The researchers conducted a study of almost 2000 people, 1108 didn’t have cancer and 767 were newly diagnosed with bladder cancer. While smoking increases the risk of developing bladder cancer, the findings showed that people with higher levels of selenium had lower risks of the cancer.

That’s fine and dandy you say, but what the heck is selenium and where do you get it? Good question.

Selenium is a trace mineral. We need several minerals, such as iron and magnesium. Selenium is mostly available in plant foods but the soil needs to be rich in selenium for the food to absorb it as it grows. It can also be obtained through meat of animals who eat a lot of vegetation that is rich in selenium. We only need a small amount of it in our diet. The National Institutes of Health has this fact sheet about selenium, where you can learn more.

You can read more about it in this article, Selenium may prevent high risk-bladder cancer.

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Tags: cancer blog, selenium and bladder cancer, smoking and bladder cancer, bladder cancer

Post from: Blisstree

Selenium may help reduce risk of high risk bladder cancer

B is for:

B-cell lymphoma

Basal cell carcinoma

Bellini duct carcinoma

Bladder cancer

Brain tumor

Breast cancer

Burkitt lymphoma

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Tags: cancer blog, burkitt lympohma, brain tumor, breast cancer, bladder cancer, lymphoma, basal cell cancer

Post from: Blisstree

B is for…

During the day, we usually urinate every few hours. Some people hold on to their urine longer than others, but it’s not for as long as we may hold it at night. For people lucky enough to sleep a solid 8 hours or more, that’s how long urine stays in the bladder too. But, the urine has some nasty stuff in it, which our body is trying to eliminate. When the urine stays in the bladder for extended periods, carcinogens like tobacco, are exposed to the bladder lining for that amount of time.

The study, done in Spain, looked at 884 people who had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and compared them with 996 people who did not have cancer, called controls. What the researchers found was that people who got up at least two times during the night to urinate had a reduced risk of developing bladder cancer of between 40% to 59%. This is a significant finding.

Throughout the world, every year there are approximately 357,000 newly diagnosed cases of bladder cancer. Every year, there are 145,000 deaths caused by bladder cancer.

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Image: MorgueFile.com

Tags: cancer blog, bladder cancer

Post from: Blisstree

Reduce bladder cancer risk? Pee a lot.

As the body absorbs carcinogenic chemicals, such as cigarette smoke, the chemicals are transferred to the blood, filtered out by the kidneys and expelled from the body through the urine.

Greater concentrations of chemicals in the urine can damage the endothelial lining of the bladder and increase a patient’s odds of developing transitional cell carcinoma (TCC).

One group of people that are regularly exposed to smoke and chemical fumes are firefighters – more than any other group.

Now, University of California –San Francisco reported at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA), research findings suggesting that firefighters may be at an increased risk of developing transitional cell carcinoma (TCC or bladder cancer).

Thereby, they said that firefighters (current and retired) must be considered for annual screening for bladder cancer, though no guidelines exist for the screening of TCC.

Find more details from Medical News Today.

Post from: Blisstree

Firefighters and Bladder Cancer Risk

Previous studies have identified that HPV may have serious consequences that include some types of cancer: cervical, anus, vulva, penis, oropharyngeal (the middle part of the throat behind the mouth including the back of the tongue, the soft palate, the side and back walls of the throat).

Now, according to Universidad de Granada study, HPV may cause bladder cancer:

The researchers from Granada have focused their study on bladder cancer and have found some evidence of the relationship between both diseases. Nevertheless, they warn that further research on this matter is needed, particularly in order rule out the assumption that this infection is only a viral colonization and does not cause cancer (that is to say, the tumor appeared before the tissue was infected by the virus).

HPV is very common and one can only be sure of not being exposed if they’re celibate.

I think this is when the mandatory HPV vaccination becomes important.

Find more details from the full report.

Post from: Blisstree

HPV May Cause Bladder Cancer

What if you only have an infection after all? Then the battery of tests were not only a waste of time and money, but also invasively unnecessary.

