help the immune system recognize the tumors as threats). The key, researchers say, was to make enough of the …read more