Breaking Research News from sources other than Breastcancer.org

jpBCfree

FYI

My breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Kristi Funk (who is amazing) has written a book called BREASTS: THE OWNER'S MANUAL which is a guide to reducing cancer risk, making treatment choices and optimizing outcomes. There is nothing like it out there. I've read a pre-release copy and it's brilliant-- so straightforward and practical-- I wish I had read this years ago and maybe I wouldn't need to be on this board! :0

She offers a free download of one chapter on her website so you can see for yourself...I highly recommend for those of us going through this BC journey as well as cancer-free women to increase odds of staying that way. It's a great mom's day gift for women in your life.

More info and pre-order here https://pinklotus.com/elements/breasts-the-owners-...

Lisey

jpBCfree, does she have any chapters on the benefits of going flat? I can't stand books which push reconstruction and only in passing list flat as a side note. It's like being flat is not on surgeon's radar at all. I'm fighting for equal coverage of an important and healthy choice.

marijen

Protein keeps metastatic breast cancer cells dormant

Research reveals one of the mechanisms that allows metastatic cells to leave a latent state

Date:

January 22, 2018

Source:

Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)

Summary:

A recent study has identified the genes involved in the latent asymptomatic state of breast cancer metastases. The work sheds light on the molecular basis underlying how the expression of certain genes facilitates the spread of metastatic lesions.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/1801...

marijen

Mouse study links early metastasis to systemic inflammation caused by wound healing According to new research conducted in mice by Whitehead Institute scientists, surgery in breast cancer patients, which while often curative, may trigger a systemic immunosuppressive response, allowing the outgrowth of dormant cancer cells at distant sites whose ability to generate tumors had previously been kept in check by the immune system. Taking a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) around the time of surgery may thwart such early metastatic relapse without impeding post-surgical wound healing.

marijen

Endocrine therapy-induced alopecia seen in breast cancer

(HealthDay)—For patients with breast cancer, endocrine therapy-induced alopecia (EIA) has a pattern that is similar to androgenetic alopecia, according to a study published online April 11 in JAMA Dermatology.

marijen

The full story on EMFs: Research, dangers, and how to protect yourself - Cancer Tutor

https://www.cancertutor.com/emf/

ksusan

Quality of life predicts mortality in older breast cancer patients

(HealthDay)—For older women with early-stage breast cancer, measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) predict 10-year mortality independently of traditional breast cancer prognostic variables, according to a study published online March 13 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Clark DuMontier, M.D., from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues used medical variables (age, comorbidity), HRQOL measures (10-item Physical Function Index and 5-item Mental Health Index from the Medical Outcomes Study [MOS] 36-item Short-Form Survey and the 8-item Modified MOS Social Support Survey), and breast cancervariables (stage, surgery, chemotherapy, endocrine therapy) to develop a 10-year mortality risk score.

The researchers found that, compared to a model that included only age, comorbidity, and cancer stage and treatment variables, adding HRQOL variables improved discrimination (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.742 from 0.715) and overall performance with good calibration (P = 0.96 from Hosmer-Lemeshow test).

"These findings suggest that interventions aimed at improving physical function, mental health, and social support might improve both HRQOL and survival," the authors write.

marijen

How Cancer Can Kill You

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/copin...

marijen

Breast Cancer More Likely to Spread After Surgery

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/10/436/eaan3464?rss=1

Dianarose

They are a little late telling us now

marijen

Absolutely Dianarose. : (

Amelia01

Great .... well there is the argument for adjuvant chemo. I was told that I was "cured" with surgery and the chemo was likened to an "insurance policy". I will be doing aspirin once chemo ends.

marijen

Here is an article on the study. Meloxicam is the favored anti-inflammatory.

Breast cancers more likely to spread after surgery finds study

• Download PDF Copy

By Dr Ananya Mandal, MDApril 12, 2018

Breast cancer patients are more likely to experience a return and spread of their cancer within 18 months after a mastectomy or removal of the breast tumour along with healthy breast tissues. The reason for this or this association has been hitherto unexplained. According to a new study from MIT and the Whitehead Institute, the process of healing of the surgical scar after surgery is the cause for spread of the cancer.

Image Credit: Guschenkova / Shutterstock

Normally the body's immune system prevents the spread of the cancer from the breast to other tissues in the body. When the healing from the scar is ongoing after a surgery, the immune system is too busy to stop the spread of the cancer cells to other parts of the body. This means that the cancer cells are transported to distant sites in the body and the cancer thus progresses. This study appeared in the latest issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine this Wednesday.

According to senior author Robert Weinberg, who is a biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it is not the surgery itself that is leading to this phenomenon but the "post-surgical wound response." This wound response provokes the already disseminated cells to grown and become distant tumours called metastases.

Weinberg explains that when a surgical scar is healing, the immune system works overtime to send in cells that promote repair, prevent infections and promote blood vessel growth. These mechanisms are also seen when a cancer is growing. As the immune system is busy repairing the surgical wound, he said, the cancer cells fuelled by the very same immune system go unchecked to other parts of the body where they act as seeds for new and dangerous tumours. These are called secondary tumours and are far more dangerous that the primary ones in the breast says Weinberg. For example when the tumours have spread to the brain, lungs or liver, they are more likely to become life threatening sooner than when they are confined to the breast.

Researchers explain that it was believed earlier that the surgery was causing the spread of the cancer cells to other parts of the body due to handling. But Weinberg explains that along with the tumour a substantial amount of healthy breast tissues are also removed. So it is not possible for the surgery alone to be spreading the cancer. Jordan Krall, the first author of the paper and a former postdoc in the lab of Weinberg says that this is the first evidence of the phenomenon that was happening after mastectomies.