This is why scientists are working towards the development of a “dipstick” test that would easily single out patients with tumor in their bladders against those who only have infections. Also, a dipstick or a urine test will not only be non-invasive but will also have the potential to detect cancer better and for monitoring bladder cancer through time.

Such a dipstick test is what researchers at the University of Florida with their colleagues at the University of Michigan are working on.

”…the scientists used advances in technology to isolate nearly 200 proteins from the urine of patients with and without bladder cancer. Several appear promising as potential biomarkers, including one that studies conducted elsewhere have already linked to liver and ovarian cancer.”

According to Steve Goodison, an associate professor of surgery at the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville:

“With any cancer, the earlier you find it the better because it’s not as aggressive in its early stages, and of course it’s much easier to remove any cancer anywhere in the body if you catch it while it’s relatively small.

What would really help in this disease would be a test you could use to monitor these patients just by monitoring their urine. If we could develop this test to try to narrow down those who’ve got infections versus something more serious, that would relieve the patient from pain and worry and (cut health-care costs).

The final aim would be to make a test cheap and convenient enough that you can start to think of screening people who don’t have any symptoms.”

Find more details from the full report.

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Working Towards a “Dipstick” Test for Bladder Cancer

Thus, scientists look forward to the development of a non-invasive urinalysis assays via reliable diagnostic markers that will surely benefit patients at risk and/ or suffering the condition.

A team from University of Florida and University of Michigan, headed by Steve Goodison may already have what the experts are looking for.

The researchers have moved toward that goal by identifying potential biomarkers for bladder cancer, including a protein present in the urine of patients with bladder cancer, but not other individuals.

It is the same protein linked with liver and ovarian cancer in previous studies.

Although the protein appears promising as a biomarker, the researchers cite the need for further studies in large groups of bladder cancer patients to determine the biomarker’s usefulness.

Research findings are to be reported in the July 6 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research.

Source: Science Daily

Post from: Blisstree

Biomarker for Urinary Bladder Cancer, Under Works

Recently, Ikonisys Inc.’s oncoFISH™ bladder has been cleared by the USFDA for marketing in the United States.

oncoFISH™ bladder detects aberrations for chromosomes 3, 7, 9, and 17 in cells found in urine sediment that help in the initial diagnosis of bladder cancer in patients with hematuria (blood in the urine) and the subsequent monitoring for tumor recurrence in patients previously diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Together with the company’s novel Ikoniscope® robotic digital microscopy platform, oncoFISH™ bladder enables automated testing of cells found in urine specimens to aid in the detection of bladder cancer.

According to Petros Tsipouras, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ikonisys:

“oncoFISH bladder is expected to significantly reduce the time required to process test results while improving the accuracy of bladder cancer diagnosis, and we are prepared for its immediate launch.

We believe the Ikoniscope and associated oncoFISH and fastFISH automated diagnostic applications are an economical and dependable solution to subjective sample analysis, protracted turnaround times for test results, and the acute laboratory shortage of trained technical personnel.”

Read the full press release.

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oncoFISH™ Bladder: Ikonisys’ Automated Bladder Cancer Test, USFDA-Cleared for Marketing

Because proepithelin seem not to strongly promoter cell proliferation but instead promotes migration and invasion (two crucial steps leading to metastasis) then it could be could be critical for the passage of a cancer from a noninvasive to an invasive phenotype.

Andrea Morrione, Ph.D. (research assistant professor of urology), Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, heading the research team notes that proepithelin might be used as a marker for bladder cancer.

Proepithelin is found in higher-than-normal levels in breast, ovarian and renal cancers, in addition to deadly brain cancers known as glioblastomas. It plays important roles in development, cell movement and tumor formation.

The research findings were reported July 15, 2006 in the journal Cancer Research.

Read more at Thomas Jefferson University.

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Growth Factor Protein Proepithelin: Biomarker for Bladder Cancer, Potential Drug Target