Surprise: Tobacco could eventually lead to new cancer treatment

[Gracie]

Surprise: Tobacco could eventually lead to new cancer treatment

When tobacco and cancer are used in the same sentence, the word "cause" usually goes in between. That's why a new research from La Trobe University in Australia could confuse some folks -- after all, the researchers discovered that tobacco could potentially be used for cancer treatment. Before you pick up that box of Marlboros, know that it's actually a flowering tobacco plant named Nicotania alata, which isn't even the same species used to make cigarettes, that has magical, cancer-beating properties. After a series of tests, the scientists have determined that NaD1 (a protein found in its pink and white flowers) can not only fight off plant fungi, but also kill cancer cells.

Apparently, NaD1 latches onto cancer cells with its pincer-like structure, causing them to form little balloons on the surface until they explode. But, what makes it an ideal cure is that while it attacks affected cells, it leaves healthy ones untouched. According to lead researcher Dr. Mark Hulett from the school's Molecular Science program, a huge issue with the therapies we use today is that unlike the NaD1 protein, they attack cells indiscriminately.
Of course, the irony of it all didn't escape his notice. He said:

There is some irony in the fact that a powerful defence mechanism against cancer is found in the flower of a species of ornamental tobacco plant, but this is a welcome discovery, whatever the origin.
Like any new medical discovery, though, the protein has to go through years of more rigorous testing and research. In fact, Hulett believes we have to wait at least 10 more years before it's ready to step out of the lab and into the hospital.

 

[waltky]

Cancer survivability increases...

Cancer research achieves major progress: experts
Mon, Jun 02, 2014 - HELD BACK: To deliver further progress against cancer, researchers need more investment, which in the US today is 25% lower than in 2003, experts said

Cancer researchers say major progress is being made against a malady that kills more than 7 million people worldwide each year, but funding is short and many challenges remain. Convincing people to eat healthy, exercise and quit smoking could drastically cut back on many preventable cancers, and a host of environmental factors that may lead to cancer have yet to be solved by science, experts say. Still, researchers gathered at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference said there is plenty of cause for optimism. This year’s event, ASCO’s 50th, brings together 30,000 doctors, researchers and pharmaceutical agents from around the world. “Scientifically, the field of oncology has never been more exciting,” ASCO president Clifford Hudis said.

He cited new targeted therapies that take aim at the cellular functions of tumors, leading to progress against some difficult to treat cancers. Also, immunotherapy is an exciting field that uses a patient’s own immune system to attack tumors, and is showing promise against melanoma, leukemia and a handful of other cancers. “We have made incredible progress in 50 years,” Northwestern University cancer specialist Jyoti Patel said. “What has been very exciting in the past several decades is the understanding of the biology of cancer, an effort of working together to catalogue the make-up and the molecular aberrations that distinguish cancer,” Patel said. “In 2014, there will be almost 14 million cancer survivors in the US, and that number is expected to grow twofold over the next decades.”

The death rate from cancer has dropped about 1.5 percent annually over the past decade, and a person diagnosed with cancer today has a higher than 66 percent chance of being alive in five years, according to US government statistics. “The scientific breakthroughs in cancer are occurring at a breathtaking pace and are being translated into new drugs and devices that benefit patients more quickly than ever before,” ASCO chief medical officer Richard Schilsky said. However, he warned that this progress is in jeopardy due to a shortage of research funds, particularly from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest government funder of US scientific research, which last year had a budget of US$28.9 billion. “The NIH budget has been flat for more than a decade and when adjusted for inflation ... is nearly 25 percent lower today than in 2003,” he said.

Hudis agreed that more government funding is needed. “The nation’s continued investment is critical if we are to make further progress against cancer and accelerated the progress already under way,” Hudis said. He also called for more focus on addressing both environmental and behavioral risk factors that drive up the cancer burden in the US and around the world. “While tobacco has long been the leading risk factor for cancer, obesity is a growing problem not only for the US, but worldwide,” he said. “Obesity is overtaking tobacco, at least in the US, as the leading modifiable risk factor for multiple cancers,” he said, mentioning colon and prostate cancer among the diseases susceptible to weight and eating habits. A recent study in the Lancet found that one-third of the world was overweight or obese. "About two-thirds of cancers could be avoided if we changed our lifestyle, our diet and our sun exposure,” Patel said.

Cancer research achieves major progress: experts - Taipei Times

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Study: Drug Preserves Fertility in Younger Women With Cancer
June 01, 2014 ~ A new treatment approach may help thousands of women with early-stage breast cancer avoid premature menopause and preserve their ability to have children, U.S. researchers said.

A study, presented at the annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, showed that women who received AstraZeneca PLC's drug goserelin along with chemotherapy were 64 percent less likely to develop premature menopause than women who had chemotherapy alone. They were also more likely to have successful pregnancies, and the treatment appeared to improve survival. Chemotherapy often causes premature ovarian failure, or early menopause. Doctors think that active ovaries are more susceptible to chemo damage, and that making the ovaries go dormant and stopping a woman's monthly cycles might help shield them from harm. It might even improve survival, a study found.

Christy Wolford, a breast cancer survivor, had her ovaries suppressed during cancer treatment and she has had three boys since treatment ended in 2006. She holds son Lucas, 2, as her other children play in the background in Fort Collins, Colo.

The study involved 257 women around the world under age 50 with breast cancers whose growth is not fueled by estrogen. They all had standard chemo and half also had monthly shots of goserelin, a drug to lower estrogen and temporarily put the ovaries at rest. Its main side effects are menopause symptoms - hot flashes and vaginal dryness, the AP reported. Doctors then tracked the women to see how the treatments affected fertility.

Study results

After two years, full results were available on 135 participants. Only 8 percent of those given the shots became menopausal versus 22 percent of the others who didn't get them. There were 22 pregnancies in the drug group versus 12 in the other one. That's encouraging, but firm comparisons can't really be made because not all women may have been trying to conceive, and other factors such as a partner's fertility play a role, the AP reported. Still, "the difference was enough that in spite of all the limitations in the study, we were pretty convincingly able to see an effect," said the study's leader, Dr. Halle Moore of the Cleveland Clinic, according to the AP. The benefits go beyond preserving fertility, said Dr. Kathy Albain, a breast cancer specialist at Chicago's Loyola University and one of the study leaders. "Some women don't care about having children" after breast cancer, but would like to avoid "being jolted into early menopause" by chemo treatment, she said.

About a quarter of breast cancers occur in women under 50, affecting some 40,000 to 50,000 women each year. Unlike natural menopause, which occurs gradually, chemotherapy can suddenly throw a woman into full-blown menopause. In about half of these women, this condition is permanent, eliminating the chance for a future pregnancy. "This is the first time anything has been shown to prevent this," said Albain. "I think these findings are going to change our clinical practice." During the study's design, researchers were concerned that adding the hormone treatment might hurt the women's breast cancer treatment, Reuters reported. But the results suggest women who got goserelin were 50 percent more likely to be alive four years after starting treatment compared with those receiving the standard therapy.

National Cancer Day