Taking anti-inflammatory drugs may be one of the solutions suggest the authors. The team of researchers looked at the phenomenon in mice and found that if the patient was given anti-inflammatory drugs such as Meloxicam, the immune system continued to exert its control and prevent the spread of the cancer to other parts of the body. More studies are necessary to see if these drugs are actually successful to a significant extent, but as of now this is an exciting find say researchers. Earlier smaller studies have shown that anti-inflammatory drugs like Ketorolac after mastectomy could prevent spread of the cancer. More research on this is necessary to extrapolate the results in humans say the authors of the study.

Source:

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/10/436/eaan3464?rss=1

Sara536

So...we haven't really progressed much beyond bloodletting, have we?

I wonder if this phenomenon would also occur after any injury or unrelated surgery we may have in the future? So much for plans for revision or even going flat. Should we all go on a regimen of Ketorolac and will that then destroy our livers? Let's all go party while we can!

marijen

Seems that way Sara. There is a topic here on Keterolac

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/73/topics...

marijen

Axillary ultrasound imaging found to be inferior for detecting lymph node metastases in breast cancer

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20180417/Axillar...

marijen

Common iron supplements linked to increased levels of a cancer biomarker

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20180412/Common-...

Lisey

Marijen, before anyone stops taking Iron (low levels has a link to BC) I suggest you look at your iron pill like I just did. the one I'm taking is "Ferrett's Iron" and contains only Ferrous Fumarate 325 mg. Which appears to NOT cause this issue.

Lumpie

Copay Accumulator Programs: What's at Stake for Patients?

A new type of policy has been introduced that has the potential to put cancer patients at serious financial risk. Co-pay accumulators or accumulator adjustment programs are relatively new policies that some pharmacy benefit managers and insurers are using to prohibit manufacturer copayment cards or other forms of manufacturer assistance from being used to pay down a patient's deductible or out-of-pocket maximum.

https://www.cancersupportcommunity.org/blog/2018/0...

{I had not heard about this - except in some government run programs. Troubling for those who count on this type of assistance for expensive cancer care .... }

marijen

New study maps links between 625 genes and different chemotherapy treatments

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20180418/New-stu...

marijen

So now we can't eat fruit?

Metastatic cancer gorges on fructose in the liver

April 26, 2018, Duke University

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-metastatic-cancer-gorges-fructose-liver.html#nRlv

Monitoring sugar metabolism in liver may be a key to cancer diagnosis

April 18, 2016Scientists may have discovered a significant new diagnostic marker for liver cancer, according to a paper published in the April 18 online issue of Nature Cell Biology.

ouse study reveals what happens in the gut after too much fructose

February 6, 2018Princeton University researchers report that in mice, fructose, a sugar found in fruit, is processed mainly in the small intestine, not in the liver as had previously been suspected. Sugary drinks and processed high-sugar ...

marijen

Breast cancer genes a real risk for men, too

April 26, 2018(HealthDay)—Few American men are screened for gene mutations that can greatly increase their risk of breast and other types of cancers, a new study reveals.

marijen

Cancer

Radiotherapy offers new treatment option for liver cancer

A novel technique that delivers high doses of radiation to tumors while sparing the surrounding normal tissue shows promise as a curative treatment option for patients with early-stage liver cancer, according to a study published ...

Apr 24, 2018

marijen

Changes in breast tissue increase cancer risk for older women

Researchers in Norway, Switzerland, and the United States have identified age-related differences in breast tissue that contribute to older women's increased risk of developing breast cancer. The findings, published April ...

Apr 24, 2018

wrenn

This is not doubt a dumb question and probably the wrong forum. Reading about mets being from cells that broke off from the original tumour how do they know that this is the case and not that a separate tumour formed in a different place by the same mechanism that formed the original?

Really appreciate all of these research studies even when I can't totally understand them.

Thank you.

marijen

wrenn, all I know is, if for instance there are mets in the liver, they can tell if it’s breast cancer, colon cancer, melanoma, or hcc (primary liver cancer). Maybe someone can answer your question but I wonder why you ask? Just curious

wrenn

Marijen, reading my question again I see that it doesn’t make sense. This is happening too often lately. I will leave the post and appreciate you trying to decypher my nonsense. *sigh

Roaming_Star

Hi wrenn - the crappy thing about cancer is that a tumour sheds cells and travels through your blood around your body. So when you have a breast cancer tumour it sheds millions of cells every day which circulate all around your body. Most of these cancer cells are found and killed by your immune system. However cancer cells are tricky and can trick your immune system into thinking that they are just regular cells so that they don't get killed off. These cancer cells circulate and set up shop in "mirco-environments" that have favourable growing conditions. Some of the most favourable places in our bodies include bones, liver, brain, and lungs. So you can see that the original cancer has just travelled to another part of the body and started to grow where the immune system was compromised. They usually try and do a biopsy of the new tumour to see how the original cancer has mutated. This informs treatment for metastatic cancer. Hope this explanation is helpful.

bluepearl

We can eat fruit and lots of it. Fruit has fibre. fructose as is put into cereals and processed foods is highly concentrated. THAT you want to avoid. It is a sugar unaccompanied by any fibre or vitamins or minerals. Whole foods are good for you.

wrenn

Roaming Star, I considered coming on here and pretending I didn't know all the stuff you mentioned because it would be less embarrassing than admitting that my brain drifted when I posted about mets. I have been doing that a lot lately where my brain goes off on tangents but adds information from 2 different topics/areas. It doesn't make sense and is hard to explain but thank you so much for the patient responses here. argghhh